Unashamedly, I have been a fan of the CW’s latest reality show, Breaking Pointe, for the entirety of its run. Because of this, I’ve take quite a bit of heat from friends, both in and out of the ballet world, Despite their feedback, I remained firm in my stance. Then… I saw this week’s episode.
In the series season finale, Curtain Call, we witnessed an “Oh crap!” moment, as the producers threw together a haphazard ending to the season. Personally, I don’t know how I would have resolved all of the issues in one episode more smoothly myself: Rex and Allison’s torrid love affair (she’s just not that into you?), Katie’s quest for finding employment (which she did with Ballet Idaho) and the balance of leaving Ron, Christiana’s quest for perfection, and Ronnie’s bad boy persona (he doesn’t have me fooled for one second—he’s a passionate artist).
Here’s a thought for the producers, why did we need a resolution to any of these storylines? I get that as Americans, we like to have a satisfying ending—even to our reality television shows. But how realistic is that?
For me, this show has been fun to watch. It has been interesting to see the struggle in trying to show the actual lives of dancers, while also giving focus to the dancing—to keep the balletomanes at bay. Overall, I thought the network did a fine job; at least, I felt that way up until the end.
The final episode seemed more like two crammed into one—half of the episode took place at the theatre and the other half outside of it. We experienced the excitement of seeing what it’s like when partnerships get swapped at the last second, as principal dancer Michael Bearden was paired with Christiana for the last show due to an injury incurred by her regular partner. It would have been great to hear more about that process if time allowed. Dancers, as well as Artistic Director Adam Sklute, talked about the woes associated with a final show, such as their bodies being exhausted and hoping to make it through. I related to all of this.
The second half of the show was dedicated to the well-deserved post show binge partying that happens everywhere, complete with the bittersweet goodbyes to friends moving on. We also witnessed the self analysis that often comes when acknowledging how short-lived a ballet career is. This was addressed in a conversation between Christiana and her husband Christopher Ruud.
The show came to a dramatic end as we saw Rex open the door to his apartment for Allison. Oh! Cliff hanger! Does this mean there will be a season 2? Will we ever find out if Rex and Allison end up together? More importantly, do we really care? I hope they just move on. It’d be exhausting to watch them duke it out for another season.
My thoughts on this episode were are as scattered as this article may seem. Perhaps, that’s just what the CW was hoping to achieve in order to spark interest for a second season. I would love to see the show renewed. WFor years, while I was dancing, I had people ask, “What is’s it really like behind the scenes?” Considering both their time constraints and the complexity of educating the masses about the craft itself, Breaking Pointe did a bang-up job at answering this question,showing this giving both their constraints of time and the obvious need to educate the masses about the craft itself. To address the most common complaint I’ve heard throughout the run of this series is—, “I wish they showed more dancing.” To this the lack of actual dancing—I say,” if you want to see more dancing, go to the ballet!”.
Thank you, Ballet West and the CW for letting us have this fun.
The conversation isn’t over just yet. I’ll be joining Stephanie next week, as we sit down with Ballet West Demi-Soloist Allison DeBona. Stay tuned!
