I have to say I agree with Morgana and John_Meyer with their user reviews. When I say that Ethan Steifel was trying to make a show about ballet I was very excited. Unfortunately, this is one of the worst movies/shows about ballet I have ever seen. As a former modern dancer and now an avid balletomane, I can not say how disappointed I am in this show. There is very little dancing in it. And so much of the show just trots out the tired and untrue clichés about dancers and the ballet world.
As far as the little bit of dancing there is, my opinion is that Sarah Hay is really not much of a dancer. In fact, I didn't even think she was really a dancer ( I thought this was a Black Swan situation) until a friend told me she is with Dresden Ballet. And her one facial expression - one of perpetual distress - makes me want to shake her. I, too, felt I had no reason to root for her and hoped she would exit the show early. A pity that was not to be.
The one good dancer in the series - Irina Dvorovenko - is hardly used and then primarily in brief rehearsal scenes of her dancing Balanchine's Rubies (from Jewels), a role I don't believe she has ever danced. ABT, the company she spent her career with, has never danced Jewels and, to the best of my knowledge, does not have the rights to it. The rehearsals of Rubies are terrible. Did the Balanchine Trust get anyone to supervise this? It certainly doesn't look like it. And while Sascha Radetsky is a nice guy, he does not look like he is in very good shape (he retired from ABT in the spring of 2014). All I can say is thank goodness more ABT dancers did not get involved with this disaster and NYCB dancers have better things to do with their time.
I have not yet seen the final episode, but what little I have seen of the new piece makes me think that Ethan is not much of a choreographer. He was a great dancer and seems like a nice guy but that doesn't necessarily make him good at choreography. And based on the credits, with each episode written by a different person (and a different director) makes the series not hang together very well. I know this show was Ethan's idea but clearly he lost creative control of it somewhere along the line. What a shame and a wasted opportunity. I would recommend not spending time watching it.
As far as the little bit of dancing there is, my opinion is that Sarah Hay is really not much of a dancer. In fact, I didn't even think she was really a dancer ( I thought this was a Black Swan situation) until a friend told me she is with Dresden Ballet. And her one facial expression - one of perpetual distress - makes me want to shake her. I, too, felt I had no reason to root for her and hoped she would exit the show early. A pity that was not to be.
The one good dancer in the series - Irina Dvorovenko - is hardly used and then primarily in brief rehearsal scenes of her dancing Balanchine's Rubies (from Jewels), a role I don't believe she has ever danced. ABT, the company she spent her career with, has never danced Jewels and, to the best of my knowledge, does not have the rights to it. The rehearsals of Rubies are terrible. Did the Balanchine Trust get anyone to supervise this? It certainly doesn't look like it. And while Sascha Radetsky is a nice guy, he does not look like he is in very good shape (he retired from ABT in the spring of 2014). All I can say is thank goodness more ABT dancers did not get involved with this disaster and NYCB dancers have better things to do with their time.
I have not yet seen the final episode, but what little I have seen of the new piece makes me think that Ethan is not much of a choreographer. He was a great dancer and seems like a nice guy but that doesn't necessarily make him good at choreography. And based on the credits, with each episode written by a different person (and a different director) makes the series not hang together very well. I know this show was Ethan's idea but clearly he lost creative control of it somewhere along the line. What a shame and a wasted opportunity. I would recommend not spending time watching it.
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