Dancer

Title say it all.

This is now the 2nd time I have the privilege to have this dox available to me; thus I gulped it as the dried out fiend I am.

Never ever has my objectives on life in the spotlite been so put to the test!

Enjoy (hide the handkerchief man you are too;)).

B W Mange.

Dancer is not just a film about dance or a dancer, it's a human story, powerful, touching: it opens a window on Sergei Polunin's life, on the choices and the difficulties of a boy whose genius is a blessing and a curse in the same time. Scene after scene we feel like it was our, the dedication, the sacrifice, the pressure to achieve success and then, the disillusionment, the rebellion against a fate planned for him since childhood and against the system. Dancer doesn't give you answers to existential questions but leaves you with at least two certainties: Sergei Polunin it's a true, amazing artist and...if he is a "bad boy", you are the Queen Elizabeth!

the career of Sergey Polunin. this is the subject of this beautiful documentary. a ballet star, "Bad boy", seductive subject for media, for his tattoos, revolt, eccentricity. in London, in Moscow, making a great motivational short film. hard work. passion and hate about a way who not seems be, always, him. dialogues. images. confessions. and the portrait , a great portrait, discovered step by step. this could be all. sure, it is a film about a boy from East and about his huge talent. it is a film about ballet and its deep sacrifices. it is a film about glory of a young man. and about the errors. or, about the second chance and the reconciliation with the past. short, it is a film who must see. because, the chances are not small, in a delicate - precise manner, it could be a film for yourself. and this does it more than an expected ordinary documentary- the story of the Ukrainian young man has, at different level, each sin and virtue who define the contemporary life. but it is more than a newspaper article or a motivational book. it is a good support for discover, again, the essence of life. this is all.

This documentary brought me to tears. He is a brilliant, beautiful dancer with so much soul and passion. I loved that the longing, the thing that was missing most, that he couldn't seem to fill, was the absence of his family. It was heartbreaking that they all split to give him a better opportunity than they had, but that strategic departure, although good intentioned, left him feeling empty and alone. The ending was absolutely beautiful, and it was such a joy to see him grow into his own skin. I am still crying thinking about it.

"Dancer" (2016 release; 85 min.) is a documentary about 'bad boy' ballet superstar Sergei Polunin. As the documentary opens, we are with Polunin in his dressing room, with "curtain in 20 min." being announced. We then watch him perform, and are in awe of his skills. The documentary then goes back in time, to "Kherson, southern Ukraine", as the movie informs us, where we see young Sergei do absolutely amazing things at a young age (watch the footage of 8 yr. old Sergei...). Before we know it, Sergei, now age 13, is training at the Royal ballet School in London.

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from veteran film maker Steven Cantor. Here his subject is a highly skilled and talented ballet dancer who shot up through the ranks of the ballet world, only to discover that it's pretty lonely at the top, not to mention that the physical and psychological toll it takes on him may be more than he can handle. The British press had a field day with this guy, branding him the "bad boy" of ballet (and that is certainly what I remembered of Polunin). But when you see it in a larger context, it's pretty clear to me that Polunin wasn't much of a bad boy, but instead a lonely young man who comes of age in a brutally competitive environment, all the while terribly missing his family. There are some extraordinary moments in this all-access documentary. Let me just mention one to wet you appetite: late in the documentary, Polunin is dancing the lead role in Spartacus, and at the break we find him in his dressing room, recovering before the second half of the evening. Just watch...

"Dancer" opened last weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Tuesday evening screening where I saw this at was attended poorly (only 2 people besides myself). Given the complete lack of marketing for this release, I can't say I was very surprised. Hopefully this is the type of release that will find a wider audience once it is available on DVD/Blu-ray. If you like ballet, I would readily recommend you seek this out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.