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Overlooked & Underrated Docs & Features
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TuTuMUCH: 9 Girls, 4 Weeks, 1 Dream
“TutuMUCH” is the latest addition to First Run Feature’s growing catalog of dance-related documentaries. Released theatrically in Canada in 2010, and on DVD in North America in 2013, the film follows nine tweens in the four-week Summer School at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
One thousand aspiring girls and boys apply for this program. Seventy students are selected, and at the end of the four weeks, nine are given the opportunity to study ballet at the school. At that point, of course, the honored students and, especially, their parents must decide to accept or reject the invitation. If they do accept, they are agreeing to their children’s move to Winnipeg and the concomitant emotional pains of separation—and, of course, the substantial expenses.
The film’s craft is excellent—a quality to which I’ve become accustomed on account of most the screeners provided to me come from First Run or HBO. I was particularly impressed with the film’s music provided by the prolific Shawn Pierce.
Over the film’s 83-minute running time we get to know the nine girls, some of their parents, and a bit about the demands of being a ballet student. We see some of the meetings at the end of the four weeks when each of the nine are given the decision regarding their invitation to join the school.
This is a fun and touching and entertaining movie to see and hear. And if you’re not aware of some of the demands on serious students of ballet, you must see this film.