You are viewing the archive: Bess Kargman
Review || BY Stephanie Zacharek || 05 04 2012 5:40 PM

REVIEW: First Position May Be Mostly About Ballet, But It's Also About Being Young

REVIEW: First Position May Be Mostly About Ballet, But It's Also About Being Young

Documentaries don’t have to be technically great to be irresistible, and Bess Kargman’s First Position, which follows six young ballet dancers as they prepare for an elite competition, is a case in point. You may think you can guess what’s going to happen by the end of First Position: Some will win and others won’t, there will be some tears shed, this or that dancer will be sidelined by an injury – and yet somehow, even though nothing hugely surprising happens, the details Kargman captures somehow feel fresh. Maybe that’s because this isn’t just a documentary about ballet and the extraordinary discipline it requires; it’s also about youth and its attendant hopes and risks, spelled out in language that’s painfully universal.
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First Looks || BY S.T. VanAirsdale || 05 04 2012 11:40 AM

First Position Clip: What's it Take to Be a Boy in Ballet? [Exclusive]

First Position Clip: What's it Take to Be a Boy in Ballet? [Exclusive]

After an award-winning festival run, the ballet-competition documentary First Position opens today in limited release via IFC Films and Sundance Selects. (It debuts May 15 on VOD.) Director Bess Kargman's film chronicles six young dancers' passionate pursuit of glory at the Youth America Grand Prix, trailing along as they (per the film's synopsis) "prepare for a chance to enter the world of professional ballet, struggling through bloodied feet, near exhaustion and debilitating injuries, all while navigating the drama of adolescence." Think Racing Dreams in pointe shoes, and you're on your way. Meanwhile, click through for an exclusive clip spotlighting another kind of dance-world complication: Being a boy in ballet.
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