The Red Shoes: the Next Step opens in April

It's official at last: a new dance film, The Red Shoes, the Next Step, has been announced and will be open in cinemas in April.

Billed as a family movie, the story of The Red Shoes, the Next Step is about a young dancer named Sam, who has given up dancing as a type of penance, blaming herself for a horrific accident. ​She finds, however, that she can't stay away.

"Life eventually leads Sam back to her old dance school – but not as a dancer," the synopsis reads. "An​ old rival, a long-time crush, and her former dance teacher guide Sam back to​ what she loves most, but ultimately, it’s her own emotions and fears that she must confront to reignite her deep passion for dance."

The Australian dance scene has been buzzing with anticipation this new film, which is an all-Australian production and involves a big cast of local dancers and students. It has been in preparation for a number of years: shooting began in 2021 and continued throughout Covid lockdowns in Sydney.

Starring in the main dance roles are Juliet Doherty (from the US) in the lead role of Sam Kavanaugh; Joel Burke (Energetiks former Model Search Winner and Ambassador) as her crush, Ben; Ashleigh Ross; Mietta White, who recently played the role Meg Giry in The Phantom of the Opera); and Primrose Kern, an Australian dancer with Paris Opera and Boston ballet companies. The choreographer is Daniel Gaudiello, a former Australian Ballet company principal.

Aside from providing the choreography, Gaudiello was also involved from the start as a script consultant. He advised the writers on the intensity of the dance culture, on dancers' emotional temperament; on their furious ambition and struggle, and on the relationship between teacher and student. He used his own career as an example. "My career was turbulent," he explains, " – I was emotionally up and down and everywhere." With Gaudiello's help the writers explored what he calls the "dark side" of ballet: "I gave them ideas, things that happen in schools, the control the teacher has over the students and how that affects the students so much in their development.

"That's really interesting to people who are not from the dance world. To them ballet looks beautiful and easy and then they realise the struggle.

"It's also a kind of a buddy movie, too," he goes on, "two people who would never see eye to eye finding their connection again through a common thread. I liked that."

The film is not directly related to the original film of The Red Shoes, made in 1948, a tragic tale of jealousy and ambition in which the ballerina (danced by Moira Shearer) is forced to choose between love and her career and is killed when she falls in front of a train. However, Gaudiello says the connection is in the "spirit" and "psychology" of the film, "the demons inside the dancer's head", which he has tried to express in the choreography.

Gaudiello was also instrumental in choosing the dancers for each role.  He is full of praise for Doherty. "She can't do anything fake, she's a beautiful actress. I was really happy with her. She brought a great honesty to the character; she has a really organic way of acting. I love her, I think she's a bit of a Marilyn Monroe, she just walks into the room and she's just herself."

Another of his picks was Primrose Kern, who was one of his students before she went on to her international career.

"People will love Primose," he enthuses, "she is that classic ballerina who's striving to get to the top at any cost. [With Juliet] they are the two character types you find in ballet: the ones who don't always make it, and the strong types who want it so bad they will do anything."

Kern agrees that her character "starts off as very competitive." "But as the movie evolves she has a full circle moment, and she becomes a lot softer, she evolves, and by the end of the film she's not a mean girl anymore."

Like many of those involved in The Red Shoes, Kern is supremely grateful that she had the chance to be involved, especially at a time when most dancers were confined to their homes during lockdown. "It really helped having a purpose. I had something to work toward and I wasn't put so behind like many others."

Not so lucky were the Brisbane students on whom the dance was originally created. Gaudiello spent three months rehearsing the dance sequences on his students at the Qld College of Dance in Brisbane. Then the borders slammed shut, and the hardworking dancers weren't allowed to travel to Sydney for the filming. Instead, the choreography was hastily "superimposed" on students at the Tanya Pearson Academy in Sydney, who had to learn it in three days ­– and sometimes even less. "There was one scene involving "a little white swan," Gaudiello says. "I taught it to the girl in about five minutes, while they were putting on her tutu – something it would normally take months to achieve," he said. "It was very Hollywood!"

– KAREN VAN ULZEN

'The Red Shoes, the Next Step' is scheduled for cinema release on April 6.

The film is sponsored by Energetiks, which supplied all dancewear, including the iconic red shoes after which the film is named.

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