Dancing on Glass

DANCING ON GLASS presents the world of professional ballet as a depressing and disagreeable milieu. Here desperate dancers jockey for prominence and recognition, fearing and sabotaging rivals as they dwell in paranoia. And that's to say nothing of the grueling physical toll the dancing takes on their young bodies. In this case, Irene (Maria Pedraza of Netflix series Money Heist and Elite), chosen to play the lead in her ballet company's Giselle, also contends with the unsupportive parents and sister she lives with. None of them think much of the work she does, and her father reminds her that she'll be too old to dance by the time she's 30. Her friend and fellow company member Aurora (Paula Losada) has an overbearing ex-dancer mother who relives her dancing life by micromanaging and infantilizing her daughter. Norma (Mona Martinez), the company's head, is a cruel, tactless, manipulative, and unforgiving taskmaster, exploiting her dancers' insecurities and playing up rivalries to maintain control. The two girls form a close friendship that provides emotional safety from those who either don't understand them or are trying to control them. Tragedy ultimately consumes several characters.