Moving Pictures

[Only When I Dance]

Directed by Beadie Finzi

[At Cinema Village]

Runtime: 78 min.

A major goal for parents in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas (the impoverished slum neighborhoods) is to not have their children grow up to become drug dealers. That all-too-common route leads to only two destinations: “Jail or a coffin,” we are told during the opening minutes of Only When I Dance, the quietly gripping documentary about two teenagers from the favelas who are passionately committed to classical ballet.

The film follows Irlan Silva and Isabela Coracy as they strive to gain entrance into the competitions they view as their best shot for getting noticed—and, hopefully, hired—by directors of major ballet companies. For both of them a career outside Brazil is seen as the only possibility, so they set their sights on the Youth America Grand Prix, which holds annual auditions in Brazil.

The two young dancers are both engaging and easily invite emotional connection. They also offer intriguing contrasts. But what makes the film such a richly textured, involving experience is the time and attention devoted to their parents—and, in Isabela’s case, her grandmother as well. Silva’s father, addressing the camera at the start, had the usual reservations about his son’s enthusiasm for ballet. But once he saw his gifted son dance, he became fully committed to supporting and assisting Irlan toward fulfilling his dreams. Coracy’s family, once she is chosen as one of the 25 Brazilian dancers who will make the trip to New York City for the YAGP finals, does everything possible to scrape together the necessary funds for the trip. The mother returns to full-time work, the grandmother and father both apply repeatedly for loans.

Encouraging yet also realistic, both sets of parents contribute valuable shadings to the unfolding narrative. Just the fact that they were willing to have director Beadie Finzi’s cameras come into their homes indicates they want to be part of anything that might enhance their talented offspring’s potential for a career in their difficult chosen field. Another major player and captivating presence in the film is Mariza Estrella, the pragmatic, truth-telling director of the Centro de Dança Rio, where Irlan, Isabela and many other hopefuls get their training. She meets with her students and, when called for, their parents, for reality checks, and shepherds her charges to their competitions.

The film focuses strongly on issues of class as well as race. Isabela is darker-skinned than Irlan, and than most of the other ballet students. Estrella speaks unflinchingly of the way this makes her chances of a career even tougher, and states flatly that her only chance of a professional job is abroad, implying that even in multicultural Brazil, they want their classical ballerinas to be appropriately pale.

It seems clear early on that Silva has that drive, commitment and star quality that make him a likely contender in the big leagues. Coracy, while a lovely and accomplished dancer, is not quite on the level that the increasingly competitive, often unkind, world of ballet requires. While no one in the “real world” would ever consider her heavy, her physique is not quite as lean and muscular as those sitting in judgment would like. It’s painful to watch this gracious, poised young lady speak of the difficulty of not eating most of what her full-bodied family members are enjoying during their meals. The stress of worrying about those few extra pounds that could determine her professional fate comes across clearly.

Silva gets an extra leg up in the ongoing struggle to make it as a professional dancer when he qualifies for the Prix de Lausanne, a major international competition. We follow him as he experiences Europe for the first time, commenting on the “politeness” he finds in Switzerland, compared to Brazil. In a touching sequence, we see him delighting in his first experience of snow, catching icy droplets in his mouth like a carefree kid. A moment later, he enters the coldly clinical, highly competitive backstage area where dozens of dancers like himself are gearing up to try to be winners. No one seems to acknowledge anyone else. The camera waits with Silva in the wings as he prepares to perform his solo form Le Corsaire, and after the tension of those moments, his robust, commanding performance is all the more impressive.

The atmosphere at the New York competition is much more friendly and vibrant, as the 25 Brazilian dancers hang out together and offer each other support and encouragement. Yet it is at the YAGP that Coracy must confront the reality that she will not earn the high-level prize that provides a scholarship and can open the door to a career. It is all the more moving, then, to see her recover form the disappointment of her individual result to perform splendidly in the Centro de Dança’s ensemble number.

At the end of the film, Silva is in New York, where he is now a member of American Ballet Theatre’s second company, and performed recently at the Joyce Theater. Coracy, back in Rio, contemplates trying again at the YAGP, even as her teacher offers some brutally honest advice, and is shown teaching a group of younger girls. While their future paths may seem set, there are no guarantees for either of them.