As the credits roll there is a sentence thanking everyone for having faith in a "first time filmmaker." And she did a fine job indeed. Over the past few years I have seen several documentaries featuring school-age kids, one preparing for a high school jazz competition, another for scholarships to cooking schools, plus a few others. What always strikes me is how dedicated these kids are, the antithesis of lost kids roaming the streets, looking to get into mischief.
The subject of is film is the 2010 world-wide competition to identify future ballet stars. A few thousand kids compete at semi-final sites around the world, and about the 200 best converge on New York for the finals, where some will get scholarships and some will get hired into a ballet company.
Interestingly the IMDb credits don't mention perhaps the best dancer featured, a boy of 11 named Aran. His parents are US military and when he competed they were stationed in Italy.
For me the most inspiring story was of Michaela Deprince, who as a young girl in war-torn Sierra Leone witnessed her parents killed during their civil war in the 1990s. She and another girl were adopted by an American couple and grew up with a normal life, and now she is an accomplished and successful ballet dancer.
The other that I found greatly interesting is Joan (pronounced 'JOE-nn') Sebastian Zamora, a 16-yr-old boy from Columbia. He seemed mature way beyond his age and is dedicated to his dancing. He was a superb dancer at 16, and was hired by England's Royal Ballet.
Overall a fine documentary with just the right emphasis on the semis and the finals, and just the right parceling of time among the featured contestants. Even if a person is not a particular fan of ballet (like me) it is enjoyable for the story being told. We hear too much news of kids getting into trouble, we don't hear enough of the good kids who are dedicated and work hard for what they want.
The subject of is film is the 2010 world-wide competition to identify future ballet stars. A few thousand kids compete at semi-final sites around the world, and about the 200 best converge on New York for the finals, where some will get scholarships and some will get hired into a ballet company.
Interestingly the IMDb credits don't mention perhaps the best dancer featured, a boy of 11 named Aran. His parents are US military and when he competed they were stationed in Italy.
For me the most inspiring story was of Michaela Deprince, who as a young girl in war-torn Sierra Leone witnessed her parents killed during their civil war in the 1990s. She and another girl were adopted by an American couple and grew up with a normal life, and now she is an accomplished and successful ballet dancer.
The other that I found greatly interesting is Joan (pronounced 'JOE-nn') Sebastian Zamora, a 16-yr-old boy from Columbia. He seemed mature way beyond his age and is dedicated to his dancing. He was a superb dancer at 16, and was hired by England's Royal Ballet.
Overall a fine documentary with just the right emphasis on the semis and the finals, and just the right parceling of time among the featured contestants. Even if a person is not a particular fan of ballet (like me) it is enjoyable for the story being told. We hear too much news of kids getting into trouble, we don't hear enough of the good kids who are dedicated and work hard for what they want.