Breaking Pointe
Episode 104
“Tempo Tantrums”
I’ve said all I can really say about this show in previous recaps but I thought it was interesting that my Time Warner Cable box categorizes the genre of Breaking Pointe as “Reality/Art”. Yep, that about sums it up.
Breaking Pointe. Watch it and thank me later. (Photo Credit Erik Ostling/The CW)
With one week left before opening night for all three ballets (Paquita, Emeralds and Petite Mort), all hell is breaking loose as the dancers try to work out their timing and tempo issues with the newly introduced conductor. Allison tells us that there are only a couple days left of studio rehearsals and there will be only three days of “on stage” rehearsals. This doesn’t seem nearly enough time but really, what do I know? To me, there doesn’t seem enough hours in a year to learn to do what these people can do with their bodies; I make noises when I get off the couch.
(Erik Ostling/The CW)
Ronnie, you will be shocked to learn, has little sympathy for anyone that can’t be awesome on stage in front of thousands of people. In case you were wondering, if you have jitters, you shouldn’t be in this business. Thanks for the advice buddy; perhaps your lack of jitters means you lack passion and personal investment in the process? Of course, Ronnie, through the power of editing, is talking about Rex (who gets a gold star of awareness for acknowledging he has troubles keeping his personal life out of his work. Yeah, we kind of got that).
As we careen towards opening night, Adam brings the conductor in to the rehearsal studio to start working with the dancers and pianist on proper tempos for the numerous musical pieces. This seems like too uber a step to leave to the week before, no? Allison relates to us Adam’s keys for a successful career in ballet: Don’t piss off the conductor, the manager of the company or the wardrobe people. In the, “not a coincidence” category, Allison will butt heads or piss off all three of these people in the next 40 minutes or so. So, good work! First on Allison’s hitlist is the conductor who just can’t get her required speeds correct. Now, the fact that she is dancing four roles in three ballets all on the same night, I am sure, adds to this but its tough to tell who is really in the wrong here; many side whispers are heard throughout the episode blaming the conductor for being too fast (that’s what she said! *zing*). The problem for Allison is that she’s a perfectionist (she doesn’t say this but, duh, c’mon) and she expects others to perform their jobs flawlessly. In a rare moment of break, Allison manages to rattle off some impressive “F” bombs with respect to her opinion of the conductor and his baton waving. Its beyond awesome how hard she “F” bombs. Elsewhere in the studio, doe eyed Beckanne just can’t understand being so emotional as to resort to verbally abusing the air with Fuck bombs. Before you’re too hard on Beckanne, remember, she’s awesome. Like Ronnie level awesome and you should just accept that fact now.
I’m 19 and awesome, suck on that losers (Erik Ostling/The CW)
Before we go any further, I feel the need to vent that in any walk of life, being a perfectionist is NOT a character flaw and in the art of dance, I’d assume it to be de rigueur.
Beckanne and Katie decide to have an ill attended house party but at least we get to see Katie and Ron together. Don’t get excited, that’ll be their only appearance this week. The scene is rather unremarkable save for the fact that it sparked a week’s worth of tweets about being in “mahoganous” relationships. Young Ian (Tanzer, Ballet West II member) has total Mahogany in his pants for Beckanne. Beckanne STILL can’t understand why the older dancers are so frustrated. And scene.
Because no episode of Breaking Pointe is complete without Allison and Rex hashing out their forever road-blocked relationship in several different venues, tonight’s initial “talk” takes place on a set of swings, in the a park, while its cold outside. Sure, ok. Rex is still trying to put her and their relationship (or lack thereof, but Rex is an optimist damn it!) out of his mind and she thanks him for being there through her (continuing) dance troubles. You will not be surprised to learn that Allison totally digs their friendship and Rex, I am sorry, but you are the Mayor of Friendville. In light of pending performances … in front of lots of people, Rex seems cool with this (the “this” being setting aside relationship stuff through the performances) but you all know it’ll only last 5 minutes, right? You know this! Allison shares my doubts.
Emeralds Final Studio Rehearsal. Adam tells us that Emeralds hasn’t been practiced enough which, good job Artistic Director. BUT, don’t fret my pet because Adam has Christiana, Prima Ballerina extraordinaire, holding down the lead so its all good bitches. Interesting to note is that Allison is the Emeralds lead in second cast so hey, how does it feel to be compared to Christiana? (By the way, Allison was partnered with Michael Bearden who we really haven’t seen at all in this show but he is the other principal male dancer at Ballet West). Allison continues to feel pressure and Beckanne still doesn’t understand why people are emotional. Gah, she’s too young and shiny. Get darker Beckanne, you’ll be better off for it. Rex tries to be there for Allison and reminds her (and us) that she’s a trained ballet dancer and so she can totally handle this. If you were wondering why Adam placed this A type personality into FOUR roles, he has a plan. Adam’s “Allison Psychology 101″: in one role, Allison would obsess too hard so many roles keeps her moving, keeps her mind busy. Yes, Busy Obsessing about FOUR roles. Good move dumbass. Allison Psychology Fail.
Costume Fittings. The main costume for Paquita = tutus, Emeralds = big green (ugly) dresses and Petite Mort = essentially naked. Given the studio rehearsal time she is missing, Allison “would have taken a crappy costume over missing rehearsal.” Beckanne thinks feeling pressure is unprofessional. Why are she and Ronnie not dating? They could have a baby ego that they could raise up and make more unbearable than the two of them combined. Allison is self aware enough that she knows she’s acting crazy but she doesn’t want to let Adam down.
Does this tutu make me look like I might kill someone? (Erik Ostling/The CW)
Sher’ron, Ronnie’s sister, is (still?) visiting. We also get a Beckanne voiceover discussing the hotness of Ronnie; Beckanne’s tone makes me think that she totally wants to bone the Ronster. Sher’ron tells America that we might think Ronnie has this hard edge but really, he’s super soft hearted. Yeah, I don’t get that at all. Is there a category for giant douchebag? Moving on. Did you know? Friday night is party night!! Awww yeah!
At Da Club. Red Flag Alert – Rex is going so you know its going to end badly. For everyone. Da Club is actually called Circle Lounge (which I would give a link too but their site does not seem to be working). Here’s what you need to know about Circle Lounge: in one corner, there are go-go dancers and in the other corner, they let Ronnie pole dance (really, it was dry humping a pole). In a rare moment of televised levity, Rex gets in a nice dig at Ronnie that “he learned those moves from Elena.” Snark! As anyone who has eyes can tell, Rex and Allison are not good out among other people, and others in their group totally notice (because, they have eyes). Ronnie thinks they’re a bummer and that’s hard to argue with. Of course, before long, Rex wants to leave and I think he just misses the point of being out among the people. I am sure he’s a pretty fun guy in private but the show just doesn’t capture that. The problem is that Allison is social and likes having a life that is not 100% Rex staring at her on their couch at home. Alone. Again, Rex has a moment of lucid clarity and realizes (for the 1000th time) that maybe they’d be better off if he stopped following her around? Because he is starring in his own version of Groundhog Day, we’ll do this again tomorrow.
Next morning, the third talk of the night about the relationship. Now with 100% more dogs! First, lets discuss last night, shall we? Allison: “Why’d you come if you didn’t want to and also, because you never have any fun?” Rex: “Because you were going.” Me: “Oh sweet Jesus.” Allison (again) is like, “Dude, you’re my friend and I rely on you hardcore but I am completely damaged from my last relationship where I couldn’t pull the trigger and go be with him when he asked … because I wanted to do what I wanted to do so please, accept this.” (slight paraphrasing). Rex defends herself TO herself. Ooph, this guy. I honestly don’t know if I want to be straight man gay for him or strangle him. Also, Rex totally understands why he wants to be around Allison but he’s not hearing from her, why she wants to be around Rex … By the way, he tells her, “you’re not in a good place.” In addition to his gold star for self-awareness, Rex also gets the “A Duh” award for tonight’s episode. From Rex’s point of view, they’re already dating, just without the title but Allison maintains that she can’t give an inch more than she already is so if he can’t deal, that’s his issue. I don’t know if she’s always right but I really love her conviction. Rex takes Zipper and Colby home while Allison has a sad.
Christiana and Allison … Eating … Again. There is a discussion of bourbon burgers which sounds delicious and ultimately, Allison orders water … … and a cheeseburger. Which, Awesome! As they await their food, she fills in Christiana on the “talk” (specifically, the third talk). Christiana is as a baffled as everyone else about these two and asks Allison what she wants? A relationship? With less than zero hesitation, Allison answers “no” which is about as honest an answer as you can get and Christiana recommends she change her Rex habits for Allison’s sake, Rex’s sake and the sake of the entire Ballet West dance company. Be “more cold turkey” is great advice. Allison tries to explain that even if she wanted to be in a relationship, she’d still not want to be (Rex-level) clingy so maybe she’s just not what he wants. Christiana speaks for us and the rest of BW, “he makes it hard for everyone else and we’re a week away from performances so…” In the end, the Prima Ballerina recommends that Allison put her personal life on hold for the next two weeks.
Stage Rehearsals. As you can imagine, putting it all together on stage is a whole new thing. To demonstrate this point, we see that Petite Mort’s 50 foot silk sheet pulled from the rear of the stage forward by about 5 dancers is… problematic. In the several takes we see, the guys can’t make it all the way without at least one guy falling over.
Paquita’s First Stage Rehearsal. Ronnie continues to see the whole world through the eyes of him deserving a principal position and then turns through a leap too far and stumbles. Good editing! Adam: “Ronnie has not done an opening night at Ballet West before and there are some consistency things that I’m worried about.” Stumble, stumble. Ronnie “Allison’s it” an blames the speed (it does seem too fast) but Ronnie’s really not about complaining. Allison on the other hand? Tempos better be right or we’re gonna have words, yo. She doesn’t understand why the conductor is still lost after so much time which is a fair point, I’d think. For his part, Adam has had about enough of Allison and her faces. Making a face is childish, in case you were wondering.
Allison hasn’t had enough tempo torture and requests another go through. Conductor: “What do you want? First, it was faster and then you wanted it slower …” Allison basically responds, “yes.” In some places, she wants it faster. In others, slower. Elena chimes in and is all, “calm down, you’re doing well. I am totally not saying this because we’re three days from live performances” (She doesn’t say this last part but I imagine she was thinking it). Ronnie side comments that everything needs to be slower but you can’t really do much about it, “I hate you and I hate your tempo” is not a viable response.
Allison has a little breakdown and Christiana comforts her with a great glance over her shoulder hoping the camera wasn’t catching this vulnerable moment of weakness. But, they are. Natch. It’s the BBC, they don’t fuck around. Adam tells Elena that the dancers need to deal with the conductor and lose the faces because there is too much wrong shit to worry about. In other words, he has “no patience for bad attitudes”.
No faces. NO FACES!!!!! (Erik Ostling/The CW)
And Scene! See ya’ll next week for Opening Night!!!
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