![]() ![]() The characters are more concerned with the fact that in the opening scenes of the show one of their number – star pupil Cassie Shore (Anna Maiche) – stumbles, or is pushed, during a scuffle with a hooded figure on the school roof and falls four storeys to the pavement below. These, then, are the true horrors of Tiny Pretty Things, at least for the uninitiated. ![]() If I never see one of those being peeled off again in full-colour closeup it will be too soon. Though the necrotic toenails are perhaps the worst. It certainly wasn’t preparation enough for Tiny Pretty Things, the new Netflix series – adapted from books by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton – about the gruelling, ruthless, hypercompetitive world of a Manhattan dance academy dedicated to turning out Pavlovas and Nijinskys by the dozen, no matter how many stress fractures, cortisol injections and binge-purge cycles it takes. ![]() Looking back, I can see that the novel’s tale of Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil’s trials and tribulations at the Madame Fidolia School of Plucky Young Things, wherein hard work, honesty and the occasional intervention from Nana solved most problems, probably wasn’t an accurate portrayal of the world of elite dancers, even in 1936. Of course, that may be because my sole exposure to the world of ballet was via Noel Streatfeild’s prewar masterpiece Ballet Shoes. I remember when ballet was all about bucking up, scraping shillings together for shoes and sharing ribbons, with parts going to whoever had the most vivid eyes and bounciest hair. ![]()
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