[usr 5]
Updated and made for millennials and Generation Z ballet lovers this coming of age, finding yourself dance drama is excellent with some spectacular dancing by the magnificent cast.
It is about a need and passion to dance and a quest to find yourself. It is also about friends, family and relationships.
It is set in Sydney now, and directed by Jesse A’hern and Joanne Samuel, written by Zachary Layner, Award-winning writer John Banas (Miss Phryne Fisher Murder Mysteries) and Peter McLeod (The Legend of the Five), with wonderful photography by Kent Marcus. Daniel Gaudiello is the choreographer, creating some amazing sequences.
The film, made by the creators of the family fantasy adventure box-office hit The Legend of the Five, stars dual gold medallist, American-Australian dancer Juliet Doherty (High Strung: Free Dance and Driven to Dance) in the lead role of Sam Cavanaugh, and The Conjuring 2’s Lauren Esposito as her troubled, rebellious best friend Eve. Professional ballet dancer Joel Burke, is featured as Ben – Sam’s old friend, long-time crush, and renowned dancer who has returned to the Academy.
The film also features actress and former dancer Carolyn Bock (Neighbours, Never Tear Us Apart: The Untold Story of INXS and Green Room Award nominee 2022) as Ms Harlow , head of the Academy ; Australian professional ballerina Primrose Kern, who is a dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet and Boston Ballet as Gracie ; dancer, actor, model, and influencer Ashleigh Ross (Dance Academy, Mary Poppins) as Andrea, Mietta White,(who played the role of Meg Giry in The Phantom of the Opera in Melbourn ) as Paige, and Nicholas Andrianakos (The Legend of the Five) as Freddy a mutual friend of Sam and Eve.
THE RED SHOES : NEXT STEP opens with Samantha (Sam) backstage, just about to dance Karen, the lead in “The Red Shoes” ballet in the Harlow Academy performance when her older sister Annie, a brilliant dancer, and wearing terrific red sneakers, is struck by a car while on her mobile with Sam heading for the theatre.
Guilt-ridden, Sam stops dancing, cuts herself off from the Harlow Academy, returns to ‘ordinary’ high school, and suddenly runs amok with Eve, which leads to Sam having a community service sentence, to be completed cleaning the dance studios at the Academy (organised by Sam’s mother and Ms Harlow) – a continuous reminder of the tragic event.
We then see how Sam cuts herself off from Eve, although not meaning to, when Eve really needs her, and how she has a very strained relationship with her family.
Sam trudges through the cleaning, having to encounter rivals and old friends, attempting to block dreams and recollections of the past. Gracie,( Primrose Kern) who has the lead role of Karen in The Red Shoes ballet, is suddenly injured and Ms Harlow urges Sam to take over the role and dance with Ben, with Paige as understudy.
Ms Harlow is an obsessive martinet, severe and extremely demanding, driving Sam to exhaustion and an explosive row between them, but underneath she is revealed to have a sympathetic heart. In a similar discussion between Boris Lermontov and Victoria Page in the original 1948 film, Ms Harlow asks Sam Why are you here’? ‘Sam has to confront her constant feeling of guilt, wondering if Annie would give Sam her blessing, but it is her own fear and grief she has to face in order to rekindle her passion for dance.
There is a spectacular solo dance scene for Ben when he thinks he is alone in the studio rehearsing, and we also see Sam dancing her heart out when she thinks she is unobserved .And there is an intimate entwining pas de deux for them that is interrupted , before we see some of the Harlow Academy version of The Red Shoes.
The dance goes on.
Running time 1 hour 50 minutes
The film will screen during the April school holidays – from April 6 in Queensland and from April 13 in all other states and territories.
For a list of cinemas screening the film, please go to: https://screeninc.com.au/red-shoes/