First Position

Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2012 Dallas International Film Festival, Bess Kargman's remarkably entertaining FIRST POSITION combines all of the heart, drama, tension and suspense of other docs, but set in the competitive world of classical dance.
Every year more than 5,000 aspiring dancers from across the globe, ages 9 to 19, enter the Youth America Grand Prix hoping to win scholarships, job contracts and kudos. Out of that number, only 300 make it to the finals in New York City. The film follows six gifted ballet students from disparate social, regional, economic and ethnic backgrounds as they compete: a US military brat living in Italy, an orphan girl from war-torn Sierra Leone adopted by a Jewish family in Philadelphia, an All American princess from Maryland, others. We spend time with them and their families and learn to understand their tenacity, passion and dedication to their art. Moving and inspiring, FIRST POSITION features stunning and memorable performances, both in dance and on camera.