Original subtitles

(WATER FLOWING)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

(CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)

I was very lucky to go one night

and see New York City Ballet perform The Nutcracker.

RUBY: The Nutcracker? That's the main reason why...

New York City Ballet was such... I was so drawn to it.

ELIAS: This is my ticket from seeing The Nutcracker

and that was so inspiring

because I've seen The Nutcracker online in like videos,

but I've never been able to see it live.

DOMINIKA: At the School of American Ballet,

advanced and intermediate students don't get to be in The Nutcracker.

Only the children's division and little kids get to be in it.

(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)

It's like an experience you've never had before.

Like, and you can actually say when you're older,

I was a dancer in The Nutcracker.

These are my paychecks from New York City Ballet.

Not totally professional, but kind of,

in a little, itty-bitty way.

DENA: The thing about this Nutcracker is that the children are an integral role

in the production and the kids are in school

and they have so many obligations and they're young.

But their commitment to all the rehearsal time

and the performances is a lot.

The discipline that they learn, the hard work,

the joy of performing is something they will never ever forget,

and certainly their parents won't either.

(ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYING)

DENA: Here we go.

(SWITCH CLICKS)

DENA: Today is the first day of The Nutcracker rehearsals.

Every Sunday, we will be rehearsing for many, many hours.

And then every weekday after classes, we'll be rehearsing,

because we have two casts.

Come on in, girls and boys.

DENA: Sixty-three in each cast

and we have the roles of Angels, Soldiers,

Prince and Marie, the Polichinelles, the Hoops, and the Sentry

and the Trumpeter, like there are so many specific roles

and group parts where sometimes they all have to be together

and sometimes we have to rehearse them all separately.

So, it's a tremendous amount of work...

One, two, three.

...before we open in Thanksgiving.

I know we're all very excited,

but the way we work, yeah, it's... it's a rehearsal

and we have to work well and efficiently together.

SOPHIA: A lot of the time on days off,

we get to come to Long Island to visit our cousins.

We came today to celebrate my birthday.

-SOPHIA: Hi. -ALEXANDRA: Hi.

Happy birthday.

SOPHIA: (LAUGHS) Oh my God!

(LAUGHS)

-Oh, my God, I love it. -Surprise,

-we're so proud of you. -Thank you.

This year we were like over the moon, we were so excited for her.

We're so proud of her and she works so hard.

SOPHIA:

Thank you!

ALL: Happy birthday to you!

-That is so nice. -ALEXANDRA: What does it say? Look.

"Marie, The Nutcracker, Lincoln Center, 2019."

KELLY: That's so great.

And your... your boy cousins are finally coming to the ballet.

(LAUGHS) They're very excited.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

SOPHIA: To be Marie, the princess in The Nutcracker,

it's super special.

It's a really big opportunity, with a lot of different parts to it.

It's kind of stressful, 'cause I didn't know

if I was going to get a part or not

and it was like a four-hour audition, so it was long. (CHUCKLES)

And then at the end, they told me and Charlotte

that we were Marie and we were kind of shocked.

I'm, like, so excited.

ELLA: Sophia, she's one of my, like, closest friends.

And I was super excited when I heard she got Marie,

like, I called her and I was like, "Oh, my God." (LAUGHS)

I mean, it is really... it's like a big role.

She was like, "I remember I saw girls last year

"who didn't get anything," and so she was terrified.

And then she told me, she was like, "I got Marie,"

and I was... And I called her immediately

and I was like, "You got Marie, didn't you?"

And she was like, "Yeah," and I was really excited for her.

DENA: Hi, girls.

Okay.

Our big moment, right?

Our first Marie rehearsal,

so the story is, you got your favorite toy,

you're so excited you got the Nutcracker as a gift

and you're all ready for bed and you can't find him.

And then there's this...

(VOCALIZES) That's stand and get ready to go.

The child who dances Marie, it's a very special role.

You need to have a person with imagination...

who can find within themselves,

a way to express youth and wonder.

(CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)

Okay.

Um, you have to imagine that this is your house...

It's making it real for them

that really helps the story read to the audience.

It's important that you connect with him,

it's like, even though he's so ugly, you love him, okay? (LAUGHS)

And hug him with your shoulders even.

That's the kind of feeling you have to have

when you hug that Nutcracker.

If that doesn't come across,

it doesn't do justice to the story.

Your little, tiny face has to read to thousands of people on a huge stage.

So your expressions, I don't want them to be fake,

but they have to be noticeable, okay?

It just takes practice. Takes a lot of practice.

KAY: I had to do a ballet once

that I really thought was not the right ballet for me.

Balanchine kept saying, "Nope you're gonna do, I want you to do...

"I want you to do this ballet." And I said...

(SIGHS) ..."I don't think so."

And I went running out for my first entrance

and I fell flat on the floor and...

and then afterwards I said to him, "Did you expect that?" (LAUGHS)

He said, "I know you're trying your hardest, all the energy is there."

You get up.

(PIANO PLAYING)

KAY: Down, down, down. Good job.

Plié, up, down, up, down...

With the older students who know they want to make this a profession,

it's so important that you have the dedication,

that you're going to be in there a hundred percent

and learn what you have to learn and do it to the best of your ability.

Zoe, wait. Hold on. Can you go out? Okay, now we're gonna go down together.

Wait, no!

ZOE: The first class that I took at SAB, total switch in

how I'd been brought up, my ballet training.

So to get the feet moving how they're supposed to,

and the quickness and deep pliés

and everything was hard, because my muscles weren't used to that.

TAELA: It's a lot more challenging.

I definitely feel like I lost a little bit of confidence,

beating myself up, focusing on like, am I good enough?

RUBY: A lot of people tend to label themselves as a turner,

or a jumper, or identify as their strongest points.

Things that don't necessarily come naturally to me, definitely, are turns.

I just always have to remind myself of the muscles I need to engage.

For some people, they can just go into a turn

and everything just turns on I guess.

ALLEN: At their age, we're talking about like 14, 15, maybe 16,

that's where it really comes into focus more.

They've not peaked, but they've really ascended

to where they're kind of going to be for almost the rest of their dance career.

They come to class every day with excitement and want to dance.

And without that, I don't think

you can achieve the goal to be a dancer.

STERLING: Hold on to it, fight for it.

Okay.

KAY: Plié, and bend your necks.

And fourth.

Bend.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

DOMINIKA: It's hard to keep pushing yourself every single day.

KAY: ...five, six, seven, eight.

Dominika, show me where you want to...

How you want to bend there for that.

Down, up, down, better, could be even a little more in that body.

And some days you might feel down

and don't want to do this anymore, but then at the end of the night

you're like, "I want to keep doing this, I don't want to quit."

(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)

(CLOCK TICKING)

ARCH: It's gonna be so much fun.

First is look at lyrics.

We can sort of read it as we go.

KAI: The first rehearsal is always the most exciting one,

because you're like, "Oh no, what are we going to do,

"is it going to be good?"

Tell you every...

Rond de jambe... thing. (CHUCKLES) Right?

Their gestures are linked to the words of the pantomime,

so once they know what they're speaking,

it really connects the movement for them.

Good, one... Yeah, you want to start that again?

KAI: The nerves of being, like, a new Prince,

I just came with an open mind, but I still was really nervous.

"I will tell you" is faster, it's not slow,

it's more speaking quickly.

Right, but it's sort of in the middle of those two.

KAI: But I knew that if I focused on it too much

then I would just, like, work myself up. (CHUCKLES)

DENA: You okay? (CHUCKLES) It's a lot.

One, two, three.

-We have until... -No...

-...the day after December, of... -...Thanksgiving,

-The day after Thanksgiving. -Yeah, Thanksgiving.

(PIANO PLAYING)

KAI: The Prince turns into the Nutcracker...

and does the battle scene as the Nutcracker.

DENA: One, two, three, four. Two, two, three, four.

And then she faints on to the bed.

And then he turns into the Prince.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

SOPHIA: She wakes up to the Prince.

And then they go to the Land of Sweets.

And it's all very magical.

Okay, okay, it's better, but needs more.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

-CHRIS: So how was rehearsal today? -KAI: It was good.

CHRIS: We have to go north to go south today, right?

Because the one... Look, see the one train is closed here.

KAI: Mm-hmm.

Do I have anything to do tomorrow?

Tomorrow you have nothing to do.

-What do you want to do? -Homework.

Starting middle school, it's like

two pages of writing a day sometimes,

so it's really challenging to balance it all out.

CHRIS: Here, Kai, I think we can cross

-quickly here. -KAI: Are you sure?

CHRIS: Don't tell your mom we're crossing on red lights.

-KAI: You're a jaywalker normally. -CHRIS: I'm a jaywalker.

(FEMALE VOICE OVER PA)

KAI: And do you know what Nirvana is? It's a shopping place or something?

-No, nirvana means like heaven. -KAI: Mm-hmm.

-It's like a place you want to go to. -KAI: Hmm.

CHRIS: Street festival.

KAI: I live in Queens, New York.

I live with my parents and my sister.

CHRIS: Even my relatives say when they try to explain to people

what... what Kai is in,

they assume that it's a kids production of The Nutcracker. Um...

-So, it's sort of hard. -I mean, it was actually Zune

who three years ago said, "Mom, he's...

"He's at the Lincoln Center, he's nine years old, and he's dancing."

You know, that was his first Nutcracker.

She's like, "That's a big deal." And so...

Yeah.

-It's too small... -KAI: My sister is 15 years old.

I get along with her, I feel like we're nice to each other,

and then we... normal sibling relationship.

Probably get into a lot of fights.

But other than that, it's good. (LAUGHS)

ZUNE: Dad, just carve the outside lines of the eye,

-because I'm making it bigger. -CHRIS: Okay.

ZUNE: When I was five years old, he would watch me do ballet

and just do the exact same thing I was doing, but watching.

So then he started taking classes, and then gymnastics.

The mouth is weird. (CHUCKLES) Sorry.

-KAI: It looks cool. -CHRIS: It's a classic pumpkin.

ZUNE: Yeah.

Make it scary.

KAI: I don't really know how to make it scary.

ZUNE: We would hear a lot of people say,

"Oh, maybe he'll get the Prince this year."

I just had a feeling that he would get it this year.

I just didn't want to say it out loud... (LAUGHS) ...and everything,

but, yeah, I think it's really exciting.

CHRIS: All right, Zune, not great but...

-KAI: Can I see? -It's fine. (LAUGHS)

-KAI: Can I see it? -(ALL LAUGH)

ZUNE: Yeah, it's good.

There it is. Is it spooky?

We should turn all the lights off.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

(SIREN WAILING)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ANGELICA: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ISABELA: Mm-hmm.

(MUMBLES) Homework notebook.

ANGELICA: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ISABELA: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(IN ENGLISH) I'll be participating as an Angel in The Nutcracker.

I felt I was not gonna make it.

But turns out, I did.

-ANGELICA: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) -ISABELA: Uh-huh.

-ANGELICA: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) -ISABELA: Uh-huh.

I'm in 4th grade and I swim,

I box, I'm starting to do softball,

and I dance in two schools.

Is factor seven...

ANGELICA: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Remainder nine.

Division with remainders, sometimes it's challenging

and it's hard for me.

ISABELA: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

You need to tell me, like, explain me this,

not tell me what is the answer.

-Then you bring down the one. -Yeah, so I got it right?

-WILL: Yeah. -Okay.

-(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (ISABELA CHUCKLES)

-LUIS: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) -ISABELA: Mm-hmm.

-LUIS: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) -ISABELA: Mm-hmm.

-ISABELA: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) -ANGELICA: (LAUGHS)

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ANGELICA: (LAUGHS)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

DENA: Okay, Angels, let's begin. Come on down!

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

DENA: Everyone go to your spot.

Okay. Ava, Isabela.

Okay. Come here, come here.

It's really different working with the Angels

because they're so young.

So spread out like you were... We're not in fifth position, honey.

And one, two, three.

This is their first foot in the door for stage performance,

for The Nutcracker, for New York City Ballet,

for this whole performance aspect of dancing.

Okay, Isabela, don't pick up your feet at all, right.

If you have ice skates on... Do you ever go ice-skating?

You glide, right? You feel like you're gliding.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ISABELA: In The Nutcracker, the Angels,

they glide with big dresses.

By the count of seven, you should be on center.

You need to move your feet faster.

We did counts, when we had to go

and what we had to do.

DENA: ...seven. Don't walk, Isabela.

Okay. Not bad.

There were a few of you who were a little bit ahead of your count.

Some people messed up on their counts,

or they didn't get their counts right, or they didn't go on the right time.

One, two, three, four. Turn five...

It's a lot to memorize, like, they have to memorize the sequence,

counting, and formations.

-Right? -Yeah.

Get behind her this way.

So if you're drawing, if you like to draw,

it's sometimes fun to draw the formation down with arrows,

so you know which direction you're going.

AVA: In our dance, there's a lot of patterns.

You have to be right on time,

or else you're going to mess up the next pattern.

DENA: And what are you going to do when you get home?

ALL: Practice.

-(PIANO PLAYING) -DENA: Five, two...

(THROUGH COMPUTER) ...three, four. First girls, five, six, seven...

To practice our counts, Ms. Abergel just sent out the music,

so we could practice at home.

DENA: One, two, three, four, five...

I feel like it's a lot of pressure, especially since I'm the first Angel,

so I'm kind of like the leader, so I have to guide the whole path.

-(BIANCA LAUGHING) -A Pas de Bourrée.

I had a moment today

to just, like, really look at that calendar

and it's about to get real, you know, so..

It's about to get serious for sure.

-That was beautiful. -That was good.

(PIANO PLAYING)

RUBY: As an advanced student, that's when you start thinking about

what you want to do in this career, because you've come this far

and you've realized that this is what you love.

MARK: What did you think of class yesterday?

SAM: It was really fun.

Yeah, we did a lot of, like, interesting combinations

-that we don't usually do. -The pas de chat one

when you had to go like that... -SAM: (LAUGHS)

-...I just couldn't do it. -SAM: I couldn't do it,

-me neither. -Yeah.

No, it was like so hard, like, coordinating the arms and the legs.

-Yeah, and it was so fast... -Yeah.

-...that it was like, ugh. -Uh-huh.

I'm not looking forward to senior year.

I feel like that's going to be such a stressful time.

And I feel like it's harder for us, because like most normal teenagers

have to worry about, like, getting into college,

but like us, it's, like, the dream obviously is getting into college

-and getting into a company... -SAM: Yeah.

...which is like twice the struggle.

SAM: I feel like even if you don't end up at New York City Ballet,

whatever company you end up dancing in, like, the director there

will automatically see that you're from SAB

'cause you just have that, like, energy and passion in your movement.

-(SWITCHES CLICK) -(MUSIC PLAYING)

I am a junior this year, but a lot of my classmates,

it's their senior year in high school, so they're auditioning for companies,

they're seeing what career path they want to take.

(MUMBLING)

-Yes, you do. -Yes.

ALLEN: We want to find jobs for all of them, if possible.

And find a good fit

for kind of joining the professional world.

SION: So, our students get to audition for this year's 16 companies

from across the States.

And several international companies as well.

They've arrived at this point in their training,

everything they've done has been for this, for the job,

right? To be able to do this for a living.

The biggest, like the dream, is to be an apprentice

for the New York City Ballet.

ZOE: An apprentice with New York City Ballet,

it's how everyone begins their transition into the company.

Bourrée, bourrée, right diagonal...

The apprenticeship lasts a year

and it gives the dancers a chance

to get used to being in a professional company for the first time.

It also gives them the chance

to be seen on stage, which is very different

than being seen as a student.

And it gives them an extra year for them to learn

and to be seeing if it's a good fit for them in New York City Ballet.

DOMINIKA: Of course the long-term goal is to get an apprenticeship

in New York City Ballet.

It's just always in the back of my head.

TAELA: With ballet, it's not just making national team and that's it.

With ballet, you get in a company and you get to explore

further with your abilities.

ELIAS: I think you come to SAB

to get into New York City Ballet, that's everyone's goal,

but of course they can't take everyone.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(KIDS LAUGHING)

-SCOTT: Hey! -BRANDON: Hello.

-Hi, Dad -SCOTT: Hey, buddy. Hey.

SABRINA: (SMOOCHES) Hi.

Hello.

SCOTT: You know this is a green smoothie, right?

Tomorrow he has rehearsal, and then on Thursday

you have Fritz and Marie, just Fritz and Marie rehearsal.

-BRANDON: Wait, really? -SABRINA: Mm-hmm.

BRANDON: I'll mark that on my calendar.

-(SABRINA LAUGHS) -SCOTT: All right. Hold your ears.

(BLENDER WHIRS)

BRANDON: Last year, I was a Party Boy for Nutcracker,

and this year I'm Fritz,

an obnoxious brat... (CHUCKLES)

...who is kind of spoiled and he kind of thinks everything is funny,

even mean things, but he has, like, this playfulness to him

that's really fun to play with.

SABRINA: You know you're going to miss your class trip on Friday?

-SCOTT: Yeah. -SABRINA: Because you're going...

You have rehearsal.

I'm excited. I'm excited for opening night.

That will be fun. Yeah.

Because of Nutcracker, I'm pretty busy.

But like dancing, acting, dancing and singing and theater,

this is what I do for fun, like, this is my ideal fun.

Just doing what I love.

(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)

(HORNS HONKING)

-ARCH: That was a long day already. -(DENA LAUGHS)

ARCH: (LAUGHS) I've been going, going, going, going.

-Party, party, party. -DENA: Hi, guys!

-(KIDS CHATTERING) -DENA: Shh.

So let's have the red cast over here.

Everyone in the red cast.

And the green cast over here.

Do you understand what an alternate means, guys?

-ALL: Yes. -DENA: Okay.

In the other show, he's doing the same part, okay?

BRANDON: The teachers are very helpful and they're saying

look at where your alternate is.

And they say, "Copy exactly where they are,

"because if someone gets sick then you have to be in that exact spot."

ARCH: Everyone introduce themselves to one another.

DENA: This is going to be your partner for, like, two months now.

So we know that you're not used to, in the 21st century,

dancing with boys all the time.

But in the time that this took place,

boys and girls danced together all the time,

it was very normal, because they didn't have, um, games.

Like to play with their fingers, so they actually danced with each other.

Party Scene is a very long section of the ballet,

so a young child needs to be able to remember the sequence

and the specific steps and the formations and the music.

Good, boys! Five, six, seven, and right, left...

BRANDON: It's hard at first, but I'm good at memorizing steps, like,

if you were to tell me, like, a bunch of steps and I do them

while you're talking, I could probably do it, yeah.

-Would you like to do it again? -Okay, sure.

DENA: And step together and step...

(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)

-JULIE: I got all your stuff laid out. -GABBIE: Okay.

JULIE: You just have to get ready.

-JULIE: I packed you snacks -Okay.

JULIE: Try to eat some of the healthy things.

GABBIE: Okay.

During The Nutcracker season, there's lots of no sleep.

There's a lot of rehearsals,

the rehearsals get a little tiring.

They're like, "If you can't make a class or something,

"don't do it if you're tired."

Like, I've... I went to bed at like twelve o'clock yesterday.

ARCH: Okay, girls. Go, go! We don't have much time! Go!

GABBIE: This is my third year of doing Nutcracker

and I ended up with being a Hoop this year.

They want those Hoops.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

GABBIE: We're the backup dancers for the lead Hoop.

For the Hoops, we especially need to look at the conductor,

because he goes one, two, and then we have to start to run,

because we run before the music starts.

ARCH: Here we go, watch the conductor.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

-(ARCH CLAPS) -(MUSIC STOPS)

ARCH: I don't want that to happen on stage.

Eyes are right... Don't look in the mirror.

Mr. Higgins is definitely very calm.

Uh, I don't know how he's so calm.

-This helps you keep a straight line. -GIRL: Oh.

-If we do this, we're gonna start... -(GIRLS LAUGHING)

At the same time, he's very fun.

Yeah, no... Oh. Pretzel, pretzel, pretzel time.

-(GIRLS LAUGH) -No pretzel.

Show me with Gabbie.

Ready, go. Across, cross, cross, yes.

I was actually one of those kids who got cut my first year.

(PIANO PLAYING)

GABBIE: All these girls were rehearsing in studios...

ARCH: Chin up, girls!

I threw out my Nutcracker poster.

ARCH: Swing! Good, not too far back.

That's good, that's far enough.

And I refused to see The Nutcracker.

ARCH: Good, it's getting closer and closer each time. Good.

(PIANO PLAYING)

KATRINA: And down, 90, get there, go.

Now back.

And back.

Two this time, stay up, open the arm, coupé sharp.

Clara, foot! Good. Now, arm...

And dégagé, 90. Stay. Lift your chest, lift your chest.

Yes. Also, this is passé.

SOPHIA: Pointe shoes are like a ballet slipper,

but supports you more.

And then you're on top of your toes.

When you go to see a ballet, that's what they're all dancing on.

Once you get older, that's a big milestone in ballet.

One and a half, two, two and a half.

FEMALE VOICE: Yeah, tendu front. Wow.

BRENDA: So, today is a big day for these dancers.

This is their first day when they're actually going to do

the rite of passage, which is get their first pair of pointe shoes.

We're ready.

SOPHIA: At SAB, you have to be in level four.

That's kind of what we all look forward to.

KATRINA: This is the first time...

I'm actually being in the room during the fitting.

The magic of being en pointe is the magic of being en pointe.

You feel completely different.

-FEMALE VOICE: How do you feel up there? -I feel good.

Yes!

BRENDA: Okay, so I'm just looking to see the bone structure,

how straight your foot is.

And you've never worn pointe shoes before?

Big day, right? Okay.

The shoe should fit really snug like a sock.

Yeah. 'Cause see how easily you slid in there?

So, I might want to try the Chacott Veronese on her.

-KATRINA: Very narrow, right? -She's also...

-BRENDA: She has a low profile. -KATRINA: Oh, I see.

BRENDA: Little... Yeah, this is the narrowest,

see it's just there's a lot of room already.

Not the right size yet.

KATY: This is going to be a brand new sensation for them,

it's going to take them a while to get used to.

Your toes get very, very red.

They will be in a low to moderate level of pain,

and that is part of the process. (CHUCKLES)

That is normal.

Your elastics are going to be sewn on either side of this back center rib.

For beginners, it's sometimes recommended to sew them

on the outside, just so there's less rubbing

on their heel.

-FEMALE VOICE: Is it here? Looks good? -Yeah, feels good.

-FEMALE VOICE: -(CHUCKLES)

BRENDA: Okay. For now, let's just slide it on.

Oh. See how much better that is?

KATRINA: If you get down, you can really see

what's meant to be on your foot, right?

It should be hugging your toes,

but nothing like bent over and overlapping.

Now take a step up on both feet, parallel.

Yes.

Really pretty, pretty, pretty.

SOPHIA: When you're en pointe, it definitely makes you taller

and it makes a prettier line.

It's kind of the symbol that you are now a ballerina.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ELLA: This is the schedule. Ms. Abergel last year

did these little stretches with us every day.

And those have helped me increase my flexibility.

Friday, I say I have nothing just because it's, like, my day to relax.

I have TheraBands, doming, which is a thing you do with your feet.

So these are turnout discs, I plié, and you want to try and hold it,

that increases your muscles.

When you're using your turnout, you're using, I can't...

I don't know the name of the muscle, but you're using your muscles up here.

And I mean, dancers call them turnout muscles,

but, um, they're up at the top of your hips

and you're rotating them like this.

Yeah, I like these 'cause they're easy to do, but they also have an impact.

These are all things I've done to help my flexibility.

(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)

ELLA: We only have, I think, four or five weeks of rehearsal

before we have to put The Nutcracker on stage.

And so it's stressful in some ways, but it's also really exciting

cause, like, I love rehearsal.

This is my third year. I'm very grateful that I got to do Polis this year.

ARCH: Go five, six, go seven...

DENA: The Polichinelles requires a lot of ballet training,

because they need to know steps and movements

and everything we've discussed so far, but much more.

ARCH: Stay in line, girls.

Polis, they're like little, like, people I guess, they're like dolls

that come out of Mother Ginger's skirt and dance.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ELLA: Some people say they're, like, in French it's like a doll.

Croisé, girls. Croisé, Elizabeth.

So, I think of them as these porcelain, like, doll clown things.

They're, like, weird.

ARCH: And one, two, go, three, four.

You see a front, dégagé front.

DENA: We spend a lot of time rehearsing those Polichinelles,

because they really need to be clean,

and because it's showing off the school

and what we teach at the school, we want them to look really good.

So the last one is step, tap...

We want to see a pointed foot in the front and the back,

we want to see a glissade to fifth position,

we want to see a tendu with a heel forward.

You know, every movement, we want to be showing off the training

that we give them here.

One, two, three, good!

So if you say it to yourself until you memorize it,

-it will help. -ARCH: Front, go back, go front.

ELLA: I have a question, last week and everything, like,

you're looking twice and then you keep your head

-for, like, two times... -ARCH: Okay.

Great, we'll figure all that out,

right now I really want to work on the timing, okay?

Once we learn like the jumps and, like, these passés and all that,

it started to get harder in like the counting and the timing.

ARCH: If you time those arms with the legs, it really helps the jump.

You work really hard, but it's also like a good...

I don't know, I can't find the word, it's a good feeling

ARCH: Left, right, left, right.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)

-(INDISTINCT CHATTER) -(LAUGHTER)

HENRY: Today is Halloween at SAB and, I mean like, I don't know,

everyone's got a great costume.

A lot of the donors come and watch the advanced students.

And, uh, it's a treat for them, because they can see us all

in different costumes.

We all get to dress up and everybody is so high energy,

and the teachers dress up.

MEAGAN: I'm a haunted house.

ALLEN: I love Halloween because

all of that personality comes out.

There's, like, a lot of energy, but they're so serious,

like all of them.

And honestly this is not so different from what it would be on stage.

You're in a costume, you're playing a character,

but you're still, like, performing in a certain aspect.

RUBY: Halloween is always so fun, everyone goes all out.

It's right before class and you're like. "Oh, I still need to do all these things."

And then you come in and you're like, here's my costume, and then you dance.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

TAELA: I feel like it takes like the weight

off of the seriousness of class.

It's like more free, I guess.

So our headpieces are actually soup cups from the cafeteria,

and then we took a cake pop stick and stuck it in the top. (LAUGHS)

I'm Oatly. It's my favorite oat milk brand.

I am Mr. Hendrickson.

For... Who's teaching this class.

Let's go back to first.

Back...

HENRY: I'm considering like sitting next to him in class.

He probably won't let me do that, though.

Oh, yes!

(APPLAUDS)

Oh, my God. That is hilarious.

-This is hilarious. (LAUGHS) -Hendrickson... (LAUGHS)

Oh my God, I love it.

(LAUGHS)

What do you want to do?

Hard, soft? Go crazy?

Go crazy, it's Halloween.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

It got very hot, it was very hot in there, in the studio.

Like, I was like sweating so much.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

MARK: The hardest thing in the class was to turn.

'Cause like when we're turning, the hat would move

and it would like cover my face, I couldn't see where I was moving.

-Thank you. -Thank you.

KEVIN: Happy Halloween, everyone! Bye.

-FEMALE VOICE: Thank you. -You're welcome.

RUBY: Wait, wait.

I know!

I know.

-Oh my gosh. Wait, where is she? -She's in the back, she's in the back.

Babe, oh my gosh!

(BOTH LAUGH)

-Oh, my God. -(CHUCKLES)

-My baby. -I'm so proud of you.

-(LAUGHING) -So happy for you.

Today is my last day as an SAB student.

Which is really crazy. (CHUCKLES)

-I'm gonna tell my parents. -GIRL: Yeah, your dad's downstairs.

ZOE: Renee told me to come into Kay's office after second class

and they offered me an apprenticeship with New York City Ballet

to start for Nutcracker season, tomorrow! (CHUCKLES)

ZOE:

BO:

ZOE:

What?

(BO CHUCKLES)

Did I hear that right?

(LAUGHS) Congratulations.

Yay! Oh, my God.

ZOE: I couldn't believe it, it's like all these years of hard work

and you dream about this one thing,

and then to finally hear it is just like crazy.

(ZOE SOBBING)

HEIDI: I'm so excited for you.

I can't even... Wow.

ZOE:

-I'm so proud of you. -ZOE: Oh, my gosh.

BO: So amazing.

-Dream come true. -(ZOE CHUCKLES)

-(BO LAUGHS) -Oh, my gosh!

-I'm so happy for her! -Zoe?

Once you've been in New York City Ballet, even as an apprentice,

it opens up a lot of doors.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

It is my dream to be able to prove to myself that I deserve to be there.

(MUSIC PLAYING)