Dancing for You

Every morning, 12-year-old Wiktor’s grandmother lovingly wakes him up. Once he’s had breakfast and gotten dressed, Wiktor is ready for an intense day at ballet school, where he and his classmates are rehearsing for an important performance. All the proud parents will be sitting in the front row, and while Wiktor’s kind grandmother will of course come, the young dancer is desperately hoping that his father, who lives abroad, will be there, too. Wiktor wants nothing more than to make his father proud.

In this sensitive portrait packed with vital life lessons, we see Wictor at home with his grandparents, at school during the grueling rehearsals, and outside getting into trouble with his friend. The youthful protagonist isn’t interviewed, but is instead simply observed by the camera, which in just a few poignant scenes reveals the close bond between Wiktor and his grandmother, and between the boy and his absent father. We can see from Wiktor’s expression that he’s keeping up a brave face when he yearns and hopes, and when he’s ultimately disappointed. In the end, he realizes that he simply has to take life as it comes.