Ballet West is about to reach its “Breaking Pointe,” thanks to a six-part TV series by BBC Worldwide Productions. unlike most dance shows on TV, this isn’t a competition. instead, it’s a documentary about competition within the company, closely following 10 dancers, from the corps to the second company through to the principals.
Executive producer Kate Shepherd promises it will be “unlike any other dance show you will ever see.”
“We don’t have to create drama,” said Ballet West artistic director Adam Sklute. “The drama is there. all the drama and the joy and everything about being a part of a major arts organization is already there.”
The TV show focuses more on dancers than dance. “It’s the blood, sweat and the tears,” said principal dancer Christiana Bennett. “I don’t think anything will be hidden. I think it’ll be a true representation of what goes on daily for us. the heartaches, the joy — it can switch so quickly.”
The film crew from BBC Worldwide Productions captured the company in rehearsals and in performance, but it also interviewed dancers and followed them home.
“This is not just about men in tights and girls dancing around in tutus,” Shepherd said. “There’s an incredible amount of hard work and dedication. We will get to see what it takes to be a professional ballet dancer. And they will be showing the world the amount of hard work and dedication that goes into performing onstage.”
The show offers a portrait of ballet dancers as incredible athletes whose work puts incredible strain on their bodies. Bennett had to quit dancing for a year because of an injury; so did dancer Rex Tilton, who broke his back — a hairline fracture brought on by the physical stress of brutal rehearsals and performances.
And within the company, their friends and co-workers are also their rivals.
“They’re incredibly competitive,” Shepherd said. “They take their art very, very seriously. They’re one big family. some of them live together. some of them are even married, but they’re going up for the same roles.”
Which can lead to conflicts with a group that is “very tight knit,” according to Bennett, whose husband, Chris Ruud, is also a principal dancer at Ballet West. “We’re the most dysfunctional family you’ll ever meet, but I think when things like this happen, we really do pull together.”
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And that’s the reason the show is titled “Breaking Pointe.” It’s not just about the dancers as dancers, it’s about them as people. Cameras capture their conversations, follow them home, and make them something more than just performers on the other side of the footlights.
“You’re just pushed to the brink of exhaustion and you’ve got to let it out somehow,” Bennett said. “Everybody has their weak moment. everybody has their bad days. That’s just part of being people.”
Viewers will see dancers in their most stressful moments.
“They’ll see us when we come off stage and we’ve just performed something extremely difficult,” Tilton said. “When you see someone when they’re tired and beat down, it’s a really revealing thing.”
And that’s where the drama comes in.
“They dedicate and give their lives up to ballet and, at the same time, they have fantastic personal lives, incredible backstories,” said Shepherd. “They’re all from very interesting places. And there is lots of drama inside and outside the company.”
The dancers are used to performing on stage, but appearing on a nationally telecast TV show is something different. Particularly when you’re not playing a part, but exposing your own life.
Ballet West exposes itself — on TV
