Breaking Pointe

"Breaking Pointe" closed out the season last night heavy on the drama, light on the dancing. Although the finale ostensibly focused on the simultaneous excitement and let down during the close of a run, most of the episode concentrated on Katie's goodbye and Rex and Alison's breakup. Even Christiana ended up in tears (seemingly due to something about the pressure of being too good?).

When Adam Sklute spoke to Pointe earlier this year about his company's decision to participate in "Breaking Pointe," he said one of the driving reasons behind allowing cameras into his studios was the opportunity to set "the record straight about the real dramas and the real joys that happen in the ballet world, without having to play into stereotypes."

All too often, those final rehearsals before a performance make it seem like everything's destined to go wrong on stage. Last night's episode of "Breaking Pointe" showed the Ballet West dancers succombing to that pre-show stress: They struggled with props, they wrestled with tempos, they let their anxiety throw them off.

We've all been there. Although there's obviously no such thing as "perfect" in ballet, it's still something every dancer strives for. And the nerves that pressure creates are ludicrous.

The CW series Breaking Pointe has thrust Ballet West into the national spotlight. One of the show's most compelling characters, Allison DeBona, chatted with Pointe about what it's like to have her personal life and career exposed in front of a million people. 

What was the filming like?

Now that we've seen the first two episodes of The CW's Breaking Pointe, I'm left feeling like the producers are missing the point. So far, at least.

The show tries so hard to be dramatic. Which is understandable. They have to sell this to a mainstream TV audience. From the shadowy opening dance shots, to the voiceovers of Allison DeBona talking about how ruthless the competition is and Adam Sklute's comments about the expendability of dancers, everything bangs us over the head with "drama."