There has been a lot of controversy over Breaking Pointe this season, partnered with a lot of disappointment when the first episode aired–a lot of the ballet community was upset over how little ballet there actually was. I think Rebecca King captured how a lot of how I felt on Tendus Under a Palm Tree (she’s a professional dancer, too) after the first episode.
Now that we’re three episodes in, I’ve decided to share my opinions, too.
Ballet Becomes More Widespread
I think one of the most important segments of the first episode was of Adam explaining each part of the ballet company in relation to high school classes. At first, I thought, “blah, blah, blah. If you know anything about ballet already, you’d know this.” Thinking back on this, that’s not the point. As King quotes Allison DeBona as saying: “We originally set out on this endeavor to help rejuvenate the public’s interest in ballet and it feels like we are serving our purpose.” I think the show is definitely serving it’s purpose, although it’s doing it in a way not all of us are happy with.
People are learning more about how a ballet company operates because of Breaking Pointe, and the pain that goes into producing a ballet. Take Rex Tilton and Ronnie Underwood’s injuries and Joshua Whitehead’s disappointment of not getting the role of Napoleon(which he desperately wanted) for example. Both injuries and disappointment’s are a huge part of the real ballet world. I love learning more and more about what company life is like.
…but it’s still “reality TV”
I’ve seen a lot of people get upset over how Beckanne Sisk has gone from being the polite, new young dancer to the evil villain of this show and the bitchy girlfriend (taking over DeBona’s role, essentially). We realized last season that DeBona isn’t exactly the evil queen she was played out to be (and in fact, they haven’ shown that angle at all this season). There’s also the apparent “extreme tension” we’re apparently going to get to see between Christiana Bennet and Christopher Ruud in future episodes, which I believe they’re obviously over-dramatizing as well.
Producers feel they need to create drama in order to appeal to the reality TV masses…but I’m okay with that. As a ballet fan outside of the world of Breaking Pointe, I’ve accepted that the CW needs to add the unneeded drama and partying–as long as it means I still get to see quality ballet as well.
Are you happy with the new season of Breaking Pointe so far?
