Compelling, Heartbreaking, Uplifting, “Dance Life” Brings Beauty And Truth To The Screen
Professional dancers are required to embody both art and athleticism. It’s a tough gig, and even with the best training, it’s an industry that’s still hard to crack. Dance Life reveals just how demanding on mind, body and soul the life of a professional dancer can be – and that’s before they’ve even graduated from Sydney’s prestigious Brent Street Studios, where this docu-series was filmed.
Dance Life follows a group of students through their final year of full-time study at Brent Street, which trains about 90% of all professional dancers in Australia.
Whether it’s the gruelling technique classes, the fierce competition from their friends who are also their rivals, or their personal demons surfacing to sabotage their dreams, the series offers a gripping insight into what it takes to make a professional dancer.
It’s like Dance Academy but real
With one-on-one interviews with teachers, students, families and mentors, Dance Life lifts the lid on the work that goes on behind every elite dance performance you’ve ever seen. Dancers are obsessed with perfection and their dedication can come at great personal cost, as Dance Life shows us.
Even if you don’t think dance is your thing, the series is compelling. These intense young people, barely adults, are extraordinarily talented. They are fighters. They have made sacrifices to be where they are. “I haven’t given up too much,” says Max S, “Just my education and my social life,” he reveals without irony or bitterness.
They have overcome immense personal challenges and they are fiercely resilient yet, they are also vulnerable and fragile, and the producers of Dance Life have artfully captured this contradiction over the course of five edge-of-your-seat episodes.
Not surprisingly, several of the dancers featured are from the LGBTQIA+ community. We are introduced to Max S and Conor who, we discover in episode 2, are a couple.
Another dancer, Archer, identifies as non-binary and is asked to dance in both female and male roles, but fears the male musculature that may be required for male roles. Thankfully, the Brent Street teachers treat Archer with respect and consideration.
Triple threat Arabella is a lesbian. Required to sing and dance, her ambitions are lofty but, we learn, she too has personal issues. There are many non-LGBTQIA+ stories as well, which are equally compelling.
Dance Life is the perfect docu-series. It reveals just enough, without overstaying its welcome. It breaks your heart, then puts it back together. You will not only love these young performers, you’ll come away with a new and profound respect for the art of entertainment itself.
