Dancing on Glass is a movie on my watch list as I thought it would be a fun dance movie to watch as I loved and used to dance not ballet though more moonwalking than plies.
From the first scene you are thrown in the entire body first this does not hold back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01QYgkYF8lo
The only warning NETFLIX gives you is that the movie has self-harm which it does. Still, it has a lot of physiological effects in the movie too and watching this late at night was not a good idea as after this I had to watch something else to take my mind off it and fall asleep.
The original movie is in Spanish however it had an English Dubbed over option with English subtitles so I went with that option.
Dancing on Glass reminded me of the movie Centre Stage but more intense and the Principal of the Ballet school was a hard taskmaster and seemed to push the young ladies too much.
The plot revolved around a situation that occurred at the school with the Principal dancer or prima ballerina and in the first scene and this is where self-harm comes into play in the first scene of the movie that you see her dancing on a rooftop doing some ballet turns and then swan diving off it. Then the school is thrown into issues as they have to rush to find another Principal dancer.
The whole school is consumed with what happened with the original Principal dancer and they all blamed the Principal of the school as this lady pushed and pushed everyone and was seen as a person that did not have the student’s best interests at heart.
You have two choices on how to watch this movie well maybe three choices. Watch it during the day as it’s kind of like a horror movie but very dramatic. Watch it with a mature friend that also likes dancing movies. Watch it in parts not all in one hit and if you do watch it in full watch something else after it.
The movie is over two hours long and is constructed like a ballet as it has two acts.
The movie has Shakespearean feelings to it.
The cast is all for me young newcomers that all or most of them have a professional dance background or have had some professional training.
Dancing on Glass for me is a one-time watch although it was done well and no real people stood out for me it was a strong overall performance by all the cast involved.
The cast you could tell had a melancholy feel to it as it felt you were watching something grey at all times and especially when at the ballet school it felt depressing and you could see this when the young ladies left the school and had social life the fresh attire had colour to it again. How else could I put this? It felt like it was raining all the time at the school and sunny when school was done for the day.
As an old dancer of pop music I say go get professional training if you can but for me, if that takes the fun out of dancing and the love out of it then really go somewhere else to learn or just dance because you want to dance and dance your own style. Dancing is a free form of self-expression that no one should try and tell you that you are doing wrong.
Not suitable for kids or anyone who can’t handle confronting movies. I give the movie a 6.5/10 although I gave it a thumbs down as it’s not for me I am not the right audience for this movie as for me dancing should be uplifting and music also to that matter even if it’s a sad love song.