In many ways Air Point, Disney + ‘s new docuseries, feel like a study of big edges. For every ballet student who tells the camera about their hopes and dreams, there is another one whose dance career is coming to an end. For every proud parent there is a worrying, short-sighted view about whether it is healthy to put children as young as six in such an intense world. Air Point I just don’t capture the enthusiasm it takes to be one of the best dancers in the world. It embodies that inner struggle.
Given how cutthroat this industry is and how difficult it is to watch children fail from time to time, this complex dance between dreams and reality is handled in the most subtle way. The six-part series revolves around the New York American Ballet School. The New York City Ballet, SAB affiliate school trains students as young as six and offers vocational training for dancers 11 to 18 years old. Of the school’s 600 per cent of applicants each year, only 25 per cent accept. Air Point making one thing clear. If you want to be a professional dancer, this is the place where you need to be.
As director Larissa Bills demonstrates, SAB is run by a group of extremely caring people. Many teachers take time out of their lives to make school scholarships and the steps they have taken to make training at the center more accessible to everyone in New York. They understand the remoteness and benefits of the world of professional dance. That is a mistake that they are trying to correct.
But as great as these secrets are and as sweet and understanding as these teachers can be, nothing can protect students from the truth. As the American Ballet School has a good experience, only a handful of students will ever be good enough to progress to the professional level. That usually means trimming what is heard, separating the steep student or the deficient dancers from the ones who have the opportunity. It’s a life lesson that is hard to see when adults are involved. It’s devastating when you talk about breaking children’s dreams.
But it’s the same lofty promises that make what these kids do so amazing. It’s unbelievable when anyone takes their life for a reason. That’s exactly what these students do on a day-to-day basis. You can see it in their long routines that eroded into hours at the gym spent on strength training and weight lifting. It’s there because these tired artists use whatever free time they have to pour over textbooks and papers by the light of their desk lamps. You can especially see it through SAB’s senior students like Taela Graff, an ambitious young woman who moved away from her mother to stay in school full time.
Air Point unlike other sports documentaries. There are not many stories of overcoming poverty or abuse. There is no clear statement. What the series offers instead is a surprise to those amazing students who have dedicated their lives to their art and a silent platform with no thought for explaining why. It’s about the passion, commitment and love it takes to be the best. That is something sweet that we can all enjoy.
Look Air Point on Disney +