First Position

Producer/Director Beth Kargman has put together a wonderful documentary that follows six young ballet dancers to the Youth America Grand Prix, one of the most important of all ballet competitions worldwide.

The prizes at the competition include awards of recognition, scholarships, and work with major dance companies. The dancers are in several age ranges and ethnicities and include 11-year-old Aaron Bell, Joan Sebastian Zamora, a dancer from Colombia, Michaela Deprince,a black dancer, Jules and Miko Fogarty, of mixed ethnicity, pretty Israeli Gaya Bommer, and all-American girl Rebecca Houseknecht.

Michaela and her sister were adopted from Sierra Leone, where there was nothing but death and poverty. Michaela has been told that blacks make unsuitable ballet dancers -- bad feet, too muscular, wrong build etc. For the competition, her teacher has her dance against type, doing a feminine, delicate dance.

Zamora lives in New York, far away from his family, but his father tells him there is nothing for him in Colombia and he has to go after his dream. Rebecca is a cheerleader and normal kid whose passion is dance, and Aaron doesn't tell other kids he's a dancer. All of them have great talent, as we can see from their dance routines at the Grand Prix. Zamora has stardom written all over him. Jules has decided he really doesn't like ballet, which hurts his mother, but she accepts it.

A very inspiring documentary about youngsters from different backgrounds and social status with the dream of dancing in the ballet, and the sacrifices they have made to achieve their goal. The dancing is heavenly; I only wish there had been more of it.

All these contestants went on to wonderful careers. Sadly Michaela DePrince died of unknown cause in 2024, at the age of 29.

First Position was a brilliant documentary in my opinion! It gives the audience an intimate look at the lives of seven dancers ages 9-17 who are preparing for the Youth America Grand Prix international ballet competition. They each are hoping to receive a scholarship to study at a world-renown ballet institution, or a job offer so that they can achieve their dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer. The documentary addresses the lifestyles of these children, their performances at the Grand Prix semi-finals, and eventually the finals in New York City.

I felt like this gave a really interesting and accurate depiction of the lives of these young dancers. The kids they picked to interview were very diverse and likable. I found myself routing for all of them. Also important, the documentary addressed how this career path has affected the lives of the parents of the children. The parents vary from loving and supportive to completely overbearing. I enjoyed the variety of approaches to the same goal.

I really would recommend this documentary. The subject is really interesting. The way it is filmed and edited is ideal (not too fast, not too slow) and the dancing is absolutely breath-taking. I felt very informed and very inspired after watching First Position.

First Position takes a front row in my line up of competition documentaries. It's exceptional because it doesn't overdo its reverence for ballet, nor does it play on a natural sympathy for young competitors from 9 through 19 years old. It would be easy to fawn over youngsters who have only two and a half minutes to persuade judges that they are the best among hundreds of ambitious artists.

It keeps the tension of the race to the finals of the Youth America Grand Prix while it invests just the right amount of time with six selected dancers, some of whom fortuitously go to the finals and win, if not the gold , then full scholarships to dance academies, not a bad substitute at all.

The camera follows, as is tradition, the endless practices with the demanding coaches, but this time both principals and teachers seem to enjoy the process as much as the awards. There's respectful, low key camaraderie among all the competitors, coaches, and parents that is unusual for these contests and documentaries about them.

The range of contestants is the believable, not hyped part I liked so much. While cheerful ten year old Jules Fogarty clearly isn't into dance or the competition, sixteen-year old Joan Sebastian Zamora will earn a top spot at the Grand Prix finals in New York because he cares just enough. Such is the way ambition should work out in the best of all possible worlds.

Best of all the dancers, for me, is 11 year old Aran Bell, whose ambition is matched by his awesome talent with a litheness only a dancer years older could have. Michaela, originally from Sierra Leone, is the most surprising talent, given the horrors she has seen and the physical challenges she must overcome.

Director Bess Kargman, following six contestants for over a year, does simple magic with director of photography Nick Higgins, sometimes forsaking the competition footage for the more intimately personal, with arguably limited results when the winners are announced as we want to agree with the decisions. More time on stage might have enlisted our cooperation.

A case could be made for the superiority of the ballroom dance Mad Hot Ballroom, poetry team Louder Than a Bomb, horse racing's First Saturday in May, or spelling bee Spellbound because they concentrate on the intensity of the actual competition and open up criticism of the contest itself. No such negativity appears here, a weakness for those who would like the reality of disappointment and hurt to extend beyond Michaela's sore foot.

But for me, it's nice to be relaxed as we hope these young competitors still are.

If you are between the ages of 9 and 19, and you are a dedicated (and hugely talented) ballet dancer, then the Youth America Grand Prix is a dance competition you'll know all about. And dream about. It doesn't matter where you're from (some of the "stars" of this documentary come from Africa and Latin America): given colossal natural ability, extremely hard work and the right guidance, you, too, can try for the glittering prize. Bess Kargman's excellent film follows seven kids as they prepare for, and participate in, this intense contest.

What a joy to get to review something that isn't brain-dead! Ballet is very difficult to do, very beautiful to watch, and requires intelligence and artistic flair (rather like a good documentary, really), and Bess Kargman has made a ballet film which is not only picking up awards faster than Halle Berry gathers motoring citations, but "First Position" has achieved the nigh-impossible for a work of non-fiction, and is going on general theatrical release. It will hit the screens on Friday, May 4.

The premise is a simple and compelling one. Youngsters from all over the world strive to qualify for the Grand Prix finals, held in New York City. When the very best gather for the dance-off, the pressure is just about unbearable. Each contestant will have five minutes on stage. If you're sick, or overcome by nerves, or if you stumble during your routine … too bad. All those years you worked for this, all those things you sacrificed in order to get here, are riding on the next three hundred seconds. Five thousand dancers enter each year, with this number being whittled down to a couple of hundred for the New York finals. From this small group, the winners will emerge. Kargman knows how to build suspense – but the who-won-it is only one element in this excellent film. We get to see the physical pain these kids go through (check out the "foot-stretcher" used by little Aran, which looks like a medieval torture implement), we hear from their parents and dance teachers … but, most of all, there is the beautiful ballet itself.

Like any documentary worth its salt, "First Position" asks as many questions as it answers. Thought-provoking contributions abound, like that from the teacher who states openly, "Kids who are pursuing ballet as a career give up their childhood." Can such a sacrifice be justified? Who gets to make the choice? Which is worse – to push small children through the grueling practice schedules, or not to push them – thereby passing up the chance for success? Is it fair to expose youngsters to the appalling pressure of the final round? This is a film which stays with the viewer long after the final credits have rolled.

One of the things you need to be good at, when you shoot a documentary, is judging what not to do or say. In this, Kargman has triumphed. She is never obtrusive, and she lets the images (and the kids) tell the story. Critic Dave Robson, reviewing the film for the Toronto International Film Festival (where, incidentally, it won considerable acclaim) puts it like this: "Though she casts a wide net, Kargman is careful to include only the most essential commentary. She frequently complements her cast's words with beautiful shots of dancing and juxtaposes them with more candid and vulnerable moments. It is perhaps trite to say that a film about an aesthetic discipline looks beautiful, but "First Position" does. It certainly helps that dancers are well lit, but more to the point, Kargman keeps her cinematography simple. To be too clever would distract from the dancing." In case anyone reading this is under the misapprehension that it's just a bunch of well-heeled preppy youngsters indulging in a glorified hobby, it is worth mentioning Michaela Deprince. This young finalist hails from Sierra Leone, where she witnessed her parents getting murdered. "It's a miracle I'm even here," she says – and she bears the scars to prove it. Indeed, overall, this is a singularly resilient bunch of kids. After all they have been through, it is surprising – not to mention heart-warming – to see how balanced, articulate and likable they all are. Take, for example, the tiny 12-year-old Miko Fogarty, who frequently has to field comments from others, to the effect that she has missed out on her childhood. She doesn't happen to agree.

This is Bess Kargman's breakthrough movie, and much credit she deserves. She directed the project and also took a major hand in the editing. Her director of photography, Nick Higgins, has done a lot of documentary work in his career – but surely nothing as visually captivating as this.

By the way, for those of you who, like me, have a penchant for movie titles which contain more than one level of meaning, "First Position" refers of course to winning the Grand Prix, and therefore being guaranteed a prestigious professional contract … but it is also a ballet term, denoting the preliminary posture – standing with heels together, toes splayed outwards. The things you learn on IMDb, huh?

This documentary takes a little time to pull you in but it succeeds nicely. A little patience is required but it is worth it !

I like most people expected to be bored senseless with this but instead I now appreciate classical dance much more.

This is because director Bess Kargman pays attention to the sufferings hard work and devotion and lets not forget beauty of what these young people go through and what they do.

She lets us see the toll ballet takes on these kids emotions and feet. Yes I said feet. Bruised bloody feet. And all the emotional strain as well.

Watch for the African girl who dances with a bad ankle and it is just normal for every one around her and nobody tries to dissuade her!

I could empathize and feel the dramatic as the competition nears and judgement is made in the various categories.

I gave this documentary 8 stars. But it might as well be 10 because it did hold my attention about a subject I had no interest in whatsoever. I didn't want to see it. For shame. I am glad I spent the money on this film.

I was going to see an other film for the second time because the Embassy in Waltham has $6.00 Tuesdays.

When there's a new film showing? What a waste!