First Position (ATOM Study Guide)

Every year, more than 5000 dancers enter Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP), one of the world's most prestigious ballet competitions. Only 300 of the entrants will make it to the grand final in New York, where a perfect performance will bring the reward of medals, scholarships and job contracts. For the children and teenagers, aged from nine to nineteen, participating is the chance to prove that they have what it takes to pursue ballet as a career. First Position follows six of the dancers as they qualify, and then prepare for and perform at YAGP semi-finals and the grand final. Seventeen-year-old Rebecca Houseknecht wants to secure a contract with one of the many dance companies offering apprenticeships at YAGP. For sixteen-year-old Joan Sebastian Zamora, who has had to leave his home in Colombia and move to New York to train, a scholarship to the Royal Ballet School in the United Kingdom will provide him with the financial resources to follow his dream. Fourteen-year-old Michaela DePrince may be nursing an injury but she is nevertheless determined to challenge the stereotypes of the world of classical ballet and achieve a scholarship. For eleven-year-olds Aran Bell and Gaya Bommer and twelve-year-old Miko Fogarty, making it to the YAPG grand final is proof of their exceptional talent and an opportunity to be seen by the directors and staff of the world's foremost dance companies and schools.

For the children and teenagers featured in First Position ballet is all consuming. Mature beyond their years, they know the stakes are high and that sacrifices are inevitable. Passion is matched by a disciplined approach to practice. Relentless rehearsal schedules, strenuous training sessions and bruised and bloody feet are the dancers' idea of normal. The dancers' families are similarly accepting of the costs and the compromises of their children's aspirations.

Told from the candid perspectives of the dancers, their parents and their dance teachers, First Position offers its audience both an insight into the world of professional ballet and inspiring stories of children and teenagers with exceptional talent and tenacity.

First Position (2011) is a feature documentary directed by Bess Kargman, suitable for secondary students in Years 7–10 undertaking subjects within the domains of English, The Arts and The Humanities and within the strand of Physical, Personal and Social Learning. The film is a suitable text for study in VCE Dance, English and Media.