Oct. 10, 2012 - Issue #886: Typhoon Judy
First Position
» Waiting in the wings
Despite some of that negative reputation, there are still many who stop at nothing to pursue ballet as a career. The context of First Position, Bess Kargman's first full-length documentary, revolves around the Youth America Grand Prix—an annual international ballet competition that sees 5000 dancers in New York auditioning for the what they hope will be the beginning of the rest of their lives in ballet.
Dancers aged nine to 19 compete hoping to win one of the coveted scholarships awarded to dancers in different age groups. These kids' dreams of being in the ballet are so steadfast that they talk about nothing but—and how their families have changed their entire lives to accommodate their child's classes, sometimes spending thousands of dollars on costumes and trainers.
Kargman focuses in on a handful of hopefuls and their families in the months leading up to the Grand Prix: Young Aran, 11, with a doe-faced grin, talks about how much he loves ballet while his father muses that he never thought he'd have a son that wanted to be a dancer. Miko, 12, is rail-thin but full of potential, and her younger brother plods behind her in frustration as he's pushed into ballet by his nightmare of a stage mom, Satoko.
The most inspiring story is Michaela's—born in Sierra Leone, she was adopted by an American family as a toddler. She knows that she has a tough road ahead as a black ballerina, who are often stigmatized as being too muscular for the ballet's conventional body type.
Kargman's journalistic eye is sharp, and the camera peers in on the crazed faces of the dancers' ballet teachers just enough to expose their garish, obsessive qualities.
At the Grand Prix, shots of bleeding, blistered feet and floor-burned skin are rife, as one dancer quips "you've been working your body to death since you were like, five."
In its best moments, the film shows the real desires of the kids that truly want to pursue ballet—the hinting at their loss of childhood is shrugged off as just another necessary step on the way to success.
Metro Cinema at the Garneau vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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