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Hi. I'm Steven.
How you doing?

I'm here to do
the workshop for the family day.

Thank you.

I remember that.

Cool. Thank you.

I'm the new director of LIFT,
which offers ballet classes

to little kids like me,
when I lived here.

We're gonna do some ballet.
You know anything about ballet?

You never saw a ballet before?
No?

So you said
you do breakdancing, right?

Ballet came before breakdancing.

Okay.
We're gonna be the audience.

Let's see what you got.
Yeah, okay.

That's pretty good.

That's actually
a really difficult step.

It's called a "Temps levé,"
a "Temps levé in Arabesque."

When we do the turn,

in French it's called "passé."
Can you say "Passé?"

"Passé."STEVEN: What language is it?

- Say it again. French.
French? French.

I'm Steven.

- She's my best friend.
Even the boys
are doing ballet.

What's your name?

Yolanssie,
but you can call me "Yoli."

Yoli? All right, Yoli.

Let's do fourth position.
You put one foot
in front of the other.

Yeah. Okay, wait.
Let's watch how Yoli does it.

Show me one
of the fourth positions,

with your hands.
With your hands.

Okay, good, now show me
fourth position with your feet.

Okay, good. And fifth position.

Okay, good.
Yeah, that's not bad.

What if we jumped in the air,

and then you did a passé
with your other leg?

Yes, okay.
Let me see yours.

Okay, she got it!

My name is Steven.
I'm a ballet dancer.

I spent three years here
when I was little.

I came out of this place
because I joined ballet.

And I've come back here today
to continue that program.

It's 20 years later.

The school
that I work with teaches ballet.

The kids come four,
five days a week.

They have
an hour and a half classes,

and they learn
vigorous ballet training.

We have mentorship,
we do homework assistance,

we do all kinds of cool stuff.
But it's ballet-based.

This is cool. I like this.

It is something to get
the kids into to get them

out of being
outside all the time.

They put, like, tape,
they wrap tape around 'em.

Yeah, I know they wrap
their feet and stuff.

'Cause they gotta
stand on they toes,

like they stand literally
on top of they feet.

Well, the men don't do,
the girls do that.

I want you to give this
to your mother, okay?

And tell her to call me.
Please. Okay?

You sure? Okay.

That is him!
I didn't even notice that.

- Wow!
- First position like this.

Second position... Second position is like this.

- Then the third one is like this.
- The third one is like this.

- You have to make an angle.
- One, two, three.

I wanna be a dancer
in the ballet.

Just stay focused, baby.
He probably had a whole lot

of hard work to go through
before he became who he was.

But it paid off,
and now he's good.

He don't have to worry
about his family being hungry,

he don't have to worry
about none of that. He's okay.

Have a good one.
Thanks for coming!

Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.

What happened?
What happened? You all right?

- What happened? What happened?
What happened?

Slipped and fell
on his own. That what happened.

Are you okay?
- Yeah. I don't feel so good.

Okay, okay. Let's sit.
Oh, my God.

You okay?

Did you faint?
- Yeah.

Is this just hard to be here?

Yeah. I don't know.
It's weird.

Oh, my God.
I don't want to be here.

- We gotta go.
All right. Let's go...

When I was seven years old,

I lived in a New York City
homeless shelter

with my mom
and my younger sister.

I came to the ballet school
on a scholarship through LIFT.

My mother sort of
forced me to do it,

because she was working,

and she couldn't
afford a babysitter,

so this was something
I could do after school.

Steven! I either get your arms
or I get you facing front,

and I need both things.

I didn't know what ballet was.

I had never experienced it.
It wasn't part of my culture,

it wasn't anything
that existed in the South Bronx.

All the kids in my school
didn't know that I was homeless.

It was like this
weird secret that I had.

My mother saw the value
of me being in the ballet.

Even when I would come home
and complain

about how hard it was
or that I was sore.

Sometimes you have
to take the worst

and use it for the best.

And I think
that's what happened to us.

I like dancing.

It's more of, like,
not that I have to,

but like,
I feel drawn here or something.

Going back to that shelter

for the first time
after so many years.

How do you confront
the demons of your past

and how do you go forward?

I had not confronted
any of that.

That was something
that was far in my past. Um...

I don't know maybe--
I don't know.

Okay, let's do a contest.

How much you can
stay there longer.

Oh, he's still doing it
on one leg.

My boy got it.

Okay. One more time.
One more time.

Hmm.

Okay.

We lost our home
'cause my brother, Keliel,

was having heart problems.

And we were paying
for my brother's treatments.

So, we lost our house,

we went from shelter, shelter,
shelter, shelter,

to living in people's houses.

We-- It was a crazy life.
I have a crazy life.

- You ready to do it?
- I do wanna be in ballet,

but then I'm shy, like,
if I get something messed up.

So, people start
not knowing nothing.

'Cause I only know, like,
a few, what the guy taught me.

But I know I'm flexible,
but I don't know what can I do.

But you can do it
if you wanted to.

That's what I'm trying
to tell her.
You like dancing, too.

You can't do ballet
and your thing
at the same time--

I could--'Cause I could--

- Yes, he could if he wanted to.
- Look, I can do baseball...

If I can't do it, he can't--
I can do baseball
and ballet at the same time.

- No, you can't.
- Yes, I can.

A guy is trying
to catch me, I'll just do
a cartwheel over him

- and then just get on base.

- It's easy.

Yeah.
You spin around.

"You can't catch me."KELIEL: Nobody can.

Steven!
Hi.

For the uniform, right now,
wear the one that fits,

and then afterward
we'll get the right color, okay?

Okay.
Is anybody this small?

I can try it.
- Yeah.

Is anybody this small?

They... I think.

- Maybe?
- Uh-huh.

Okay. Do you have socks?

In a New York Theatre
Ballet class,

nobody knows who's who.

LIFT integrates
homeless students

with students from all
of the other backgrounds.

Do you guys remember plié?
I think I taught you that one.

That's the bend, right?

When I was a kid,
I kept my background to myself.

Maybe I was aware
and embarrassed or ashamed.

I don't know.

Everybody introduce yourselves
to the new people, please.

My name is Kylie.
Nice to meet you.

I bet you guys
will enjoy this place.

Okay.

- And my name is Cara Lee.
Yolanssie. Hi.

We're doing four jumps in first.

- You guys ready?
All right,
are you ready?

- Yeah.
Here we go.

First position. And...

I was just gonna compliment you
until you looked down!

You did it so well!

- It's hard not to look down.
- It's hard not to, right?

- Like, to keep straight.
- Mm-hmm. Yeah.

But don't worry,
your legs are still there,

they're not going anywhere.

One, two, three.

- And hop!
- One, two, three.

One, two, three.
Now you're gonna
hop on the other foot.

- I want you to try, okay?
- Okay.

And then if you need help,
we'll have someone help you.

All right? And go!

You jump, your right.

You jump... You jump, your right.

- You step. You jump.
- You jump--

Your right-- yes!

The bus?
Oh, no!

- There's no train.

That's a--
Okay. Do good in ballet.

That smells horrible.
There's no train?

I didn't know
there was a building there.

I want to be a professional
ballet dancer when I grow up.

'Cause dance is my whole life,
and, like...

You can be whoever you wanna be,

and, like... never judge a books
by a cover.

Okay, so let's start
with, uh, Coco and Victor.

Give me back my sword.
- No.

It's my sword.
- No.

I need it for my--Actually, we're sharing.

Wait, just give me
back my sword.

No, I need it.
I'm the Nutcracker.

So?
- You serve me.

Be aware of what you're doing.

How you hold your arms.
How you hold your eyes.

Horses, enter.
Get in the center.

Open the door.

Victor came to us
from public housing.

He's been a star of his class,
and he's growing and growing.

Victor, show me
a single pirouette

and finish on the knee.

When I said "Victor,
why do you wanna do ballet?"

"You don't know
anything about ballet."

"What appeals to you?"

And he said,
"Well, I was born to dance."

And I thought, "This kid
has a scholarship!"

Ben, please be in fifth,
with your knees stretched.

Together.

And just keep the arm there.

You can open it to the second. Stop.

Victor, you've got to do
something about these arms.

Do I still have to carry her?

Well, I'm not
changing the choreography.

Do you feel
particularly weak today?

No!
- Well, then let's do it. Ready?

Everything about Victor
reminds me of me.

We both share our background
as home-insecure people.

But he came from public housing.

So, he didn't grow up
in a shelter, like me.

I'm blown away
by how good he is.

It's embarrassing.
He's such a good technician,

he's got so much more potential
than I had at his age.

Um, the most emotional part
of watching him, I think,

is realizing that he's gonna be
a better dancer than I was.

Now, as big as
you can make it! Throw it!

Then we started early,
the rehearsal, The Nutcracker.

- I play four parts.
Oh, my God.

I play the mice, the Russian--

- What are the Russians?
You know that...

Wait, so it's from
the Russian people, that music?

I think Russian people made it,
then, like, the whole scene...

It was for the Nutcracker.

Yeah. We go like this.

Then, we go like this.

Steven, he's playing
the Sugar Plum, like, Prince.

- Is he really that good?
Yeah.

I heard that you'll be like him
when you grow up.

I think we've got
too much flip.

Okay, I want to get you there.
Is that okay?

Yeah.
- Okay...

Victor, careful as you have
this thing on your shoulders.

Then it gets in front
of your face
and they can't see you.

And keep your head really high,
so you have a long neck.

Dancers to the stage,
please, in ten minutes.

I have some tendonitis now
in my Achilles.

And, of course, overwork,
hard floors and being old.

Welcome to this lovely place.

The women's dressing room
is just dead quiet.

No one is saying a word.

Normally there's music
pumping pretty loud right now.

And not loud
because we have somebody

who likes the quieter music.

Yeah. It's me. I'm an old man.

What? What?
I like it quiet.

I'm a Bluebird.

There's a lot of jumping in it,

which is not so good
for my knees but...

I get to wear
the fancy costume at least.

Yeah, man.
That's pretty cool.

My goal for most
of the time is I try to scare

at least three children
every performance.

A mother told me yesterday
her daughter was screaming

and I felt
like I did a great job.

I was 14 when I started
dancing professionally.

I've traveled around the world,
performing and choreographing.

I'm going to Japan and Korea.

Just a couple weeks ago,
I was in Paris.

Then when it came time
to start thinking about retiring

because I was suffering
these injuries,

I was the obvious choice
to mentor these kids

because I was someone
who had gone through

what they're going through.

But going back to that shelter
for the first time,

there's some trauma.

I'm old enough now, that I think
I can look back and figure out

what my childhood
has given me or taken from me.

I'm doing the workshop
for the Family Day.

Hi, I'm Steven.
- I'm Sharia.

"Sharia." That's a nice name.

- Have you ever danced before?
- Yup.

They played the ballet
at the summer school
about the Nutcracker.

Oh, yeah?
What part did you do?

I did the twirling part.

The twirling part?
Okay, do you want to show me?

Yeah, good!

- You know, I used to live here.
- So, it's really true?

What's really true?
- That you just now said?

Yeah.
I lived here for three years.

And now, I'm a dancer.

Can you stick your other leg out
to the back?

Yeah. And can you put
one arm in front of your nose?

- Now, can you jump on one leg?

Yes.

Sharia!

This is your
ballet schedule right here.

Tuesday, four to five.

Let Mommy take me because...

- She ain't going to be able to.
I just have to see

- what hours and days I work.
Exactly!

That's the only problem!

If you're in the daytime,
I got to work at night.

I gotta see
what's going on with you first

and then I know
how to take her from there.

And once I get a schedule,
I don't even know
what it's gonna be.

Yup.
Plié.

Three.

Ankle, knee, away, down.
And turn this up, close.

My daily life in the shelter
is kind of boring.

You have to keep
your house clean,

because whenever you have
an inspection,

and the case workers come,

you won't, like, get back and--
'Cause you, like--

Whenever you fail
the inspection,

you go back more,
so it was, like,

it takes you a long time
to get your apartment.

I just can't wait to leave.

Hmm. Ballet shoes.

Can't forget my lucky heart.

It always work when I hold it
so tight up to my heart.

And I just ask God
for one thing and it comes true.

So, I just took it
and I was like...

And I close my eyes
and wish for stuff.

- A rainbow. Step on it.
That's from the oil.

A rainbow!

Mom, it's slippery.

- You could sit right there.
No.

I don't wanna sit.

Stand up.

The only people that I let know
where I live is my best friend.

I protect myself
to not telling people

that I live in a shelter,

'cause they
would have been like,

"Why do you live in a shelter?"

"That's disgusting."

We're here!

Whenever I dance,

it, like,
takes everything off my mind

that happened, and all of,
like, the scary stuff.

My body starts to,
like, calm down more.

Touch it!

No, I'm good. I'm good.

I'm gonna catch it!
It's so furry.

No, a baby bird cannot fly!

Pick it up again.
'Cause it cannot fly!

You could pick it up for us?

She's gonna kick you.

Let me see
the next movement.
Everybody goes one...

two.

Now, hold on.

Yolanssie, this is
a very big moment freeze, right?

So, keep the heel forward
as you stand.

Yes. And then just lengthen
your fingertips

so the wrists don't break.

That's it. All right,
let me see everyone else.

We're gonna have to talk
to your parents

about your schedule.

Yeah.

I thought...
They're having a good time,

I think, in the classes,
but if you miss one day,

then she's behind.

And the trouble, of course,
she's already behind

'cause most of the students
start when they're much younger.

- Yeah.
Is it difficult
to keep them coming regularly?

No, but, we got three kids.

And, you know, it's always
a struggle, the kids,
you know, I mean, you gotta be

here for the kids on time
when they come from school,
you gotta cook,

but at the same time,
you gotta work.

And we work like everybody else.

Sometimes the money
that we earn is not enough.

We're blessed,
but it's always a struggle.

Yeah, she was pretty sad.

So, I guess
she was chasing him,
and he was running on the bike

but looking back at her,
so she don't catch up with him

but when he look forward,
found a pole.

But he was all right.

The swelling went down
the same night.

But he had a little
black and blue,

and I guess the school seen him,

and the lady came
and she wanted to find out

why you didn't take him to
the hospital the same day and...

Yeah.
- And why this and why that and...

Yeah, I felt so bad. I felt
so bad when she said that.

Living in
a higher society, I bet you,

I guarantee you,
I put my neck on the line, man,

we would not have this problem.

Nobody would come
to your house and investigate,

- the school will not bother.
- That's not fair.

- Exactly!
You know what I mean?
So many...

They think that I'm
really good at dancing,

and I should pursue it,

and I should
take more responsibility.

Sometimes I forget stuff.

Mainly during dance,
I just need more responsibility

overall to take care of myself.

Go to fifth position.
You have-- Spring up to fifth.

Lift the right leg.

Upsy-daisy in fifth position.
You're gonna hold her here.

And right, two, three, four,
and up, six, seven, eight,
and left, two, three, four,

and up, six, seven, eight.
What you don't wanna do
is end up in a place

where you have
all of the weight,
that's gonna pull you over.

Let's try once more.
Up, hands. Foot, promenade.

Ready? And up.

And hands. And foot. Promenade.

What's going on over here?

Did you hear
what I just told her?

No, you weren't
paying attention.

If you're in fifth position...
and you go relevé,

if you just
lift this front foot...

what do you think's
gonna happen?

Right?
She has to change her weight.

Let's try once more.
And up, hands, foot,

and... active motion.

Yeah, look at that.
That's not so hard.

And with Victor, he's sort of,
ten years behind the cycle

that I have
already gone through.

And up. And hands. And foot.

I was reminded
of a lot of vulnerabilities

that I had at 13 years old.

It's hard enough
to make it as a dancer,

but it's even harder
coming from our background.

I struggled fitting
into an art form that, you know,

a lot of people
consider high society.

I hope that Victor will be
able to use his background

and see where he is different
from the dancers that have come

before him to see what
secret weapon he has, I suppose,

to confront the world, um,

in a way that I'm
only now realizing I have.

This backyard is cool.
This backyard--

I used to play there
a lot, actually.

I had a birthday party.

Had a little
birthday party there.

We had sort of a piñata

on one of those
trees back there.

My family became homeless

when we were evicted
from our home.

The landlord passed away

and we were
kicked out overnight.

In fact, we couldn't even take
any of the stuff with us.
Everything was left there.

My mother--
Um, we had to break back
into the house

in order to grab some things.

So, we went around the back
and she broke the back window

and we broke in to steal our--

my, um, my clothes, like,
her own stuff, my clothes.

And then,
we ended up in the shelter.

I didn't know what was
going on. I was just a kid.

I remember this playground.

I used to hang out
on those swings there.

I liked the swings.
They were fun.

So, this is nice
because this is

all in the neighborhood,
you know.

The house was just
a couple blocks away.

I was in school here,
a couple blocks away.

You could sort of
walk everywhere,

and it was, like,
a neighborhood, a community.

One of the biggest reasons
I moved away so young

was to prove to my mother
that I could be a dancer.

But then she got sick.

Everything kind of went
downhill from there.

By the time I came back,
she was gone.

I think the swings are the best
part of the playground.

Right now,
you've burned a bridge.

When you don't show up,
people remember.

And if you get
let go from a job,

they don't forget in a week.

They'll say, "Oh, he's the one

that came an hour
and a half late

to that first rehearsal."

"No, I don't think
I'm gonna take him,

he's not responsible."

So that's why you don't
ever wanna burn a bridge.

We support you, I mean, you know
how we support you,

so, talk to Steven.
We're here for you.

I learned
from this mistake a lot--

Is that people can just...

- say "No," and that's it.
Yup.

Everything can be over.
In that simple word.

Because there's ten other boys

waiting in the wings... Mm-hmm.

...that are very talented,
and they'll grab your spot.

And one, and one.

One and two.

Hold! Let it bounce.
Strongly, strongly.

Quickly.

Good.

How are you doing, sweetheart?
You're so tall.

I know."I know."

- I'm taller.
- Yeah.

All right. All right. All right.

He's always crying.
He's a baby.

What do you want,
your mama?

- Sharia, she's coming up so well.
Yeah.

But, you're not taking
dance classes now, are you?

I'd rather do ballet.

I want you
to do ballet, too. Yeah.

Since I was working,
- I got off at 2:30.
Right.

Then I would have
to go pick her up.

Right.
- And then bring her down there.

So, half the time we be,
like, an hour and a half late.

Oh, gosh!
I'm serious--

I mean, we be pushing it
to get her on time.

But I'm not working right now,

so it shouldn't be
a problem to get down there.

I'm glad she'll be able to go,

but I'm sorry
you're not working.

It's like pros and cons.

But now it shouldn't be
a problem. Right, boo?

Mm-hmm.

So that she's able to go.

Good. The tricky part is just
that it's so far away, right?

Yeah, but, we'll be
leaving out of here real soon.

Yeah.
You know,

living in this society,
you have to, man.

- You have to.
Yeah.

When you have so many kids

how do you keep them out of--
How do you...

Soon as the lights go on,
"Come inside!"

'Cause that's when you know
it got crazy out there.

Yeah. Last week, a guy came over
and he tried

to steal my motorbike,
and he pulled out a blade.

And I looked at him and I said,
"Give me my bike back!"

What're you doin'
with this blade? You're gon--And he sort of looked at me

like he was surprised
that didn't do any--

That didn't faze me.
And he just walked away.

One swing with that.
- And that's it. One swing.
Yeah.

And I'll be steppin' over you.

It happens like that, man.

- That's the way it goes.
It happens like that.

In the name of Jesus.
In the name of Jesus.

In the name of Jesus.

Something different
for your life today.

Grab it! Grab it! Grab it...

The kids from the shelter,

I'm not convinced
that any of those

particular students
are gonna follow up. You know?

That's sort of the way
it goes, right?

That you always--Yeah. You have to...

Yeah.

...kind of call
and be on top of it.

Because they have too many
other problems day to day.

And then it has to become
incorporated into their life.

This is hard.
I don't like doing that stuff.

But then... It's uncomfortable.

Hello. Hi, Amy, this is Steven.

Do you remember me
from New York Theatre Ballet?

Yeah.

You know, you sort of
dropped out of the program,

and we wanted to see
how you were doing.

See what's going on
and what's new in your life?

Um...

I'm not doing ballet anymore. You're not doing ballet anymore.

I know, I wanted to talk
to you about that.

Hello?

Oh.

She hung up on me.

Hello.
Hi.

- You look amazing.
- Thank you.

And your face. Good.

Come on.

Come on.
We gotta go. We gotta go.

- We'll see you later.
- My son! Look at my son.

We're gonna watch a rehearsal

of a ballet called Le Corsaire.

It's very exciting. The story
is about a pirate named Conrad,

who goes to a market
and he falls in love

with one of the women and--

But she's a slave,
so he has to buy her.

This sounds much more...

But, yeah......horrible than it is.

It's kind of
a funny ballet, actually.

Can I get wet?
Could you get wet?

No, you can't go in.
You have a white dress,

you don't wanna ruin your dress.

This means "mother,"
and this means "beautiful."

Yeah. I think so.

"I love it?"

That's part of beautiful.

When I was younger also,
when I looked on the stage

and I couldn't tell
which girl was which,

because they all
kinda looked the same.

And that made me really angry.

It also kinda made me feel like
I wasn't sure that I should be

on the stage with them,
'cause I was different,

- you know, I looked different.
- Hispanic?

Hispanic, maybe.
I got my afro, you know.

It's a little bit different.

I might come back here.
Do you wanna come back?

Yes!

Okay.

Plié. Plié.

Could we do this?

Teach you
how to do it from here.

I'm gonna teach you
how to do it, man!

I did it.

Let's start with
who you are and why you're here.

- All right. Who are you?
I'm a princess.

You're a princess.
And who are you?

You're the bluebird.
- I'm a bird.

You're a bird. Yeah.
That needs to be more evident.

So, there's
a distinction, right?

So, you get to do the flapping,
which means
you actually have to flap.

You go,
"Hey, girl, I'm over here!"

"Look, and now I'm over here!"
"Ha-ha!" "Now, I'm over here--"

And your theme is...

Call-- Hearing him.

Hearing him, not calling.

And not the Heisman Trophy.
Yeah, you're hearing--

Which means that you don't want
to be going this way,

because he's behind you. You've
got to be going back there.

And your eyes,
"Do I hear something that way?"

"Oh, my gosh." Yeah. Cool. Good.

Now, you have to help make--
Sell this story.

So, you have to jump bigger
is the answer, right? Okay.

Let's look at this first, um,

this first pirouette
that you do.

Yeah. Super.

And your left hand is "birding."

- Oh!
Yeah. There you go.

Yeah. When she lets go,
it's a flurry of something.

Okay!
Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, good.
I wanna see your variation.

So, show me.

Yes. Okay.

Super travel forward
in the brisé. And...

I'm gonna audition

for the
School of American Ballet.

Forget the jump.

Steven... He said,

"I think this is the next step
in your career."

You know, "You can benefit
from this so much."

"Of having...
such a big-name school,

and such... teachers,

that were taught
by Balanchine himself."

And, yes!

Oh! Not on the boob.

There you go. Okay.

Yeah, but it wasn't bad.
It was better.

Next!

Let's say
"Cookie," one, two, three.

"Cookie!"

Beautiful!

Can we do once more?

Yolanssie!
What happened? You're so late?

The train traffic.
We came out, and then

we had to switch
from train to train.

We had to take a bus.

We had to take it
all the way to 36th Street.

Then from 36th Street
to take the N.

All the way. I'm so tired.

Well, you know,
when they say late--

If you're late, you're not
gonna be able to be in the show.

So you gotta, like,
leave super early. Okay.

I'm gonna count
to three, you say, "Yes."

Ready? One, two, three.

"Yes."

Beautiful!

We can open the windows.

Me and Keliel came back.

No light.
There wasn't no electricity.

My mom says that we were using
somebody else's electricity

that was living here before us,
so now we owe eight months.

So it's about 2,000 dollars.

Me gusta. Nice.
- Yeah.

I was showing
my mom my dance moves.

This is the first time
I ever showed my mom my dance.

Oh, on the line.
Wait, on the line.

Here.

There's too many
over there. Too many over there.

Ooh, can I turn one on?

Let me see you do a solo.

Go ahead, let me see you.

Let me see you.
The way you remember.

- Oh, my God!
Hey.

Thank you.
- I want to see his costume.

Did you cry?

Did you see?
Her eyes are red.

She cried!

You wanna hear something funny?

I wore this costume,
but it has this big hole in it.

Yeah, that was my fault.

You get to wear this costume
that I burned

in the dryer
a couple of years ago.

- I'm nervous for them.
- Me too.

The recital dance
for me is a big day.

You have to show your talent
and shine,

but also you feel excited
because you're gonna dance.

Stand by.

Growing up in LIFT
and saying goodbye

to all my friends,
it's very, very emotional.

It's my home.

You know, it's a little scary,
but I'm excited to see

what's out there.

You're so beautiful!

- I can't believe I lost it.
- No, I lost it, too.

I saw you... We see each other
every day, seven years?

We're getting old.
I mean, ugh...

It's gonna be different
next year.

It's gonna be good,
it's gonna be fine.

You're gonna be fine.

That was a really
good turn, Victor.

And two. And down.
Up, up, finish. And one.

Four. Good, guys. One. Finish.

Didn't quite find passé
on that last one.

Just try to find passé.

Because I'm at
the School of American Ballet,

you know,
everybody here wants to be

a professional dancer.

Let me see, Victor.
Try that again to the left

and coordinate your arms
with your legs, Victor.

Arms and legs. Up!

Little bit better,
it just looks-- you're sitting

a little too long in plié,
so try the first two ceases.

Down, one, two, three.
Arms and legs. Up, up, down.

Right idea, you're just getting
a little crooked,

you wanna always keep
the same rhythm in your legs,

no matter which side it is.
Okay? Next!

Two, three, four,

five, six, run out!
And pose! And...

When I came here,
it was really challenging

because there were so many boys
in my class.

Good.

You know,
everybody here wants to be

at New York City Ballet.
It's kind of a competition here.

Ready?
Throw your legs.

That's my main dream.

To be a professional dancer
at New York City Ballet.

Jump. Jump. Big jump,
Victor, big jump!

Up! Yes, that was better.

Good. Take your time. Pose.
Two, three, four.

Go, Maxwell! Go.
That's it. Good, very good.

Finish. Good! Good.

Not bad for the first try.

Steven.

Hello, Yolanssie.

- Hi.
Hi.

[IN ENGLISH] Yeah?

So, you quit ballet.
How've you been?

- I've been good.
- Yeah?

How's school?

You know,
people test me in school

and they act like I'm a punk.

So, there was this one girl, right?

And bothering him... STEVEN: Your brother?

...and I started yelling at her,
and then, I swung,

but the teacher got in the way,

so, like, I kind of hit
the teacher, so...

Oh, my gosh.

Yes.
Because she... she was like,

"I didn't do anything."

So, in Puerto Rico, you lie,
you snitch, anything,

you get popped!

So, I don't got a gun,
but I have these hands.

Oh, my gosh.

Are you part of a clique?

- Are you one of the mean girls?
- No.

But then, when you come for me,
I'm coming for your throat.

Oh, my God.

Hey. No violence.

This new... YOLANSSIE: I didn't...

...Yolanssie, she always had
that little temper.

It's a new,
aggressive personality

because of the environment
that you're in.

We was planning,
maybe, to move.

First it was Puerto Rico,
now it's Bronx.

Then it was...
Now it's Brooklyn.

And next, it's Pennsylvania.
And y'all keep moving
and moving.

Your kids don't wanna move.
Ain't nobody said
we not gonna move never...

You do the same thing. Listen.

The thing
that you don't understand
is the area lately,

and the little friendships,
a lot of issues.

When she stopped going
to the ballet, she would never

get into no problems
after school,

she'd go straight to ya.

But ever since she stopped,

she's been getting
into those problems.

[IN ENGLISH] You need to
hang out with him more, bro.

Yolanssie,

I'm gonna be making
a new ballet.

I wanna have a bunch of people
doing some other dancing,

and I thought
maybe you could do it.

You wanna be in it?

- All right, cool.
- Yes.

Yes!

You gotta start...
you gotta start to think

about movements
that represent your life,

and we'll put that
in the choreography.

Do you have any movements
that maybe make you

think about moving between homes
or between schools?

Sí. Sí, sí.

Yeah,
we can put that in.

You can take all of your anger
and aggression

and you can put it
into choreography.

Working with these kids,

I've had these realizations
about myself

that I didn't wanna face.

I'm very concerned
that if I get too bogged down

in my history

that I could fall
into the trap of, um,

becoming a victim.

But maybe I've done
a disservice to all these

other young kids
by not embracing

that part of my past
more than I have.

Hi.

- Hey, how're you doing?
Good.

Good. Good to see you.

Yeah. Brings back memories.

Really?
- Yeah.

I used to live right there.

Well, my life was difficult
in this shelter

'cause my dad couldn't come in.

'Cause my mom
is not married to him.

So, he would, like,
be standing outside the window,

and he would stay there for,
like, hours

- to talk to my mother.
- Wow.

I wonder...
I wonder if my dad

would've done that.
I don't know who he is,

but if I did know who he was,

I wonder if he would have
done that.

There's still
a lot of kids here.

We started like them.

Like, in the shelter.

Okay. Maybe you can explain
to them to try to make a dance

that will explain to people
where we come from

and what we're thinking
and how we're feeling.

Maybe these kids
have some ideas.

Think about
how that girl looks,

leaning against the wall.

This is a playground.

Is it, just, sad, like... Yeah. Exactly.

It's like a sad story, right?

Hey, come sit with us over here.

Hey, come closer.

Choreography is just like
making up a dance.

Can you make up
a very small dance,

sitting right there?

Yeah, just like that,
that's a good dance.

We're doing chore...

How do you say it again,
"choreography"?

"Choreography," yeah.
- A choreography. It's, like,

you make, like,
a little movement.

Okay, go ahead.

That's good, I like that.
What is that?

We're doing, like,
this choreography

about our backgrounds,

'cause I started here
from ballet...

- Yeah, I did too.
And... exactly.

We all have.

So, we're, like,
getting movements

from the people who came
from here, into the work.

- Do you have a move?
- I think I have one.

I would say this one.

Yeah, that's good.
What do you think that means?

- Strong.
- Okay. I like that.

I like that.
What does yours mean?

Yours is like,

you go from crazy to strong.
Okay, cool. I like that.

All right. Hey.

Hello.
Hi.

Um, where're we going?

There's a park
on the other avenue.

I wanna make a new dance
for the gala performance.

- I'd like you to dance the solo.
- Mm-hmm.

And behind you on the stage,
I'd like to have as many people,

um, that have backgrounds
similar to mine sort of,

supporting your dancing.

This will be the story
of a young dancer

to a mature dancer,

but it'll also be
the story of going

from homelessness
to not homeless.

Is that something
you'd like to do?

Oh, yeah.

I'm gonna need
your input in, um...

Choreography?
- Yeah, yeah.

To sort of figure out some way
to be more out of the box.

It was funny.
I said, "Yolanssie,

what kind of movements
do you think demonstrate,

you know, something the way
your life is?"

And she was, like,
wiggling, you know, like this,

with her legs and her hands.

Um, and actually...
...it was a really cool move.

I think I wanna put it
into this piece, somehow.

- So, we'll see, I don't know.
- What I like to see, like,

still have it be, like, ballet,
'cause if you have, just, like,

movement, at least for, like,
me it doesn't look as,

like, pretty.

That's kind of the point.

- Oh. So, never mind.

Hi. How're you doing?
It's good to see you.

- Thank you for coming.
Yeah.

Chit-chat.

Okay, so, you're facing forward
on two feet.

You're walking around him.
Uh, you are stepping here.

Go ahead, everybody go.
Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Turn and look up
at his face there.

Yeah. And walking,
and walking, and walking.

Walking, and walking,
and walking.

Kind of like that.

So, kind of, that sequence,
kind of, makes sense? Okay.

So, what we're aiming for here,

we're creating a series
of images that tell a story.

We've established his character

as this guy who doesn't know
what the hell's going on.

And then we have

this character here who says,

"I'm gonna help this guy.
Let's go."

And you're pulling him
while you walk.

The second part
of this moving picture is,

"Here's my friend,
maybe she can help me."

Now, everyone is walking,
holding hands.

Third part of this picture
is Sharia,

who's here in the middle,
the smallest, tiniest,

weakest person on the stage

who looks around by herself
and she realizes,

"Nobody's holding my hand,
what's going on?"

Meanwhile, now we have
this new thing with Victor,

who's so tall
he doesn't even notice her

because he's just looking
at this level

and she's down here.

For each of you individually,

it feels like
you're not doing very much,

but the whole picture
that you all paint together

is the point of it.

If you only took one person
and had it be a solo,

the piece
wouldn't make any sense.

On Wednesday,
after second class,

so, it was around at 4:00,
I finished,

and then,
the Executive Director said,

"We want you to start
in January."

So, I got in
for New York City Ballet.

Oh, my gosh.

That is fabulous.

- Congratulations.
- Thank you.

I'm so proud of you,

I can't tell you,

I think that's a really big
stepping stone.

It wasn't expected,
just because they said that,

you know, there was time for me
to audition,

so that's basically a no.

You know,
there are other companies,

so I had my mind set on, like,
leaving New York, you know.

And then, they say,
"Oh, you don't have to worry

about auditioning anymore.
We want you for January."

I was like...

You just speechless stare
at them with a blank face?

No. That's great.
- That's really great.

Of course, the biggest question
that I have is,

are you still gonna be able
to dance

in my new choreography?

All right, we're here.

Hi. How're you doin'?
Thanks for coming.

Uh, victor?

When did you join LIFT?
How old were you?

- Ten?
Ten?

- Did I start ballet that young?
- Just this past January,

he got a contract
with New York City Ballet.

Like, one of the best companies
in the world.

So, that's a great testament
to his techniques

and his talent.

But to other people
that are in that company

that achieved the same thing
he achieved,

came from a different
starting place.

The first piece
I thought of making was this,

sort of, big, victorious dance.

But I realized
that doing a whole piece

that was only that,

people in the audience
will only get the experience

of the person that makes it.

And that's not the common thing, unfortunately.

And that's sad but it's real.

We need to acknowledge
everyone else that didn't,

and all of the people that,
sort of,

pushed that guy forward.

I'm hoping to get
from you guys

feelings, ideas, movements.

I would like to have you dance
a little bit.

No, no, no, wait, wait.

No. Don't worry. Don't worry.
Don't run away. Don't worry.

It's just...
It's gonna be so simple.

Would you consider
just walking for me?

It's very difficult
to walk slowly.

Unless they're walking
with purpose.

So, walk with purpose.

Cool. Thank you.

I've never actually shown this
to anybody before.

It's just something
we've been working on privately.

Do you have any... anything?

[IN ENGLISH] Yeah.
- Everybody's got

their own feeling, you know?
Their... their own world.

But doing it together

- at the same time.
Yeah.

People going through
everyday struggles.

But us as adults, you know,

we already been through it already.

But they're going through
it now.

They're still trying
to struggle to get there.

Yeah.
- That's what I seen.

This is really valuable.
Really, really valuable.

Hi.

- It's red, you like it?
- What did you do to your hair?

I dyed it.

'Cause the blonde
was fading away.

Where you going?

Why'd you dye
your hair red?

Because it was...
it was comin' off.

- You look like a popsicle.
Wow.

All right,
why did you get suspended?

Oh, abusive things. But... Abusive things?

- Yeah. I've got anger problems.
- That's so extreme.

So, there was this
one boy

who was just laughing at me.

And I told him to stop,
he didn't stop,

so I just went up to him
and just choked him

and let him drop.

- You choked another kid?
- Yeah.

How are you planning
to graduate middle school

- if you're behaving like this?
- My graduation? It's a maybe.

And if I wanna graduate,
I gotta do what I gotta do.

I feel like suspension
is for people

that do really,
really bad things.

No... Like burn down the school.

Now, it's for everything.

There was like, seven reasons
why I was suspended, man.

Seven?
- Yes.

- And that's not all the time.
You stay

- in the back staircase?
- Yeah.

It sounds like all the people
that you're hanging around

are encouraging behavior
that is not good for you.

No. Look.

Practicing running away
from the police

is not a good idea.
That's not...

I got a video, too.
You wanna see?

You have a video
of your fight?

- Yeah.
- I feel like

I've heard this story
before on the news,

and then it ends
with somebody getting shot.

No.
- No? Why not?

Because that's not
my sitch.

- I didn't get shot.
- But it will be.

It really won't.
It really will.

Because, one day,
you're gonna pick a fight

and you're not gonna
know enough about them.

And you're not gonna know
that they have a gun.

And it's gonna get out
of control.

If you got off a plane
in the middle of the desert,

and somebody who lived there
said to you,

"When the Sun goes down,

make sure you have
a winter jacket with you,

because otherwise
you're gonna die,"

would you believe them
or would you think,

"Well, it's hot right now,

so there's no way
it's gonna be that cold

in the dark?"

I am the guy
that lives in the desert,

that has been there
for a long time telling you

at night it gets cold.

I'm telling you,
if you keep behaving the way

you're behaving,
you're going to be dead.

That's as straightforward
as it's gonna get.

Because one of these days
somebody who's harder than you

and bigger than you
and stronger than you

is gonna have a brother
or a sister or a father

that's in some badass gang
that you've never even heard of,

and they're gonna show up
with a Glock or an AK

or an AR or whatever,

and they're gonna shoot you
in the face

and it's gonna be
because you laughed at somebody.

Because that's the kind
of environment

that you're getting into.

You're, like, dipping your toe
in the water with it now

with these, like, 14-year-old
school girls

fighting three blocks away.

But when you're 16,
when you're 18,

and look at the statistics,
pregnant before you're 18,

you have a chance
of being in a gang,

you have 100 percent chance
of being dead really soon.

That's what's going to happen.

That's what happens
to almost everybody

that comes
from where we come from.

- Finally. Finally we're here.
- Maybe that said 20th floor.

Oh, my goodness.

- Wow!
Wow.

This place is huge!

Soon as I came home
from school, my mom,

she was, like,
"Sharia, we're moving."

I was, like, shocked.
I was, like...

I was about to cry.

I was so happy.

A little corner closet.

This my room.

My brother's room.
I'm in my sister's room, Genea.

My mom and my dad room.

Home, sweet home.
I can call this my home.

I gotta get the curtains
for the window,

my living room set and my TV.

And other stuff
for the, um, the bedrooms.

And that's about it.

And I'll make sure
Sharia help me.

Help put
all this stuff together, right?

It go like, plié, two.

Three, four.

Ankle, knee, away.

"Pliché."

And then I go like this.

Ankle, knee, away.
Ankle, knee, away.

Plié.

You look crazy doing that.

"Pliché."SHARIA: Stop.

Let me try.
- I'm getting dizzy.

Oh, that looks so good!

Dad! Meme's trying to take
the chicken.

Give him one, Sharia.

You and J.J.,
that's good for both of y'all.

All right then.
Who taught us that?

I'm so glad that
I left out of that shelter.

It started to, like,
look like home to me.

And I'm glad
that I made it to now,

to live in my own apartment.

This one is gonna be
probably the one

where Victor starts doing

- more of the solo work.
Okay.

Um...

Differing tempos... STEVEN: Yeah.

...whatever you feel like
we need to do.

The music
is by Erik Satie.

The music is very repetitious,

and the movement is very simple,

it's in slow motion
across the stage.

There through fourth
and turn now.

And step around.

We've come around this way.

And this is, of course,
"Hands up, don't shoot," right?

The result of that is here.

And then, the next movement,
into the développé, as you...

ask for help.

- Let me see this famous step.
Oh, no.

- Can you fit... face to the side?
- Really?

Is it possible to do it

and spin around?

I had fun doing
that dance step.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, keep going,
keep going, keep going.

Once more, one more time,
one more time, one more time.

Can you do it
with your head up?

That makes me
feel proud

that we actually can show people
a story.

Yeah.

Saying you live in the shelter
is not something

that anyone should be proud of,

because no one deserves
to live in a shelter.

With the hands, make the fist
first really, really strong.

And you can just put them
straight up in the air

like this.

I was doing moves,
and then I feel strong,

because I want the audience
to feel, like, encouraged.

Just like me.

That's my favorite word.
"Encouraged."

Okay, here we go. Go ahead.

Yeah, okay. Kind of like that.

It's gonna be filmed, and then

that's gonna be projected
on the screen behind you

while you are dancing.

When did you think of this?
Like, yesterday?

No, this was the original idea.

It wasn't.

We go from walking
to one side to the other

and then one breaks off.

I feel that's me
getting away from my past.

This character developed
in the ballet sense.

But maybe one of the other kids
was a doctor or something,

or was an artist
or was blah, blah, blah.

I think
that's a beautiful thing.

When you step forward,
I need you to take more time,

in your head, count to three,
in between each one.

Okay, let's try.

The piece,
unfortunately, is timeless.

Slowly, go ahead.

I went to the homeless shelter

and that's the same
homeless shelter

that's been there for 40 years.

Forty years later,
they haven't solved the problem.

I was not supposed to graduate
or go to prom, or senior's.

I only had ten days
to get all my grades up,

but, um,
I passed all my classes

and then she's letting me walk
across the stage

to get my diploma.

Yeah. I could've done it better.

Slowly.

I'm gonna be like, "Shut up."

I was afraid. At some point,
I was afraid

that she wasn't gonna graduate.

Steven kept talking to Yolanssie

and telling her
how important it was

to stay in school
besides the dancing

and besides everything else,
you know?

She looks up to him.
She made it happen.

My toes! My toes! Diablo.

I wanna grow up.
Have my own house.

I wanna have a career.

I always wanted to be a lawyer,
'cause I like to argue.

I'm trying to figure out

what I'm gonna say tonight.
I don't know.

I haven't put
any thought into this,

we did all this work,
made this huge piece,

we got all these people
coming to a show...

and I don't have anything
to say to them.

Look, I'm sweating.

I hate this so much.

It'll be scary.

I have butterflies
in my stomach already.

Daddy gon' be there.

People that I don't even know
are gonna be there!

I know!

You better not fall
asleep during my show.

How am I gonna fall asleep
during your show?

'Cause we gonna be walking
in slow motion.

You see how it's big for...
how it's big for you?

It's big for Daddy, too.

We love you.

Wait, this is the theatre?

Yeah, this is the theatre.

So, we're the only people
coming right now?

OMG!
I've never been here.

I can see my big ole poster.

That's cool.

This is huge.

People could get
front row seats.

I want my family to get, like,
up top, there. That'd be cool.

I wanna see how it is.
How it feels.

This theatre is humongous.

This is how it feels
to be all the way up top?

You can see everything!

This is a miracle.

Check. One, Two.

We have a ton
of people coming.

I just told this one person that

"I'm happy to put you
on the waiting list

'cause we have a full house."

There's, like, 25 of us.
We got more coming.

Hello?

Do you need
an eyebrow pencil?

- Yeah.
- Do you also need my eyeliner?

No, I got an eyeliner.

We're in 15 minutes.

This is your 15-minute call.

Again, we're 15 minutes
until top of show.

What is this?

Foundation.
Don't use that.

That's not, like, for you.
I have light skin.

Ew! I'm taking this off.
I do not look right!

Your lip look fine.

I have to give a speech.

What're you supposed
to talk about?

Fucked if I know.
I have no idea.

I have no idea.

Two minutes!
Two minutes to top of show.

This is like... this is nothing.

Welcome
to tonight's performance

of LIFT.

Please double check that all
of your electronic devices

are silenced.

Thank you and we hope
you enjoy the show.

Thank you so much.

Good evening, everyone.

I am absolutely delighted

that you can join us
this evening.

I thought teaching dance
to children

from homeless shelters

would lead them to discover
that what really matters

is how hard they work,
not where they come from.

I'd now like to introduce you
to Steven Melendez,

one of our very first students.

Hi.

I've been asked many times
to speak about

what it means to grow up
in poverty and my life.

And my career as a dancer.

Every time I come to it,

I have a hard time
finding the words

to put together,

and I think
there are even fewer words

to express the meaning of dance

for children like me.

So, tonight, in an effort
to get out of writing

a long speech,

I choreographed a dance
and I think it's the first time

that I've ever been excited
to share my story with anyone.

Where do we start the skipping,
right here, right?

Yes, you do.
And I'll be here with you,

so don't worry.

You got this.
Hands down, tall back.

Ready and go!

♪ History in the making

♪ Strong ♪

♪ Lift it up

♪ Beautiful

♪ Jeté

♪ Come on, come on ♪ Plié

♪ Come on, come on, come on ♪

♪ Blaze the path

[SPEAKING SPANISH]
♪ What you wanna do?

♪ My man, it's on you ♪

♪ Jam on it

♪ Jam on it

♪ Come on, yeah
Come on, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Come on, come on, come on ♪

♪ Uh-huh

♪ Rise up

♪ What's going on?

♪ One dance
You wanna listen to ♪

♪ It's on you ♪ Yeah

♪ Jam on it

♪ D-d-d-d-drop it, drop it ♪

♪ Jam on it

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ 'Cause you know

♪ This is how we do it ♪

♪ Blaze the path

♪ What you wanna do?
My man, it's on you ♪

♪ One dance
You wanna listen to ♪

♪ Yeah

♪ One dance
You wanna listen to ♪

♪ Uh, uh, come on

♪ Come on, come on
Come on, come on ♪