Bess Kargman

I N T E R V I E W

FIRST POSITION DIRECTOR

Every year, thousands of aspiring dancers enter one of the world's most prestigious ballet competitions, the Youth America Grand Prix, where lifelong dreams are at stake. In the nal round, with hundreds competing for only a handful of elite scholarships and contracts, practice and discipline are paramount, and nothing short of perfection is expected. Bess Kargman's award-winning documentary, First Position, follows six young dancers as they prepare for a chance to enter the world of professional ballet, struggling through bloodied feet, near exhaustion and debilitating injuries, all while navigating the drama of adolescence. A showcase of awe-inspiring talent, tenacity and passion, FIRST POSITION paints a thrilling and moving portrait of the most gifted young ballet stars of tomorrow.

What do you want audiences to take away from First Position? I think there is a lot of misconception about the ballet world, so I made sure to select subjects that I knew would be able to challenge certain stereotypes. I wanted to show that not all ballet dancers are rich, not all are white, not all male ballet dancers are gay, not all female ballet dancers are anorexic, and not all stage moms are psychoetc. Also, few people realize the toll that ballet takes on the body (or that the pain threshold of professional dancers is close to superhuman). I knew that if I could thoroughly document the worlds these dancers inhabit, and the challenges they face on a daily basis, I would be able to craft an extremely unique documentary. What prompted the idea for your lm and how did it evolve? My entire childhood I danced. I always had this huge love of ballet (even after quitting to play ice hockey). There are two things that compelled me to direct and produce First Position. I believed that my ballet background was enough of an asset to help me overcome some of the mistakes that I feared making as a rst-time director. Secondly, growing up this was a lm I wished had existed (or to put it more selshly, I was tired of waiting for someone else to make the movie). There were a slew of veteran lmmakers who (in an eort to provide well-intentioned advice) told me I was biting o more than I could chew. They reminded me how few documentaries are released theatrically each year, and how much

work is required to distill hundreds of hours of footage into a 90-minute feature. These are things I never forgot along the way, but I forced myself to pretend otherwise. Maintaining such an outlook helped me stay focused (and optimistic) during the two years it took to shoot and edit the lm. What was your approach to making the lm? The two most important things that I learned as a student at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism are that a story is only as good as its characters, and that access is everything. These principles hold true no matter what format the story is told (whether it be print, radio or on lm). I knew I would have to convince the competition to grant me exclusive access, and so I put together a detailed proposal that outlined my desire to create an honest portrayal of what it means to have a dream at such a young age, and the sacrice required to make it as a dancer. I also knew that for some youths (especially in this economic climate), winning a scholarship can mean the dierence between making it as a dancer or relinquishing a dream. Lastly, I feared that if I solely relied on outcome (who wins) I would be risking the entire project on factors I had no control over. So I selected subjects whose personal stories were so compelling that even if everyone tanked, the audience would still leave the theater feeling moved and inspired by a group of extraordinary dancers who, at such a young age, have devoted their lives to ballet.

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