Directors: Andreas Koefoed, Christian Bonke
Starring: Slavik Kryklyvvy, Anna Melnikova
Running Time: 78 minutes
Synopsis: Slavik, former world champion in Latin American dancing is making a last and final comeback with Anna, his ten years younger new dance partner and girlfriend. Failure is not an option, yet failure is so difficult to avoid.
In BALLROOM DANCER, we follow Slavik Kryklyvyy, who ten years ago was a World Latin American Dance Champion and has returned to the fray with a new partner, and something against his talent…his age of 34 and he’s had a few injury concerns. Slavik is, of course, temperamental and a perfectionist and like many talented souls struggles with self-doubt. However, on his side is girlfriend and amateur world champion dancer Anna Melniknova – a woman to keep his mind on success and astonishingly impressive high standards. As we follow them through various tournaments across the world – from Moscow to Blackpool, Bournemouth and beyond – we dive deeply into their lives and the tensions that equally divide and connect them.
What’s sad to see, is with such dedication can come serious life consequences and changes, lets’ call them decisions that have to be made in the name of personal achievement and sometimes, those goals can overpower a life, like an addiction.
It’s true to say that I’m no dance expert, in fact I probably have all the dancing rhythm of a tortoise but when the majority of the country end up divulging on Strictly Come Dancing, it’s important to remember that although anyone can dance but only those dedicated and at the very top can really impress and with that fact, I felt the addictive world of BLACK SWAN start to take over. Among the beauty of the moment, the skill, the physical and mental tensions that they apply to their lives, it’s also noticeably devastating to the point where Slavik jokingly considers running away to become a stripper and clean for a living, one of those moments that’s a joke but in truth an underlying desire for reality.
BALLROOM DANCER is an intimate portrayal of the relationship of dancing and the commitment that the dancers make to their passion, and this documentary by Andreas Koefoed and Christian Bonke feels like it has a fictional film approach but is still cohesive as Slavik and Anna try to find that old glory that he knew so well, and she’s still learning. Intense and thought-provoking, if you’re specifically a dancer or anyone with a focus on something you want – you’ll understand all the changing emotions and challenges.
BALLROOM DANCER is out in select UK cinemas now (Find A Screening) and also available to pre-order through Dogwoof, when it’s released on February 11th.
