This 2016 documentary depicts Royal Ballet London’s youngest male principal’s life and the toll ballet took on it. Sergei Polunin, one of the most famous ballet dancers in the world, struggled his whole life devoting his time to ballet to bring his broken family back together. Polunin’s mother pressured him to dance to escape the small, poor Ukrainian town he resides from. Overtime, Polunin became extremely depressed, partying, doing drugs and becoming the ‘bad boy’ of ballet. However, his amazing talent bought him a ticket to success, despite how controversial his actions were. At first, I was skeptical to watch “Dancer” because I was not sure just how controversial the film would be. I soon became connected to Polunin’s emotion and soul as I saw him struggle mentally throughout the entire film. He performs with such emotion, it is hard not to become tranced in his charisma. Polunin’s technique portrays his maturity in ballet; preparing for leaps with such strength, then following through with such ease. It is easy to see how easy …show more content…
It does not matter how talented one is, one will become successful due to the amount of commitment and determination they have to be better than their competition. I now fully understand how expensive it is to dance professionally and/or competitively because the dancers have to pay for training, lessons, coaches, costumes, shoes etc. Also, it takes a physical toll on one’s body. Going to classes all day, then rehearsals, and performances all in one day. It must be so difficult to have your life solely focused on just dancing; I cannot imagine literally living just for ballet; it is no wonder why so many dancers become depressed. In consequence of having a life of just ballet, there is no chance of having personal or social time. This is what caused Polunin to become so outrageously