I was 12 when I quit. Thank goodness, because according to Flesh & Bone (Lightbox), it's addictive and really bad for you. Sure, giving up ballet meant I would never get into the company of my dreams. But it also meant I wouldn't casually lose a toenail, be humiliated if my phone rang during class, or be told to "get the girls out" at a company party. My sadistic brother wouldn't come looking for me, a homeless guy wouldn't give me drugs and my jealous new flatmate wouldn't be a complete biotch.
All of this happens to troubled ingenue Claire in the creepy but compelling new series from Breaking Bad's Moira Walley-Beckett. Just as Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan explored the ugliness lurking beneath the beauty of ballet, this unsettling drama finds depraved new levels for the characters to sink to for their art.
Sarah Hay (also of Black Swan) is well cast as the new girl in the American Ballet Company. She's naive, sensitive, vulnerable. She's also brilliant, and thrown into the principal role overnight, turning nearly everyone into her nemesis. If you thought Glee was catty, try surviving a day in this studio.
Everyone is insecure about their place in the company, particularly ageing principal dancer Kiira, who is sleeping with the boss and on drugs. The straight guy wants to shag Claire. So does a wealthy Frenchman who she's virtually set up with as payment for sponsorship. If there's a theme developing it's that the dancers are expected to, well, perform. Even the semi-friendly one gives lap-dances at a seedy club. All of which gives the first episode a kind of bleak humourlessness. But by the second ep, this nasty little melodrama has become quite addictive. And because it's ballet, there's always something pretty to look at, even if some of it borders on cliche.
It's led by a cast of world-class dancers who are exquisite to watch, even if they're just warming up in the background. Little details make it more authentic too - Claire's green-eyed flatmate keeps her pointe shoes in the fridge. Like Breaking Bad, Flesh & Bone admirably shows, rather than tells, many of its disturbing scenes playing out without much dialogue. When it does come, it's pithy and dark.
