A warm new doc renders the anguish and angst of Black Swan passé and shows dancers’ steel, solidarity and positive attitude
The antidote to tales of the ballet world’s dark underbelly – Black Swan, Netflix’s soapy new thriller Tiny Pretty Things – is On Pointe, a Disney documentary about students at New York’s prestigious School of American Ballet (SAB). Whether following eight-year-olds dashing across the tri-state area after school to cram in nightly lessons or teenage full-timers who obsess about dancing with New York City Ballet (NYCB), the show does not stint on the graft required or the sacrifices (not least of the parents ferrying around their charges).
Related: On Pointe review – arabesques and ambition at America’s top dance school