FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

atlasmb Being a fan of reality shows and dance, this show was a natural for me. It profiles the Ballet West dance company out of Salt Lake City, and follows certain individuals in the company.We have all seen the traditional stories about dancers and their struggles (Center Stage, The Turning Point, etc.) in movies. Here is the chance to go behind the scenes with real dancers and discover the truth. As it turns out (no pun intended), their daily lives are filled with the same issues we all face, but everything in their lives is dance-centric, as it must be.Dance is a profession that melds athleticism and art. It is more demanding than most jobs because it requires discipline, self-examination, and an all-encompassing dedication. Breaking Pointe, in its second season, has focused on about seven dancers. And always in the background is the drama of creating a performance for a paying public. The company must stage the demanding Cinderella ballet on schedule. At the same time, the dancers deal with issues like working with your spouse, having to decide between career or relationship, injuries that are debilitating, and injuries that must be borne. And let's not forget the fact that annual reviews are hanging over everyone's heads. Dancers work under annual contracts, so every year they deal with the stress of not knowing what the next season will bring--renewal or termination. And because dance companies are very hierarchical, the dancers seek affirmation every year. "Will I get promoted to soloist? How long must I remain an intern? Can age and injuries threaten my position as a principal dancer?"As with other professional athletes, there are only so many employers. This further complicates the lifestyle of a dancer, who may have to pack up and move to another state if he cannot continue at his present jobs.Knowing all this, it is with great respect that I watch these dancers negotiate their problems. Some comments on this site are very critical of some of these dancers, sometimes even criticizing their physical characteristics. In my opinion, they are all beautiful. They have nearly perfected their beautiful instruments in pursuit of a beautiful illusion--that their performances are effortless.For any reality show, reality is abridged whenever an edit is made. But I feel that the producers of this show are attempting to show us the drama of these lives in a balanced way. How can one not feel for Chris and Christiana, principals dancers, whose marriage may be damaged by the dynamics that define it? Or Allison, whose fiancé may demand she leave the company to prove her love? Or Ronnie, the soloist whose foot injury has sidelined his career until he can rehab enough to perform the most demanding jumps?All of this drama is offset by the moments of beauty: The exquisite precision of a spin, the ornate costumes, the classic lines of the dancer's body at work or in repose.Breaking Pointe also shows the dancers at play, diffusing the daily stresses.In all, we get a comprehensive look at the world of a dancer. Any young dancer who contemplates the lifestyle of ballet should watch this show.

kenalbertson I had hoped to see some of the behind the scenes training, dancing, and issues that come up in a dance company, particularly a ballet company. Sadly this show falls far short. Of the eight or so people spotlighted, we hear them talk endlessly about their "significant other" as well as their progress in the ballet company. Snippits of dance are scattered here and there in the program, rarely more than ten or fifteen seconds at a time. There is a trend in reality shows to inject some drama into the reality, but this show is all drama to begin with and boring, repetitive drama at that. This show could just as easily be about circus performers, or an acting troupe with only a small amount of editing required.

RefrigeratedSocksLovesNOVK This show is great and filled with interesting (but not unrealistic) stories about 7 of Ballet West's dancers. Its also putting ballet back in the mainstream eye (though its ratings are low) and is offering us a real look at how hard the industry is to succeed in. I have been glued to this show since the first episode, but I must say that episodes 3 and 4 are better than episodes 1 and 2 cause 3 and 4 contain more dance with the same consistent amount of reality TV drama. Every person on this show is talented and deserving; and I really hope the show gets a second season cause it would be a shame to see one of the highest quality reality shows slip through the cracks. If you haven't checked it out definitely look it up (you can watch all the already aired episodes legally on the internet) and give it a chance, especially if you have a love for dance like me.Some notes on the 7 dancers (no episode spoilers, just brief bios/intros and personal opinions). Beckanne Sisk is a very young (19) up and coming dancer who blows everyone away with her ridiculous talent. Shes really good friends (and roommates) with Katie Martin. Katie is in a relationship with fellow ballet west cutie Ronald Tilton. I love Katie, she's really sweet and funny. Ronald, Katie's boyfriend, is super lucky in that he also gets to work alongside his brother Rex Tilton at Ballet West. Rex is sortof dating Allison Debona. Allison is SUPER career focused and I really sympathize with her on the show, but some people find her irritating...personal preference (and only bad edit?) I suppose. Christiana Bennett is one of the principal dancers at ballet west. Christiana seems like a great person and she dances sooo effortlessly (though we know shes gotta be in pain and struggling). And lastly there is Ronnie Underwood. Ronnie is a MAN...No really that is how they sell him on the show...total dude. He's pretty hilarious to watch as he struts his stuff like a hot peacock.

prufrockja I'm a lifelong Salt Lake-area resident, former (ten-year) student of ballet, and occasional season subscriber to Ballet West, so I've been quite interested to see what this Ballet West reality show would turn out to be. Ballet West is an old and much-respected company and its dancers' personal lives are frequently commented on locally--the unusually high count of married couples in the company, in particular--and so I'm not surprised that they were deemed strong subjects for a ballet reality show. The obsessive ballet world was ripe for reality show treatment, and so far I'm glad that our local dancers were chosen for the job. (Another selling point: reality show subjects with ties to Mormonism/Utah seem to be Hot Stuff in TV Land. I think network executives have discovered the fierce viewer loyalty Mormons provide anyone they perceive as being connected to their culture, even indirectly.)Of course, a more documentary treatment of ballet would have been preferable--there are some standard reality show elements in Breaking Pointe that made me laugh out loud. For starters, suspicious editing practices: was that shot of principal artist Christiana Bennett scowling really a reaction to the new girl's praised performance, or completely unrelated? There's some typical forced conversation and amplified drama: does the real Allison really walk up to other dancers unprovoked and mockingly reduce their superior abilities to fat, sturdy ankles? I doubt you'd survive long professionally with such behavior, unless you've been cast as the Villain and charged with the task of stirring up on-screen mischief. And there are also a few too-convenient symmetries, as the envied rising star and her only close friend are promoted and canned, respectively. Did company director Adam Sklute choose which handful of dancers to feature based on the drama of the particular fates he already had planned for them? Or maybe he fired Katie for no other reason than to provide a nice dramatic contrast to Beckanne's good fortune, as well as the side benefit of romantic tension in parting Katie from her dancer boyfriend? Though I was not surprised to see such familiar reality show devices in the show, I was a little disappointed. But I can't compare a reality show airing on a crappy minor network to Great Documentary Cinema, and for all its flaws I think this show must sit somewhere near top of the reality show heap. I was glad to see that the producers haven't tried to impose a general cat fight vibe on the company--a rare thing in the reality show world, where the assumption is that viewers tune in to see real or fabricated animosity between the characters. Except for Villain Allison (whose evil seems a bit forced, as I already mentioned), the dancers come across as driven and ambitious but ultimately good-natured and occasionally self-deprecating. Overwhelmingly likable. I certainly want to believe the best of these people: I have a fondness for them after watching them onstage for years--Bennett in particular--so it's great to see that this is a better-than-average reality show and portrays the dancers as being better-than-average human beings. The dancing here is beautiful and the dancers are quite articulate in explaining their world, and so if I can make it through next week's Ballet Babes Gone Wild bikini episode without being fatally annoyed, I expect I will enjoy the rest of this series very much.