Ballet, Sweat and Tears

Ballet, Sweat and Tears

2013, Performing Arts  -   16 Comments
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Ratings: 7.71/10 from 45 users.

Every mother bringing her child to the Academy believes she will be an accomplished ballet dancer. You've raised your child and gone through all the trouble to hand her over, but at best she's going to dance at the back row of Corps de Ballet.

Mothers wince when they hear that. Ballerinas are very graceful when they step, but that makes them very miserable because of the pain they suffer from. Sacrifices have to be made.

Initially, there are a lot of names on the list, but then the list gradually gets shorter, for instance, if they put a list with three columns of names, you will see about ten people at most left on it by the end. There are girls who are never chosen for any parts and they usually get upset when the lists are put up. The thing is they're not very good candidates to begin with.

Training is a very stressful experience. Exams and rehearsals are a never ending process. Evaluations are stressful as well. The child is nervous because she doesn't know if her performance is good enough to be accepted. If she is turned down her self-esteem suffers. You have to be very strong mentally and physically to face up to the challenge. If you are turned down, you don't need to give up on everything.

There are many up and coming dancers in the theater. Everybody is given the opportunity to dance, but sometimes some of them have plenty of work.

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john smith
john smith
1 year ago

NOT AVAILABLE IN THE UK-WHY?

san
san
7 years ago

These girls are kept to very strict regimens involving diet which continues into adulthood. Thus, they have such thin bodies and therefore, as you are all so perversely hung up on, small breasts.
Also, other than Skorik and Vishneva, the girls in this documentary are little girls!! Why would girls of 11 have a large breast, good grief.

Lauryn
Lauryn
7 years ago

Well, most ballerinas do have flat chests but not all of them. Misty Copeland does not have exactly a small chest. She is not the normal standards of a ballerina. They portay ballerinas to be pale, flat chested, and thin, but Misty Copeland is somewhat curvy and she is African American. She is an amazing role model because she did not give up just because she was not "ballerina standards."

Miss
Miss
7 years ago

Title of the documentary is same as the one about the National Dutch Ballet.

31jetjet
31jetjet
9 years ago

There was that Prima Ballerina from the Bolshoi Ballet that claimed it was like a "brothel" and dancers would be sent to see patrons in their homes or in hotel suites. Interesting that was never mentioned.

31jetjet
31jetjet
9 years ago

The translation was fantastic, I wish everyone did this style.

dewflirt
dewflirt
10 years ago

Beautiful. This is dressage without the weight of back legs :)

oQ
oQ
10 years ago

How do they managed to all have such small boobs.
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