I far preferred the documentary "first position" to this show. The dancers were younger (not much younger than the 19 year olds) and not yet professionally part of companies but the documentarian chose riveting, touching, and moving personal stories.
ITA. First Position seemed to fly by, but Breaking Pointe seemed to drag. Hopefully now that they've done all the introductions and established who is who, etc. the following episodes will be better paced.
words cannot express how much I loathe Allison. Right, right. I'm sure she's getting the bitch edit.
I don't think she's getting the bitch edit. She's just being a bitch. First she passive aggressively said very loudly in rehearsal that her ankle was getting swollen and looked like Beckanne's, knowing that Beckanne was going to hear it. When Beckanne heard her name and walked over, Allison repeated what she said to her face and then added that you can balance forever on fat ankles. Sheesh. That is one catty, insecure mean girl picking on the young new girl who she is afraid will replace her.
I loved watching rehearsal and hearing the director give REAL feedback (I've obviously been watching too much of the useless "feedback" the judges give on SYTYCD).
Not!Girlfriend Brunette and Prima Ballerina Brunette have the same facial shape and even the same nose. It always took me a minute to figure out which one was which during the camera pans.
At first, I didn't know there were two of them. I mostly tell them apart by looking at their eyebrows. Christiana's are thicker on the inside and then they get thinner on the outside. Allison's are more uniform in thickness. Christiana's hair also has a redder hue while Allison's hair is a darker brown. But after an hour, the most telling thing is that Christiana has a smiley face while Allison has a dour bitch face and the only time I remember seeing her smile the entire episode was when Rex jokingly referred to her cankles.
it sounds as if Adam has created a new title of "first soloist" just to avoid promoting Ronnie to principal.
First soloist is a real position in some dance companies, so I think Ronnie was just mad that he wasn't promoted to principal. When he opened his letter and said, "I don't even know what that is," I think he was being facetious. I thought I saw him in the backstage footage (in costume) at the beginning of the episode so I'm pretty sure he will end up signing his contract. I wonder if he will try to negotiate with Adam to get bumped up to principal. I'd also be curious as to how many principal roles he has danced (since he brought it up when he got his first soloist contract offer). Understudying principal roles or performing principal roles at the matinee means they're testing the waters to see if you're principal material, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to make you a principal the next season.
One thing I didn't like about Ronnie was when he said he was the most unlikely ballet dancer you'll ever meet because he's into motorcycles or whatever. Okay, I get it. YOU'RE NOT GAY. Way to perpetuate the stereotype that you're the exception to the rule. I know that there are gay men who dance, but there are also plenty of straight men who dance so it annoys me whenever male dancers make a huge deal about not being gay.
The brothers are adorable together, so I'm glad that Ronald is staying instead of running after his girlfriend who doesn't even have a new job yet. It sucks that her contract wasn't renewed, but based on the stuff she was saying during rehearsal I can see why a director wouldn't want to keep Katie. She said she's "not a class girl" and that she sucks in class, couldn't pay attention in class, couldn't remember the combinations, couldn't pull it together, rated herself a -12, and left her dancing brain at home. She seems like a perfectly nice girl, but I wouldn't want a dancer who gets so distracted by stress that she can't handle simple class combinations.
I would love to hear some specifics from Rex and Allison about what they think their relationship is. She kept referring to him as a friend and then he said he loved her while they were out drinking. They're obviously not in the same place about the status of their relationship but I want to know if she's leading him on or if he can't take a hint. I'm sure in reality, it's a little bit of both. I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry when she equated "I love you" with crazy talk.
The one thing I really disliked was the forced talking head moments. I think there's enough drama and one on one interviews to explain the backstage drama. I don't need the seven main characters sitting around a rehearsal room trying to make small talk. There's no reason why there would be a group of principals and soloists chatting before class with two girls in the corps (Katie and Beckanne) so it was obviously set up by the producers. The two corps girls didn't say anything so their presence was totally unnecessary.
I also hated the scene where Katie and Ronald were out at some restaurant. That felt way too much like I was watching The Hills. Same goes for Katie and Beckanne having lunch, but to a lesser degree. I hope they don't keep forcing the dancers to have their expository talks like that.
]This article[/url] mentions which ballets they will be doing. It says they are working on “Don Quixote” and a repertory program with Balanchine’s “Emeralds,” Petipa’s “Paquita” and Jiri Kylian’s “Petite Mort.”
The other interesting tidbit in that article was some of the other ballet companies they considered. I wonder how many of the companies the approached just flat out told them no. On a related note, I'm still holding out hope that someone will air En Pointe, the reality series that was filmed at Miami City Ballet last year. Maybe if Breaking Pointe does well, another channel will buy the rights to air En Pointe!
Have any of you watched Agony and Ecstasy about the English National Ballet? I've only been able to find a few clips on youtube and was wondering if I should try to hunt down the three episodes.
Edited by ElectricBoogalo, Jun 1, 2012 @ 1:48 AM.
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