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Overlooked & Underrated Docs & Features
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To Dance Like a Man: Eleven Year Old Identical Triplets Dancing Ballet
Five minutes into British filmmaker Sylvie Collier’s “To Dance Like a Man” I paused the Blu-ray player, ran to my computer, got on Facebook, and posted the film’s First Run Features link. I didn’t want to wait until this review is published to share this totally fun, totally fascinating, all-too-short documentary about Cuban identical triplets Angel, César, and Marcos as they work and play their way to the ballet stage.
The three boys are totally charming, joyful, and dedicated to learning ballet. Collier follows the boys at school, at home, in rehearsal, and at play. They are preparing for two important events: Their debut in “Peter and the Wolf” as ‘three little cats’ at Havana’s Grand Theatre and their audition to be entered into the training program at the National Ballet School of Cuba.
Along the way we learn that ballet is important to the Cuban people, Cuba’s ballet artists are making a strong international impact, and that their male dancers have made a particularly strong impression on the international community.
In addition to the three boys, we see male teenage dancers preparing for their audition for the National Ballet of Cuba, we hear from them about their art and ambitions, and we see Cuban ‘superstar’ José Carreño adding his strong measure of inspiration to the boys as he speaks of his life on stage.