Dancer

I happen to love dance of all types (big on ballet) which peaked my interest with it being THE Sergei. Best dancer in history, hands down. This is a movie, however, for everyone, not just dancers. I do think those who aren't 'into' dance will be after seeing this doc!

This was one of the most interesting and beautiful documentaries I have seen, and I have viewed a lot of them. The movie was fresh throughout, whereas some docs either start fresh and interesting then become a total yawnfest and stale by the middle.

Sergei's story is remarkable, impressive, one to be shared over and over and over again. He is an icon and legend for his fierce, artistic, poetic, athletic dance first and foremost, but to see where it all started is fantastic.

The final dance literally took my breath away.

Without doubt Sergei Polunin is one of the most amazing dancers ever with a body that is strong, powerful and light. When he dances his movements are incandescent. He possesses something that goes beyond nurtured talent.

Documentaries are sometimes the best form of film because they take something true, which is either remarkable in itself, or the context in which they present the truth is remarkable. This documentary is evidence of the former.

Sergei was born to a family of modest means in Southern Ukraine and as a baby was hyper mobile, which lends itself to gymnastics (his first enterprise) or ballet (his second as chosen by his mother - which is significant). By the age of 8 Sergei was destined for a ballet career for which his family made enormous sacrifices; his father and one of his grandmothers (maternal, I think) emigrated to work in the EU to support financially his ballet studies in Kiev. The cost of this to Sergei emerged when he was an adult and, sensationally, quit the English Royal Ballet where he was a Principal dancer.

In his teens Sergei joined the English Royal Ballet and by 19 he was a ballet sensation in the UK and gained notoriety a few years later because of his use of cocaine, self-harming and tattooes. I was curious about this young man psychologically; he danced like fire but was troubled. My one disappointment with the documentary, which prevents it being perfect, is that only the surface psychology of Sergei is presented. To be fair to the director he arrived in Sergei's life when the latter was at his most cynical and least trusting. The film took 5 years to make but to know Sergei probably takes a lot longer. Nonetheless the niggle remains.

What the film gives in abundance is footage of Sergei dancing and Sergei filmed by his mother and then the English Royal Ballet as he grows up. The visual impact of Sergei's body with tattooes and scars is an aesthetic marvel. My favourite piece of the film was Sergei on-and-off stage whilst dancing in Spartacus in Siberia where we see the man suffering for his art and his damaged feet. There is private footage too, which is endearing as Sergei's warmth, sense of fun and sincerity abounds.

If you love dance, you will like this film. If you marvel at what the human body can do physically, you will like this film. If you want a very human story of sacrifice in the quest to improve the lot of the children, you will like this film. If you love, like or are remotely interested in Sergei, then this is a film for you. With his dance Sergei has gifted the cinematic world a unique form. He has abandoned ballet, by which he felt constrained and which was not his choice but that of his mother's, but is continuing to dance.

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!

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.

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.