“If you don’t have a chiselled body, you can’t show your skin on stage unless it’s meant to be a joke.”
With traditional ballet still summoning up images of ultra slim, short ballerinas in white tutus being held up by lithe and sinewy male ballet dancers, its easy to forget how freeing dance should be for everyone, no matter their size or shape. And that you can be any body type and also be a talented and technically adept dancer.
Burlesque performer David Baxter is a trained dancer who constantly has to fight other people’s perceptions of what a talented and accomplished dancer should be. Tall, stocky and bearded, David speaks eloquently about body diversity and masculinity – and how he found a way to carry on doing what he enjoyed most, dancing.
En Pointe is genuinely moving and was directed by Matthew Kaplowitz, who also directed the fascinating feature length documentary Girl Fight: A Muay Thai Story, and co-directed with Stephen Koepfer the excellent short film Concrete And Crashpads: Stunts In New York.
You know how I’m always moaning how films are too long? Well En Pointe is under 7 MINUTES LONG but still packs in a lot. Check out the film below.
(Read my interview with director Matthew Kaplowitz, my review of Girl Fight: A Muay Thai story, and my Concrete And Crashpads review).
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