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Dancing Across Borders

Play trailer Poster for Dancing Across Borders Released Mar 26, 2010 1h 28m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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57% Tomatometer 21 Reviews 70% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
In Cambodia, filmmaker Anne Bass discovers a teenage boy with an amazing talent for dance, and she brings him to New York's School of American Ballet to study.

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Dancing Across Borders

Critics Reviews

View All (21) Critics Reviews
Calvin Wilson St. Louis Post-Dispatch Less than an hour and a half long, it seems to take forever to end. Rated: 2/4 Jun 3, 2010 Full Review Sarah Kaufman Washington Post Do-gooder vanity projects don't come more self-aggrandizing than this. Rated: 2/4 Apr 30, 2010 Full Review David Wiegand San Francisco Chronicle There are times when the subject of a documentary transcends merely adequate filmmaking, and that is very much the case with Dancing Across Borders... Rated: 3/4 Apr 30, 2010 Full Review James Plath Movie Metropolis This is a film that ought to be watched by all youngsters hoping for a career in dance. Rated: 7/10 Dec 31, 2010 Full Review Chris Hewitt St. Paul Pioneer Press Have you ever listened to someone delightedly telling you a story and not realizing how badly he comes off in his own tale? That's the queasy sensation I got from the documentary Dancing Across Borders. Rated: 1/4 May 21, 2010 Full Review Kelly Vance East Bay Express Dance fanatics will appreciate the story, as will fans of cross-culturalism in the arts. Let's leave all mention of exploitation of the exotic for another time and place. May 4, 2010 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (8) audience reviews
Audience Member When 16-year-old Sokvannara Sar, a charismatic Cambodian with a gift for his native folk dances, arrived in New York City in 2001 as the protégé of Anne Bass, he had never seen ballet-and wasn't that stoked about it. "This ballet thing is going to turn me into a duck," he remembers thinking. "I don't think I want to do this." It's a sentiment Sar repeats throughout Dancing Across Borders, and it is to first-time director Bass's credit that she marked his ambivalence in this otherwise blithely tone-deaf ode to her own generosity and that of dance instructor Olga Kostritzky. There are several uncomfortable factors at play in the story of Sar's success-the clear class and culture shock; the pressure to compress 10 years of ballet training into three lest he lose his patron's attention-but Bass, enamored of his talent and determined to shape it to her liking, elides every one. Instead, we get white folks ruminating lyrically on the peasant Asian's role as a kind of grand jeté bridge between East and West, and long performance sequences that are dazzling to behold but quite troubling to contemplate. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Another interesting ballet story. I'd still like to see 'Mao's last dancer'. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Amazing ballet footage of "Sy". Sy has a natural grace and charm that comes off well on film -- it is truly amazing how accomplished a dancer he has become after a few years of ballet instruction. This movie is a joy to see for dance enthusiasts. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Audience Member When 16-year-old Sokvannara Sar, a charismatic Cambodian with a gift for his native folk dances, arrived in New York City in 2001 as the protégé of Anne Bass, he had never seen ballet-and wasn't that stoked about it. "This ballet thing is going to turn me into a duck," he remembers thinking. "I don't think I want to do this." It's a sentiment Sar repeats throughout Dancing Across Borders, and it is to first-time director Bass's credit that she marked his ambivalence in this otherwise blithely tone-deaf ode to her own generosity and that of dance instructor Olga Kostritzky. There are several uncomfortable factors at play in the story of Sar's success-the clear class and culture shock; the pressure to compress 10 years of ballet training into three lest he lose his patron's attention-but Bass, enamored of his talent and determined to shape it to her liking, elides every one. Instead, we get white folks ruminating lyrically on the peasant Asian's role as a kind of grand jeté bridge between East and West, and long performance sequences that are dazzling to behold but quite troubling to contemplate. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Audience Member I really liked the subject matter of this documentary. Rich people go to Cambodia and "discover" a highly talented dancer with a smile that lights up the world, an arrogance that will project confidence on a stage, and a heart of gold. So, they take him to new York and train him to be a ballet dancer because, well, what poor rice patty boy from Cambodia wouldn't want to do that? For all its faults, "Dancing Across Borders" does have a charm because of the subject matter. In fact, you have a sneaky suspicion he will reach the goal of becoming a critically-acclaimed dancer, but you cheer for him anyway because he is such a sweetheart of a human being. To recap, subject matter-good, rich people who needed vanity and a project-bad. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member When one is present at an amazing miracle of serendipity between three souls the last place it's expected to happen is a documentary movie. However those three people, Anne, Olga and Sy, with a group of talented and patient friends and colleges, created this miracle, overflown by almost motherly love, tangible efforts and great vision. To watch a sincere and sacrificial process of creating from diamond in the raw a shining and elegant ballet star is a magic and uplifting expirience! Please, accept our deep appreciation for the fantastic hour in our lifes! Some previous reviews, in my humble opinion, are mainly When one is present at an amazing miracle of serendipity between three souls the last place it's expected to happen is a documentary movie. However those three people, Anne, Olga and Sy, with a group of talented and patient friends and colleges, created this miracle, overflown by almost motherly love, tangible efforts and great vision. To watch a sincere and sacrificial process of creating from diamond in the raw a shining and elegant ballet star is a magic and uplifting expirience! Please, accept our deep appreciation for the fantastic hour in our lifes! Some previous reviews, in my humble opinion, are mainly concerned with technicalities and becoming soulless! Yakov T. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Dancing Across Borders

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Movie Info

Synopsis In Cambodia, filmmaker Anne Bass discovers a teenage boy with an amazing talent for dance, and she brings him to New York's School of American Ballet to study.
Director
Anne Bass
Producer
Catherine Tatge
Distributor
First Run
Production Co
123 Productions
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 26, 2010, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 1, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$65.1K
Runtime
1h 28m
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