The road to becoming a professional athlete is paved with thorns, but there's more trouble than that awaiting three aspiring male ballet dancers in the Norwegian documentary "Ballet Boys." Directed by Kenneth Elvebakk, the film examines the lives of teens Lukas, Syvert and Torgeir, which involve practice, practice and more practice at the Norwegian Ballet School in Oslo.
Their daily routines go beyond Coco Chanel's maxim, "There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time." With these three, there's only dancing, period. The rest of the world hardly seems to exist.
Anyone who has stood at a barre in a ballet studio may have an inkling as to why these three have had to sacrifice a major portion of their young lives for this art. Ballet is a rigorous, dictatorial and ever-demanding master, and the process of becoming accomplished is far from pretty. "It's ridiculous, really, because ballet destroys the body," says Lukas.