Dance in Film · 2010
Dancing Across Borders (2010)
Anne Bass follows Sokvannara “Sy” Sar from a Khmer dance troupe at Angkor Wat into Olga Kostritzky’s New York ballet training and the Pacific Northwest Ballet stage, making the physical and cultural retraining of one dancer the documentary’s central subject.
Dancing Across Borders is a 2010 dance documentary centred on ballroom and social dance. For dancers, it's a chance to see the style performed on screen — the phrasing, partnering, and musicality that the same dances carry onto a real floor.
Jump to the 4 indexed dance sequences ↓
Where to watch: Apple TV Store rental/purchase in the United States and free library streaming through Hoopla were listed by JustWatch when checked 2026-08-10; availability may change.
Trailer
Official trailer.
The dance sequences in Dancing Across Borders
4 sequences — what is danced, by whom, and where to find it.
Olga Kostritzky's private ballet coaching
Classical BalletDanced by Sokvannara “Sy” Sar
Kostritzky manually correcting Sar as his already-trained body learns an entirely different classical vocabulary.
The coaching footage exposes ballet acquisition at its most physical: placement, turnout, feet, repetition, and pain.
Open the film at this point · Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. The distributor press kit and Los Angeles Times material reproduced within it identify Kostritzky as teacher/coach rather than production choreographer, so choreographer is blank. First Run and Apple both list 88 minutes.
On the Other Side at Vail
Ballet solo (Benjamin Millepied choreography)Danced by Sokvannara “Sy” Sar · Choreography Benjamin Millepied
The outdoor Vail performance unites Sar's earned command, Millepied's choreography, and Glass at the piano.
Sar's solo, accompanied live by Philip Glass, caps the film with contemporary ballet-making rather than another classroom demonstration.
Open the film at this point · Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. First Run credits Millepied's On the Other Side, Philip Glass's Etude No. 5, Sar's 2008 Vail performance, and the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater. The opened source does not assign an exact supplied style, so no approximate dance_key is used.
Varna International Ballet Competition variations
Classical BalletDanced by Sokvannara “Sy” Sar
Sar reaching the Varna semifinals only a few years after beginning ballet, with the film using performance footage as proof of his progress.
Competition footage converts years of training into a legible professional test across canonical ballet variations.
Open the film at this point · Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. The press kit says the film assembled five Varna variations, while Sar's biography names Giselle, La Sylphide, Coppelia, and Le Corsaire; the composite scene is retained without silently inventing the fifth work or a single choreographer.
Wat Bo troupe at Preah Khan
Traditional Khmer danceDanced by Sokvannara “Sy” Sar; Wat Bo School troupe
His slow, grounded traditional movement and stage charisma are what Anne Bass cannot forget.
The Cambodian performance establishes Sar's original movement language before ballet training, making the documentary's cross-cultural transformation visible.
Open the film at this point · Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. First Run Features identifies Sar's Wat Bo training and troupe performance at Preah Khan; Traditional Khmer dance has no exact supplied dance_key. First Run and Apple both list 88 minutes.
Poster artwork from TMDB.
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