Manga-- Doll

Another ballet manga! There are many of these! This particular manga is called Doll is is written and drawn by the same mangaka as Mars. It's about a New York ballet company and a young amateur dancer auditioning for the company. This is a short story, only being five chapters long, but it's a nice story that I enjoyed reading. So let's take a look into the story of this manga.

As usual, spoilers ahead!

A amateur dancer named Muriel Blaire tries out for a musical. When she accidentally kicks her dance partner during a tricky move, her partner is replaced with a famous Russian, dancer named Alosza. They dance so well together, that the company decided to fill the recently vacated leading role to her.

Unfortunately, the person who Muriel replaced comes back to haunt the partner. Her name is Ginger, and she likes to put Muriel on edge, especially, since she is jealous of Muriel's closeness with Alosza. She interrupts their dinner together to basically make them uncomfortable. Despite Ginger's set backs and the looming doubt of other dancers, Muriel fights her own fear of falling to keep up with Alosza.

Though they are improving, their practices are getting harder. Articles in the newspaper doubt the casting. The directors try to push the dancers further by trying to have them dance from emotional, past experiences. Muriel has trouble with expressing emotions and goes to take a break. On her break, she overhears Alosza say "I love you" in Russian to their ballet director, Ira. Muriel is so upset when she hears this that it throws off the rest of the rehearsal. Her jealousy costs her the role, and they end up asking Ginger to return and play the part.


The musical they put on, Doll, is similar to the ballet, Coppelia. Ginger plays the Doll and Alosza is the boy who falls in love with it. However, as all performances go, there are set backs, and Ginger leaves the stage in a huff. Muriel is asked to replace her mid-act.

Muriel is in the costume closet when Ira, the ballet director, runs in the room. She begs Muriel to dance. When Muriel comments on her begging, saying that Ira must really love Alosza, Ira admits that Alosza is actually her son and that she had to leave him in Russia years ago. Since Alosza was kind enough to forgive her for leaving him, she wants to make Doll perfect for him, and that would require Muriel to dance.

Muriel decides to dance, and of course, it's a great success. Alosza, during the doll's death scene, confesses his love for her and then the curtains fall.

Muriel and Alosza are now a couple, and can stay together since Muriel is offered a part in the company due to her great performance. Now there are new problems, such as competition. Not only are there talented dancers, but Alosza's new partners are threatening their romance.

This ballet would be the new Da Vinci Code

The company is putting on (and I laughed for a good five minutes over this one) a ballet featuring Jesus and Judas. Did I mention that the dance company wants gay-undertones since it's an all male cast? Hahaha, could you just imagine?

This production is a success (though it makes Muriel jealous of men now, as well as women) and the next ballet they put on is a rendition of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Muriel, since she dances so well with Alosza, is given the principle role. Her competition wonders why she was given the part when she's a weaker dancer, but when they see her with Alosza, it becomes clear. But the director decides later that the roles they've been given are too mismatched, and so Muriel must swap dance partners.

Muriel ends up hearing from the grapevine that it was not the director's idea to swap partners, by Alosza's own planning. When she confronts him about it, he tells her that he didn't tell since he knew she would cry, and he thought them dancing separately would help them grow as dancers. She starts crying and arrives to practice the next day looking terrible. Her new dance partner, though mean to her before, shows a more sensitive side.


Though Muriel doesn't take the heartbreak well, she does manage to connect with her partner more as he tries to cheer her up. Her and Alosza split more and more, and though her new partner tries to lift her spirits, she just can't imagine dancing without him. She thinks about quitting the company, but her partner tries one last time to keep her dancing by explaining to her that she should dance for herself, not for Alosza.

She takes this advice and dances for herself. Once she was able to dance strongly without Alosza's support, he dances the final act with her on stage. Muriel and Alosza make up when he tells her that he split up because he didn't want to make her into a doll that obeyed to his every word. The story ends with them together.

*end spoilers*

I'm suspecting that this mangaka, author of the manga, knew a lot about American/Western culture, and I'm guessing she may have lived here for sometime. She does a great job with English, cultural influences such as Shakespeare; for instance, their ballet, Twelfth Night, is being performed during Christmas. I wouldn't expect someone from Japan to get such a small detail, which not many English-speakers even know about, correctly.

 This was a really nice story. I loved how the dance was drawn and the story was sweet. Despite the fact that this wasn't a pure ballet manga (there were other forms of dance here, too, like gymnastics), I still loved the dance sequences since there was still a strong ballet vibe. And even though there were some places that made me raise an eyebrow, it really wasn't too bad and I highly recommend reading it if you're interested in this type of thing. Since this isn't released in the US, you can read it here for free.

Review-- Ballet Shoes

Alright! Finally, I manage to get my act together to complete this movie review for.... Ballet Shoes! Now, this took especially long since I found out there are a couple versions of this. Not only is this a book, but there are also two film adaptations for it. One is recent (one of the stars being Emma Watson) and the other looks like it's from the 70s. I was only planning on reviewing and taking caps from the one starring Emma, but I figured it would be fun to compare the two films side by side.

Since I haven't read the book, I decided to nix looking at how well each film captured the essence of the book. Both of these movies are quite similar, even the fact that they were both made for television makes them alike. So let's begin! Which one will I like more? We'll see!

Basic Premise:
Three orphaned girls named Pauline, Petrova, and Posy are taken in by an old paleontologist. The paleontologist departs, leaving their guardian, Sylvia, in charge. In order to pay rent on their house, they take in several boarders. One of these boarders is a dancer, who recommends Sylvia to enter the girls into a dance academy. While Pauline enjoys the academy since she wants to be an actress and Posy likes it since she wants to be a dancer, Petrova is miserable since she wants to fly planes. Unfortunately, taking in boarders is not enough to pay the rent, and their caretaker, the paleontologist, has been missing for quite some time now. The girls struggle to make ends meet, taking on acting jobs to help Sylvia keep the house.

Story:

 

Each movie did a nice job with the pacing and making us understand the different characters and their unique talents. It's a little hard to say much about the story, considering that I've never read the book it's based on, but for the most part, it's a cute story for little girls to watch. They do a nice job with morals by teaching things such as "don't turn into a bossy prima donna" and then the more serious "perfection isn't possible" and "if you enjoy something, it's always worth fighting for it." 

My major gripe with this movie is: "Why is this called 'Ballet Shoes'?" The title makes it sound like this is a ballet movie, but it's more about the girls' acting than dancing. Sure, they are in a dance academy, but Petrova and Pauline make money by taking parts; Posy is rarely there. There's also this big lead-in with Posy being abandoned with only a pair of ballet shoes. You would think she is the main character, but if anyone is the main character, it's Pauline. Pauline gets several big breaks while Posy doesn't get hers until the very end. It's bizarre and possibly would make more sense if I read the book.

Main Characters:

Okay, let's not beat around the bush, the new version has much better acting. Not only that, but Posy is a pretty good dancer. And if that's not her dancing, then by god they have found one heck of a great body double. Emma Watson is a much better actress for Pauline. Her recitation of Puck is better than the girl from the 70s version. Also, her crying is much more believable, not laughable. I know they are only children, but acting like you're sick doesn't equal sniffing in between every line. More the fault of the director than the girls in the 70s version.

Also with the 70s version, Pauline seemed to have more ballet experience than Posy. Not that Posy did a bad job, but the character is supposed to be showing signs up excellence and, well, born with ballet shoes in her mouth. 

Now I pretty much hate all the girls. Wow, that's mean of me, but each one grates on my nerves in their own super special way. This is why I don't have children yet, peeps, because I just can't handle these girls' selfish, bratty behavior. Sometimes, they are downright cruel, especially to their rival named Winifred. Poor girl, you end up rooting for her instead.

Supporting Characters:
 There's a pretty large supporting cast for this movie. All play a specific part in helping the girls achieve their dreams. I'll try and tackle some of the most important ones.

Sylvia Brown-- She is the girls' guardian. In the 70s version, she is portrayed as a nervous woman, constantly explaining herself and doubting her actions. In the newer version, she is portrayed as a more stressed out woman. Both are fine, but the nervous portrayal got annoying after awhile, though I do suppose that may be how they wanted the character portrayed.

Madame-- She is the Russian teacher of the ballet school and in charge. She plays a much bigger part in the 70s version, but in that one, the acting seems a bit over the top. In the newer version, she reminds me a lot of some family friends I have from Eastern Europe, so I felt the newer portrayal was much better. Sadly, she doesn't nearly get the amount of screen time that the earlier one gets. Still, I enjoy both characters.

Winifred-- Winifred, their rival. Poor, poor Winifred. In the 70s version, she has parents out of work and gets her role sabotaged by Pauline who lies about the location of the audition. In the later version, she is the best in the company but can't get a part because of her "below average" looks, she is bossed around by Pauline when she becomes Pauline's understudy, she just gets the short end of the stick. I guess you're supposed to think she had it coming, but I really don't see it at all. All I see is a poor girl with lots of talent who just doesn't quite make it. The girl in the newer version does a phenomenal job. I was very impressed, but the girl from the 70s version... not so much. I'll need a more convincing cry than what she did.

The Boarders-- These people help the girls study in some way. The professors (or professor, in the 70s version), the garage owner, and the dance teacher all help the girls in some way. I liked all of them, to be honest. I loved them all because they were very kind, all of them. Acting was very good from all of them, especially the later version. I loved the later version because their characters were much more fleshed out and were given back stories.

Sets/Costumes:

Since these were made for television, I was not expecting much, especially since this story takes place in the 30s, but they both did a pretty decent job. The 70s version looks a tad dated, and I swear they aren't wearing bras at points, but both versions got the hairstyles right. The newer version even goes a step beyond, doing research to find how girls got the wave in their hair. The 70s version seems to have a simpler, studio set, where the newer one goes on location.

Music:

 Both films utilized ballet music as part of their score. It was a nice little touch. However, the 70s version did a bit more than a touch. In fact, I would describe the music as a little kid who keeps poking you in the side over, and over, and over, and over. This movie wouldn't stop spamming Tchaikovsky's "Panorama" from the ballet, Sleeping Beauty. I'm not kidding when I say this; it had to have played over eight times.

Ballet Presence:

Ballet is definitely present in both versions. I do think that the 70s version balanced the acting with the dancing better than the newer version, but there was still a disbalance in both where acting seemed to get the uppercut.

Go ahead and click on these pictures for a larger shot. I tried to get a shot of every major scene involving ballet. I had a hard time telling if the girls in the 70s version were en pointe at times. Sometimes, it looked like they were faking it, and other times they would definitely be en pointe. In fact, I would go as far as to say that Posy probably shouldn't have been en pointe at all. She didn't look steady.

However, in the 70s version, all of the girls were seen in the dance studio. In the modern version, it was only Posy who received formal dance lessons.
 

 Overall Enjoyment:

 

Both of these films were very good, but I have to say I like the modern version better. The sets are better, the costumes are better,the acting is better, the ballet is better (though less). I just enjoyed it more, and since the story is almost identical, may as well go for the one that developed the characters more and did an overall better job.

"You're lucky you're wearing a leotard!"

AKA: Russia is HARDCORE.

I was talking with my ballet teacher during class when another student brought up a documentary she saw over the weekend. The documentary is called Ballerina. It's about Russian dancers. It's available on Netflicks so many people can get a hold of a copy if they're interested. What this brought up was my teacher's interesting experience with Russian instructors and dancers.

One day she was practicing and (I don't know... she was doing something wrong or complaining about her leotard) and her Russian instructor reprimanded her by saying, "You should even be grateful you have a leotard on when you dance!" She was surprised at first by this comment, but she learned later that some Russian dancers aren't allowed to wear them! I'm not sure if this was for the older dancers, but younger dancers weren't always so lucky.

Or perhaps they are lucky in a strange way. It is really prestigious for a girl to get into a Russian ballet. As my teacher says, if you make it into one of those, you're basically set for life. The tryouts have their odd/HARDCORE moments.

One thing they look for is the girl's flexibility. They see how far she can bend backwards, etc. They also look for features of their body. Their heads most be smaller than most and their limbs must be long. They test their flexibility and body shape...in their underwear. Imagine that flying in America? Yeah, I can't either. The parents would have a nightmare, but in Russia it's much different. This is where my ballet instructor got the "You should be grateful" speech from her Russian instructor. Apparently, some girls didn't even get the luxury of having a simple leotard.

Even their privacy is tapped into. They share dormrooms and if they have food in their rooms, the instructors or someone will come in and take it away so you can't eat it. I understand they are trying to promote the diet they've had, but come on! Who doesn't want a Hershey bar every once in awhile! Hahaha

Russian dancer Natalia Osipova

 The sad thing is they don't look for passion. There's a girl in my class from Russia. She was not accepted as a Russian dancer, yet she has so much potential! She loves to dance and is quite good at it. It's a shame they didn't accept her or even allow her to take lessons. At least here in America she's allowed to do whatever she wants with her dance.

Still, I'm basing all this information off of what's been said to me. I feel as if I can trust these women, but who knows? I've never been to a Russian ballet academy so I can't confirm this. Besides, I'm sure all ballet academies in Russia are different in slight ways. Russian dancers are amazing. They dedicate their lives to their art, so it's no surprise how wonderful they are! Here's to Russia, as hardcore as they may be, for their contribution to the ballet world!