The Next Step - Lebe Deinen Traum

"Sam" (Juliet Doherty) is about to take the stage at the renowned "Harlow" ballet stage for her first leading solo when her sister - another accomplished dancer - whom she is chatting to on the phone steps out in front of a car. Needless to say, this is pretty devastating and turns this girl into a bored and rudderless character who hangs out with her friend "Eve" (Lauren Esposito) and engages in petty crime. Her parents are at their wits end, so they get her a cleaning job at the ballet school. The rest of this is all very predictable, but when there is some actual dancing - especially with her athletic leading man 'Ben" (Joel Burke) - then this film actually comes alive a bit. The use of the classical score also sounds great with cinema audio and the photography of the routines is genuinely quite stylishly effective. Thing is, there is nowhere near enough dancing and the loosest of connections with the original "Red Shoes" story is underplayed and tangential in the extreme. For the most part this is a rather plodding melodrama with a cast of mediocre acting talent delivering a wishy washy family drama. It's the second film in as many days that I've seen in a cinema by myself - and whilst it's not that bad, it did make me wonder why it got a cinema release at all.

Finally, a dance film made in Australia that's entertaining and executed very well. The lead actress Julie Doherty does a fine job balancing her dancing and acting as well as most of the cast including rising star Lauren Esposito. Overall, the choreo of the dance is exceptional and the story is engaging. The music is very good and its photography is also very good. Recommended for a good watch.

Overall the film is good, it's not a perfect film, it lacks in strong compelling storytelling but it makes up in being entertaining. It' misses the emotional beat and tries too hard to evoke that in a contrived manner. There isn't many layers to the main character she passes but doesn't show that many layers of emotions. The sidekick friend is also a great character but exposes herself when she tries to overact when yelling at her friend. I found it confusing if the film was meant to be American and shot in Australia? The accents were all American except for the English dance teacher and one other male friend. The dance teacher's performance by far was exceptional and the best of all the actors, a seasoned actor who knew her role. Another let down was the lighting, it may be argued that some of the dance scenes were shot to be dark and artistic, but If I cannot see the body of the dancer, then I don't care to watch, it was too dark that it was obvious it was underexposed. Also the color grading was not the right choice for this film - it didn't match the tone of the film. It was also 20-30 minutes too long, the story lingered and never really pushed one story idea. It was a great effort overall and many female teens or female girls and dance moms will enjoy this.