Two Teenagers Go for the Gold in Competitive Ballroom Dancing in POV’s ‘Dance for Me,’ Monday, July 21, 2014 on PBS
“Offers a window into the disciplined world of elite sport while showing what it’s like to be a stranger—in a strange land and in a body that’s growing from a boy into a man.” — Nanna Frank Rasmussen, FILM Magazine
Katrine Philp’s Dance for Me, winner of the Audience Award at the 2013 American Documentary Film Festival, has its national broadcast premiere on Monday, July 21, 2014 at 10 p.m. on PBS’s POV (Point of View) documentary series. (Check local listings). It will stream on POV’s website, www.pbs.org/pov/danceforme/, from July 22-Aug. 20.
Egor, an only child, had been living with his mother in China while his father served in the Russian army. Talented and dedicated, he is ready to step on to the international stage. He leaves behind home, family, friends and everything familiar to go to Denmark and move in with Mie and her family. “I didn’t feel like leaving at all,” he says at the beginning of Dance for Me. “I felt like dancing.” Egor must succeed with Mie in order to remain in Denmark.
Dance for Me follows Egor and Mie through their rigorous regimen of practice, rehearsals and competitions, all beautifully filmed to capture the thrill of Latin ballroom dances, from rhumba to samba to paso doble.
Everything is organized—and every sacrifice made—to further the two teens’ dance careers, and they seem a winning match as they form a brother-and-sister bond. They look wonderful together, displaying the dramatic moves and glittering, grownup costumes that epitomize ballroom competitions. But the partnership hangs in the balance as Egor grapples with homesickness and the pressures of performing and Mie must adapt to a new partner. The two discover that they have something in common: They don’t just want to be good; they want to become legends, remembered for their passion for dance.
Dance for Me accompanies the two, energized by their bond, on a competitive roller coaster that takes them to the Danish championship, and the European championship in Germany. The pressure is on, and all eyes are on Egor and Mie.
“As a former dancer, production designer and film director, I found making this movie a perfect way to combine my various skills and fascinations,” says filmmaker Katrine Philp. “The story is very inspiring and an important one to tell. On the one hand, it is a film about two young elite dancers who put everything at stake and are very focused on their careers. On the other hand, it is a coming-of-age story about Egor, who left everything for a new life in a foreign family and culture. Ultimately, it’s a movie about how hard it is to be integrated, and about longing and loneliness—despite a fully booked calendar.”
Dance for Me is a production of Klassefilm in association with the Danish Film Institute and Danish Broadcasting Corporation.
Download photos, embed a trailer and find out more at http://www.pbs.org/pov/danceforme/.
About the Filmmaker:
Katrine Philp
After working in design, Katrine Philp decided to apply her visual skills to film. She graduated from the National Film School of Denmark’s documentary department in 2009. Her first film, Book of Miri, was awarded the President’s Award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and the European Young CIVIS Media Prize in Germany. Philp has contributed to DOX: LAB, where she collaborated with a Burmese filmmaker on Five Beats Before Death. She is currently developing three documentary projects with a strong social dimension.
About POV
Produced by American Documentary, Inc. and now in its 27th season on PBS, the award-winning POV is the longest-running showcase on American television to feature the work of today’s best independent documentary filmmakers. POV has brought more than 365 acclaimed documentaries to millions nationwide. POV films have won every major film and broadcasting award, including 32 Emmys, 17 George Foster Peabody Awards, 10 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, three Academy Awards® and the Prix Italia. Since 1988, POV has pioneered the art of presentation and outreach using independent nonfiction media to build new communities in conversation about today’s most pressing social issues. Visit www.pbs.org/pov.
Major funding for POV is provided by PBS, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Bertha Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, The Educational Foundation of America, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee, and public television viewers. POV is presented by a consortium of public television stations, including KQED San Francisco, WGBH Boston and THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG.
