The hit reality series featuring Ballet West, a professional ballet company based in Salt Lake City, aired it’s season two premiere Monday night on the CW. Breaking Pointe follows the lives of the young adult dancers in the company, highlighting the personal and professional struggles of their careers.
The beginning of the company’s season means the start of a new production-Cinderella. The artistic director of the company, Adam Sklute, stresses to the dancers how important the production is because they are only the second company in the country given permission to perform that particular version. Adam introduces Wendy Ellis Somes, a former principal dancer of the Royal Ballet, who will be staging the production for them and assisting Adam in the audition process. The pressure is on for the dancers, who have just started their first day back in the studio after a two-week winter break. Adam compares the hierarchy of ballet to a high school, calling the principal dancers seniors, the soloists juniors, the demi-soloists sophomores, and the ballet corps members freshman.
The new season also introduces new and old relationships between the dancers, as well as injuries that could make or break their careers. Last season, Rex Tilton, a demi-soloist, tore a tendon in his foot and is now working to get back into dancing. Rex and another demi-soloist, Allison DeBona, were previously in a relationship that did not work out. Allison explains that she gave her relationship with Rex a shot, but realized she was still in love with her ex-boyfriend Jonathon, who had to move to Detroit. She visited him over the break and decided she sees a future with him, but there are no professional ballet companies where he lives. Allison realizes she has a decision to make and considers the possibility that this might be the last season of her professional ballet career.
Ronnie Underwood, who was a first soloist last season, also deals with a frustrating injury. During last season’s performance of The Nutcracker, he broke multiple parts of his ankle, had to get a screw in his foot, and is now on crutches. Ronnie takes a trip to his doctor, who says that if he takes care of his injury properly it will not affect his long-term career and he can eventually get back into the studio. Ronnie’s roommate, Silver Barkes, is introduced in the show. Silver was a former senior corps member of Ballet West, and is returning to the company to be involved in Cinderella. Ronnie and Silver claim they have no romantic involvement and Silver says she thinks of him as a brother.
Chris Ruud, a principal dancer, is the artistic director of the training company called Ballet West 2. Chris tells the dancers, who are only invited to train in the school for two years, that final decisions for promotions into the real company are coming up soon and there might only be one contract given out this year. Chris has been married to another principal dancer, Christiana Bennett, for seven years. Christiana explains that it can be a big challenge to work with your husband, and Chris has so much going on that she sometimes feels she is not a main part of his life.
A new corps member, African-American male dancer Joshua Whitehead, is introduced this season. Joshua feels intimidated because this is his first year in the company and it is very rare to see African-American male dancers doing ballet, especially since Ballet West is not a very diverse company. Two more members of Ballet West 2, young and dramatic Zach Prentice who calls himself a gossip girl, and focused and confident Ian Tanzer, feel they are the two dancers most competitive with each other for the opening in the company.
A new relationship comes to light between demi-soloist Beckanne Sisk and Ballet 2 member Chase, but problems erupt between the new lovers at a kick-off party that Ronnie and Silver throw to celebrate the company’s new season. Chase feels uncomfortable because Beckanne seems to spend time with the older and more advanced members of the company rather than dancers her own age. She also claims to have broken out of her shell and become more confident since last season, which becomes clear when her and Ronnie are flirting all night. The older company members, specifically Chris, feel uncomfortable being in a party environment around the Ballet 2 students, so they soon leave.
After their departure, the younger members let loose and engage in more drinking, body shots, and dancing. Zach, who calls Chase his best friend, gets emotional when Beckanne is not giving Chase attention at the party, but she claims it was not a big deal. Beckanne gets frustrated with Zach’s dramatic tendencies after he expresses concern that Chase acts different around her.
The next week at the studio, the audition for the lead role in Cinderella is officially underway. Five girls and four boys are competing for the part, Beckanne being the youngest member invited to the audition. Not only is she going up against principal dancers and soloists, but she is also left without a partner because she was originally paired with Ronnie. Adam is unsure of what to do now that there are an uneven amount of dancers auditioning for the leads.
The episode is concluded with Ronnie taking an emergency trip to the doctor after noticing that one of his stitches was broken. The doctors inform him that his injury is infected, and if he does not start taking better care of it he could lose his foot and ruin his career forever.