Lazily billed as the Brazilian version of Billy Elliot, presumably because it, too, is a film and features a male ballet dancer, Only When I Dance is not really all that similar to the hit 2000 British drama. For one thing, it is a documentary; for another, it takes more than a single dancer as its central focus.
Teenagers Irlan and Isabela, having won scholarships, train at the Centro de Dance Rio, which is one of the most prestigious ballet schools in Brazil. We follow them as they go on to compete in international ballet competitions in Switzerland and in the US, with varying degrees of success.
There isn't actually a huge amount of ballet in the film, but when there is, it's often remarkable; the modern piece that Irlan performs in the competition in Switzerland is particularly amazing. As a straight-ahead story, the film is reasonably satisfying, if a little open-ended. In general, it's a slight piece of work. It doesn't usually go beyond the level of the personal, of the individual, which is both its strength and its weakness. It's about a couple of dancers, no more, no less.
In terms of style, it's probably fair to say that all the filmmakers had to do was point a camera in the right direction - the story pretty much tells itself. There's no hint of any authorial 'voice' at work. And in the absence of a narrator, there are only occasional subtitles providing bare-bones information - perhaps five or six sentences throughout the whole film. While unobtrusiveness can definitely be a virtue in documentary-making, this particular film is a bit lacking in character. The raw footage is not necessarily always interesting enough in itself to be presented without a little flair.
A bigger problem is that it all feels rather too light and superficial, as if we're only getting a glimpse at the surface. Without, for instance, the explicit probing of an interviewer, we don't really get to know our subjects in any real depth. A single conversation, early in the film, is the only exception, when Isabela's parents discuss the prejudices that prevent many youths from gaining status in the highly competitive world of dance: prejudices against race and class.
Afterward, the film chooses not to demonstrate the ways in which racial prejudice affects people like Isabella. If the class gap, meanwhile, is blindingly evident, it's largely because it's unavoidable: our stars are from the favelas. Throughout the documentary, we see Isabella's father anxiously trying to negotiate financial obstacles so that he can provide his daughter with the best opportunities possible. In contrast to the dancers' slums, we see the ballet instructor leave her comfortable apartment, remarking upon how the complex where she lives attracts the "affluent".
At 78 minutes, Only When I Dance won't detain you for long. But there is nevertheless the nagging feeling that the material on offer doesn't quite warrant release as a film. For those especially interested in the Brazilian ballet scene - a relatively niche interest - it will no doubt deliver in spades; for everyone else, it is merely another story of personal achievement, given that it doesn't engage a great deal with the social prejudices and related difficulties facing the dancers. While it is undeniably inspirational, perhaps it would have been better if it had been presented in the form of an hour-long one-off documentary on Channel 4 (who, incidentally, co-funded this) or as an extended magazine article.
The disc's sole extra is a six minute long featurette titled 'Irlan at the Royal Ballet'. It's basically a fairly unexciting extension of the film, in which Irlan gets to meet the Royal Ballet's lead dancer.
Overall Verdict: An easy, perfectly watchable documentary, but one that won't set the world on fire.
Special Features:
Irlan at the Royal Ballet
Reviewer: Tom René
