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Ballet Girls: Walk a mile in their pointe shoes December 2 , 2006 Young girls dream of becoming ballerina and going to the ball, but locally made miniseries Ballet Girls is no Cinderella Story. Sure, the pointe shoes have to fit and there's a magical night on stage in the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Nutcracker at the end of the three-parter starting on Bravo! Ch. 27Monday at 8 p.m. But the heroines of this tale dispense with fairy godmothers and make their dreams come true through their own hard work and strength of character. Filmmaker Vonnie Von Helmot, who shepherded film versions of the RWB's Dracula and The Magic Flute, says her co-executive producer Merit Jensen Carr (Recreating Eden) conceived the series after hearing about experiences of budding dancers through friends. "What I thought was so brilliant about Merit's concept is it's totally a documentary and yet it had a reality element; in the end we get to see who plays Clara in Nutcracker, " Von Helmolt says. Director Elise Swerhone and crew shot 600 hours of video over months, tracking girls from countrywide auditions for RWB School's summer session -- a pre-requisite to entry in the Professional Division school year -- through opening night at Nutcracker in December. Von Helmolt says she and Jensen Carr made up wish list of the kinds of characters they hoped to find, but the dedicated girls, ages 10 to 14, surpassed their expectations. Winnipeggers include hockey-playing 14-year-old Kristine; an 11-year-old social butterfly named Alicja, and an 11-year-old named Carmen whose work ethic would put most adults to shame. Carmen, who studies kung fu and Chinese dance and works in her parents' store, says when she wanted to take ballet, her parents told her she'd have to pay for it herself. They relented when she won a spot in the RWB School. Getting in is no small achievement. The school accepts 60 students out of more than 1,000 applicants each summer. And the four-week session is like another long audition for the Professional Division. When classes begin, a 13-year-old says you have to love the pain -- sore toes, aching muscles and fatigue -- to make is as a dancer. Alas, for many, hard work isn't enough. One girl may be too tense, another lacking passion and then there's the unkindest cut of all: A 14-year-old is told the shape of her feet makes her too prone to injury. Some girls depart voluntarily -- leaving families behind to spend the school year in residence at the RWB is too daunting -- but for those who stick it out, the ultimate reward could come at Christmas. the series ends with one young dancer taking a bow after her professional debut in Nutcracker. |