Dying to Dance

Perhaps the portrayal is a little cliched in this movie, and I would agree that the writing is somewhat strained, but I did find it a compelling story of anorexia. I am not a dancer. I do not know what life is like in the world of professional ballet. I am, however, a recovering anorexic. Is it possible to become an obsessed anorexic, desperate to use any and all measures to lose weight and lie to everyone about it in the span of only a few months? Absolutely. I know because it happened to me. I starved myself down to 69 pounds. I kept obsessive journals of every calorie that passed my lips, exercised to the point of exhaustion, and lied to everyone I knew about what was going on. In trying to maintain control of my life, I lost control. That was accurately conveyed in the story, and it brought back a flood of twenty-year-old, painful memories of what I went through. Maybe this movie is an inaccurate portrayal of dancers. But it hits the mark with anorexics. I do wish the writing had had more depth, perhaps exploring Alyssa's psyche a bit more.

Never mind the serious logic gaps, never mind the achingly cliche character portrayals, never mind the haphazard writing, and you might like this movie. The main character Alyssa was supposed to be endearing, the heroine who you root for to be saved,(or in this case, save herself) But instead she merely grates, and makes one wonder, are all pro ballerinas really that stupid? Her busybody mother was obviously only necessary to further propagate the illusion that ballet companies are evil monsters ready to snatch your poor, innocent, young girl from your grasp, with an ever present, biting artistic director/villain. And the cliche's! Not only does she become anorexic, bulemic, an over the counter junkie, and a pathological liar, but all in the course of a few months. It's like the writer read every horror story he could dig up about ballet and decided to see how much he could cram into two hours, (with commercials).

Believe it or not, but I am a dancer. This "uprising" or "resurgence" of anorexia and bulemia that is happening is nonexistent at all of the dance schools I have attended. In fact, the teachers are so scared to even suggest that a girl might stand a better chance a few pounds lighter, most of the dancers in my classes would be actually considered minorly overweight. I'm not saying eating disorders never occur, but not to the extent as it was portrayed in the movie.

Another annoying problem this movie had was the means-to-an-end writing style. Her on again off again boyfriend probably had all of half an hour total screen time, all in the first half. The other supporting characters were merely props, decorations to further the story. Given the right dialogue, this would have been a very intricate mind study of a psycological problem. As it is, it turns into a one woman show, and Kimberly McCullough doesn't have the chutzpah to pull it off.

To a non dancer, this movie would be a supposed "insight" into what really goes one behind closed doors at a ballet company. To a dancer, this is a very insulting movie, which portrays ballerinas as stupid and parents as pushy and ill informed. Those adjectives more correctly describe the people who got this on the air in the first place. 3/10

the last review says that a dancer wouldn't like this movie. well, i am a dancer, and i did like it.

the last reviewer also said that the weight problem in dance is exaggerated. maybe. i know mostly modern, afro, folk, and jazz dancers who are very healthy. ballerinas, i think, are generally not so well. my college girlfriend could have played alyssa, and she was eating disordered. the best ballerina i have ever seen (and i have been around dance at the highest levels for twenty years) once told me that her ballet school had "unhealthy" attitudes toward weight. she also said that her parents had made her go to counseling. shame on me, but i hadn't put two and two together until i saw this movie. kimberly mccullough looked just like her, too.

it's quite obvious that this movie was produced primarily to do some social engineering. if it happens to entertain some non-dancers, or contain imagery that is appealing to sensitive people, that's fine. but that's not the point. this movie has a very specific target population. i felt that the director did a good job including just the kind of dance scenes that would be irresistible to ballerinas. in fact, the final dance performance, which nearly made me barf with its excessive classicism, is just the kind of fluff that i can see ballerinas gluing their eyes to.

every ballerina i know would have a negative reaction to the message in the movie, and would try to find some kind of artistic fault, or enumerate the personal flaws of kimberly mccullough's character. maybe her dance wasn't to-die-for, or maybe her pretty dancemagazine face wasn't perfectly properly framed by her trendy chop cut. every ballerina i know would dismiss the weight-compulsion theme as overblown, unnecessary, or unrealistic. every ballerina i know would try to defend ballet, saying it's not ballet's problem. that, my little dears, is exactly the problem.

so it's the pinnacle of 90's manipulative, message-laden tv-melodrama? respect and congratulations are owed everyone involved in this film. it's a tear jerker that doesn't play fair because in this battle for little girls' hearts, all's fair in love and war, and the ends justify the means.

I just watched this movie for the first time. I have to say Kimberly McCullough was very convincing. I think she did a fabulous job. I agree the writing may not have been the best, but she did a great job with it.

I loved seeing Rick Springfield in this movie. He was a typical father believing everything his daughter says. Not wanting to admit there was a problem.

I think the mother's reaction was right on target. It is usually the mother who sees the problem first.

I would definitely recommend this movie.

Every time I watch movies like this it I am amazed how blind people are to their own faults. A good movie, because it really got my juices flowing. I really wanted to yell "snap out of it!!" or shake the main character to her senses. No luck at that, but proof it they did a good job at movie making this movie.

If you like movies like this one, also watch: "For the love of Nancy (1994)"