Leslie Felperin 

Ballet Boys review – three teenagers step up to the barre

This documentary about a trio of ballet hopefuls in Oslo is pleasant but not especially insightful, writes Leslie Felperin
  
  

Lukas and fellow pupil Henriette
Steady … Lukas and fellow pupil Henriette. Photograph: Svend Even Haerra Photograph: Svend Even Haerra

Shot over four years, this pleasant but not especially insightful Norwegian documentary tracks three teenage boys training at Norway’s top ballet school. As the only male dancers in their year, steady Lukas, stolid Torgeir and girl-crazy Syvert, who’s the least sure of his commitment to dance, naturally form a tight-knit little gang. But there’s a competitive edge there, even more so towards the end, when one is accepted to the Royal Ballet School in London and the other two stay behind in Oslo.

They certainly seem like nice, well-brought-up lads, but the documentary demurs from digging any more than superficially into their inner feelings, their home lives or the educational context. The dance sequences themselves are impressive, often shot in slow motion and backed not by classical music but jungly techno; somehow one feels there should have either been a lot more or a lot less performance to make this more distinctive.

 

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