Last spring the "coming in September" press release from HIT Entertainment proclaimed that "World-Famous Angelina Ballerina has a Fresh Look in CG-Animation and All New Adventures in Curriculum-Based Dance Series for Young Children."  Then a September 3rd article in the New York Times heralded the program as an animated series "updated to engage a new generation of young viewers and lead to an interest in dance and music."  Not only that, but no less an expert than Wes Chapman, artistic director of ABT II, was reportedly "instrumental in advising the animators, producers and writers on how to depict dance accurately and incorporate elements from the Ballet Theater training guide."  Even better was the promise that "Next Steps," a successor to an earlier Angelina series, would include "new forms of dance for Angelina including ballet, modern, tap, jazz, classic and ethnic."

Thus it was that I tuned in to Channel 13 on the morning of September 7th at 9:30 a.m., my reporter's notebook at the ready and my dance educator's heart filled with anticipation.  Yet right from the get-go, various key aspects of what appeared on my TV screen rankled me.  The new incarnation of Angelina, coming as it does just a year after the 25th anniversary of Katherine Holabird's now-classic book with endearing illustrations by Helen Craig, is weird to the point of being almost scary.  Angelina still has mouse ears and a tail, but she no longer has fur and thus appears to be bald or plastic or both.  Not only that, but she's cross-eyed when she looks straight at the camera. Her original, charmingly mousey body has been freakishly slimmed down and her legs elongated so that -- according to the Times article -- "when she does all these great ballet moves, she can actually do them."  Unfortunately however, even if I were willing to sacrifice charm for accuracy, I would have been dismayed. In spite of the claim that leaders in our field reviewed all the dance sequences, Angelina is often not as correct now as she once was. Have a look at her before and after pictures that accompany this post and compare video clips from 2001 and 2009.  True, the current version of Angelina is not en pointe because, as the Times piece puts it, "that's not age appropriate."  Even so, her demi-pointe leaves a great deal to be desired and her turnout in arabesque is surely lacking even to the unschooled eye.  What's more, although Angelina in the first episode carefully articulates the metatarsal of her working foot en arriere during a rond de jambe, she brings that foot en avant without leading with her heel.  Why such attention to one detail and not the other?

More gripes and a few kudos after the jump!