We've Finally Reached "Breaking Pointe"!

May 30, 2012

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: “Breaking Pointe,” the new CW series following Salt Lake City’s Ballet West, premieres tonight!

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a screener copy of the first episode, so believe me when I say: You will be obsessed with this show. There’s tons of behind-the-scenes drama—some of it dance-related (the first episode documents contract renewal day, and let’s just say not everyone ends up happy), some of it not so dance-related (half the cast members are dating each other, so…). It’s seriously entertaining.

And interesting. The show’s mission, according to artistic director Adam Sklute, is to be “the antidote to Black Swan,” disproving the movie’s negative stereotypes. While a few small aspects of the show do seem a bit “Black Swan”-y (the opening includes dancers in dramatic spotlights, with a voice-over intoning “We do it to be perfect” ominously), for the most part “Breaking Pointe” seems to present ballet’s joys and heartaches pretty realistically. It’s nice to see Sklute talking about the instability of a dancer’s life in a way that’s sympathetic as well as candid: “I often have to make decisions that my dancers don’t like,” he says in this episode. “It’s hard on them. But the best recipe for creating a hardworking and well-functioning dancer and artist is if all the dancers know that they are special, but also that they’re expendable.” (That’s about as mean as he gets, by the way. No evil directors here.)

Can’t wait for the premiere? Read our interview with cast member Beckanne Sisk about filming the series, and check out the preview below!