"I wanna be a ballerina." "That's always been my dream." "My mom always said that I did pirouettes before I even started walking." "And I did them and I fell on my butt." "I had a little ballerina on my nightstand, and I think this was my first idea why I wanted to become a ballerina, 'cause I never knew that ballet existed." "I love hip-hop." "Missy, Jay-Z, Common, N. W.A., Kanye West." "Hip-hop allows you to let go and follow the beat." "I think the biggest difference between ballet and hip-hop is the posture." "That settling into your body in hip-hop, whereas ballet, it's just about flying and flowing." "I love kissing." "Stuffed pizza, are you kidding?" "Wrigley Field." "Maybe dancing and kissing, the same time." "The lake, my friends and my dad." "Oh, my God, my dad, Roy..." "Trumpet." "He's a trumpet player." "Trumpet." "And this necklace." "It's from my mom." "She gave it to me for luck." "It's not too much leaving home, 'cause I'm really excited to go to New York, but it's the not knowing." "Not knowing what's gonna happen, not knowing the people who are gonna be in my life." "My boyfriend and I decided to see other people, because he's studying somewhere and I'm here in New York, and it's probably better this way." "My ankles are a little weak, and my turnout could be probably a little better." "Oh, it hurts so much." "Don't you want me to do, like, a pirouette or something?" "This is what I've been doing my whole life, and honestly I don't think I had time to do anything else, besides kissing." "I'm gonna be working really, really hard to be the best." "And you won't be disappointed in me." "There are not gonna be better dancers than me there." "I'm going to be the best." "And if there are, they should just wait and see." "That's right." "That's right." "Hey, that was awesome." " What do you call that?" " An attitude." "Oh, neat." " Are you Zoe?" " Uh-huh." "I'm Sara." "Yes, you'll do." "Okay..." "You brought this all the way from Texas?" "Yes." "In Texas, we have something called "gentlemen."" "I think I got something called a "hernia."" "How did you get it here in the first place?" "Some horny cellist." "Why don't we take some stuff out?" "It will be easier to carry." "Yes, that is an excellent idea." "Why didn't I think of that?" "Okay, that's my jewelry, that's my top hat." "That's Hamlet." "I've always suspected Ken was a serial killer." "Each of you has been blessed with a unique gift." " Trombone." " What?" "I got this thing where I can look at somebody, I can tell what they do." "And you are a trombonista." "Well, maybe your thing is broken, 'cause I'm here for ballet." "What?" "You trying to be a ballerina?" "I am a ballerina." "I'm trying to become a prima ballerina." "Well, you are kind of prima, but you don't look like a ballerina." "You've got the soul of a trombone player." "It's in the eyes." "I..." "I'm Miles and you are..." "From our ballet department, Miss Monique Delacroix." " You mind?" " I mind what?" "Turning that down." "I'm trying to hear Miss Delacroix." "And by the way, the remix is way better." "Although I'm sure it's true you're the best and brightest that your former schools and teachers had to offer," "I regret having to dash your dreams of a meteoric rise to the pinnacle of artistic success and world renown." "By Juilliard choosing you, the bar's been raised." "The bar's been raised." "For the next four years, you must strive for perfection." "Please look to your left and your right." "Only one in three of you will go on to a life of fulfillment in the mastery of your art." "The other two will probably end up stocking books at Barnes  Noble or working behind a cosmetic counter in Buffalo." "Welcome to Juilliard." "Thanks." "Oh, my God!" "How pretentious can you get?" "I mean, I know she's your idol, you have the poster over the bed and all but..." "Monique Delacroix has danced the lead with every major ballet company in the world." "She was a principal at the American Ballet Theatre for 15 years." " Whatever." " What?" "You wanna wind up working in a cosmetics counter in Buffalo?" "The women in my family don't work." "They drink martinis, and they get face-lifts." "Me, I just wanna act and leave the world domination to you and Mistress Delacroix." "Oh, my God." "There's my mentor." "He's beautiful." "I hate him." "I better go and pay my respects." "See you." " Hi." " Hello." "Hi." "I'm Sara, your mentee." "Well, sit down before that tray tips you over." " So, Sara, you any good?" " Yes." "But isn't everybody?" "We wouldn't be here if we weren't." "See you." " Bye." " Okay." "I'll watch out for you as best I can." "But for the most part, you're on your own." "So we're all totally freaking wasted, right?" "And guess who gets on the freaking elevator?" " Do you pluck your eyebrows?" " What?" "Your eyebrows, where do you get them done?" "Round the corner on 9th, at the Chinese place." "Cool." "Never ever date an actor." "All they wanna do is screw ballerinas." "It's like a fetish." "Besides, when you dump them, they're such drama queens." "So do you have a boyfriend?" "Yes." "Well, no." "He's in premed at Georgetown, and I'm here." "We decided we could date other people..." "Forget about him." "It's for the best." "Honestly, there's maybe seven ballet companies worth dancing for in the world." "That means you have to stay focused." "Boyfriends, they just get in the way." "My God, this summer in Paris, I was like the ugly American because my sissonne ouverte wasn't grande enough." "Who'd you take class with?" " Me?" " Yes, you." "The Chicago Ballet with Uri Pell." "Oh, I know him." "He's kind of out there." "If you mean progressive, yeah, he's kind of out there." "He did the thing where everybody was like keys on a typewriter." "Were you in that?" "Sara, come with me for a moment." " Stand here." " Why?" " What's your name?" " Sara." "Sara Johnson." "You'd all do well to follow Miss Johnson's example." "Class begins at 9:30 sharp, which means that 9:29 you should all be stretched and waiting for my arrival." "And you, what's your name?" " Marcus." " Marcus, what is this place?" " A dance studio?" " No, it's a cathedral." "In this room dwells the entire spiritual history of our species." "How can you hope to be part of that, Marcus, while wearing trousers that go "whish, whish" every time you take a step?" " I..." " You can't." "Not one article of vinyl clothing is to cross that threshold." " Are we clear?" " Yes." " Morning, Bella." " Morning." "Morning." "You will be divided into three lines based on your abilities." "We will do this in every class." "If you find yourself in line number three more than five weeks, you will be asked to leave the program." "Please line up at the long bar." "Marcus, third line." "Bella." "Please." "We'll begin with pliés." "What happened to your eye?" "I was in circus class, I fell off my stilts." "Is that something you should be doing on a first day?" "Welcome to Introduction to Hip-Hop Theory." "Oh, my God." "Oh, my God." "What?" "You're the one who made us take this class." "My name is Miles Sultana, and I am not your professor." "Your actual professor was trying to ball with us young bucks up in the Bronx, decided to go all half-man, half-amazing to the hole." "Needless to say he pulled his hammy." "I laughed 'cause it was funny until he fell to the ground, and his leg bent backwards and snapped in three places." "This school is dangerous." "So here I am filling in for him until he..." "Well, if he gets back." "So with the help of my good friend Franz here and his instrument, we are going to explore the nature of hip-hop within us all." "All right." "So, hip-hop theory." "What is hip-hop?" "Ah, Trombonista." "Hip-hop is the convergence of the electronic musical movement and urban youth culture which happened after the world discovered that disco sucked." "Good answer." "I ain't giving up my Bee Gees." "Hip-hop is..." " It's rap." " You know what I'm saying?" "Hip-hop is..." "Soul." "Hip-hop is..." "R  B." "Hip-hop is..." "Funk." "For most people today, hip-hop is about bling-bling." "But what was before the bling-bling?" "What was before the Escalades, and the nine millys and the hoochies?" "Hip-hop is..." "It's a form of cross-cultural communication." " Hip-hop is..." " It's a lifestyle, a language, a fashion." " Hip-hip is..." " It's simple and complex." "It's about a individual questioning the establishment." "It's about recombining, combining everything that came before." "Hip-hop is about finding a new voice." "But what hip-hop really is can be summed up in three simple words." "I am here." "It was so rad the way you like looped my roomie's words, then you made a song out of it." "Thanks." "So did your roomie think so, too?" "You could have told me you were a teacher." " I'm not." " Okay, a guest lecturer then." " I thought you were an actor." " An actor." "Why?" "Never mind." "How tall are you?" " 5'10"." " You wanna wrestle?" "Okay, let's go." "Hey, you guys should come to the club I'm spinning at tonight." "I have a class in the morning." "I can put you two on the list, plus one so you can bring your boyfriend." "I don't have a boyfriend." "All right, cool." "So just the two of you then." " We'll see." " Cool." "Zoe." "5'11" actually, with shoes." "Second line." "Second line." "Line one." "What is that?" "It felt more natural that way." "You're not here to be natural." "You're here to learn ballet." "Second line." "Must be all that fine Chicago training." "Wow." "Well, look at this place, momma." "Only a few minutes in New York and already we're on the list at the hottest spot in town." " Okay." "Momma?" " Okay, I'm exploring my range." " "Momma" is not in my range?" " No." " Hey." " Hi." " Hi." " Let's go." "Okay, remember, we can't stay up too late." "I know, I know." "Hey, chill, momma." " Jeez!" "Ballerinas." " I don't really..." "None of..." " I don't really dance." " Hey." " I knew you'd come." " Hi." " Who's this?" " Hello to you, too." " Sara, Candy." " Nice to meet you." " I'm sure it is." " Okay..." "Hey, don't mind her." "She's like that with everybody." "Come on." "What about my drink?" " Where are we going?" " To the pit." "Pit?" "Wow!" "This is a whole other level." "Yeah, I used to have to sneak out and take the 9 train up to the South Bronx to see stuff like this." "It's funny, 'cause most of these kids, they don't even realize that there's a history there, a shadow behind every move." "Every step they make is into a footprint bigger than their own." "Kind of like ballet." "Professor!" "I'm paying you to spin, not stand still, man." "This is Mixx, he's the father of this party." " And who is this pretty distraction?" " This is Sara." " She's one of my students." " Should have stayed in school." ""