Secundaria

Gr 9 Up—Ballet takes discipline, talent, and dedication, and this documentary follows teenagers as they face these challenges at the National Ballet School of Cuba. This famous institution turns out technically skilled and poetic dancers, some of the best in the world. While trying to strengthen their skills, these students face other problems, such as poverty and anxiety, as they dream of a career in dance. However, their talent radiates in many sequences in which students learn new techniques or when they watch ballet performances. The narrator's tone is bland, and while impassioned students discuss their struggles at length, the subtitles don't catch every line. In fact, there were several scenes where there are no subtitles any at all. Viewers who aren't fluent with the language may have a hard time keeping up.