Dance in Film · 2016
Polina (2016)
A gifted Russian ballet student abandons a classical career to search for her own voice in contemporary dance, adapted from Bastien Vivès’ graphic novel.
Polina is a 2016 dance feature film 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 5 indexed dance sequences ↓
Where to watch: Streaming (various)
The dance sequences in Polina
5 sequences — what is danced, by whom, and where to find it.
Antwerp dockside duet-in-progress
Contemporary dance improvisationDanced by Anastasia Shevtsova; Jérémie Bélingard · Choreography Angelin Preljocaj
Their silhouettes improvise a breathless pas de deux on the Antwerp docks beneath a vivid winter sunset.
Polina and Karl build choreography through responsive, improvisatory partnering outside the institution. The rehearsal shows creation happening in real time and converts everyday urban space into a studio.
Open the film at this point · Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. No edition-specific timestamp used. DancePlug identifies Polina and Karl rehearsing in Antwerp for a choreography audition and credits the film's choreographed scenes to Angelin Preljocaj; Fresh Fiction independently places their dance on the docks at sunset. Generic contemporary improvisation has no exact supplied dance_key.
Final duet on the snow-covered stage
Contemporary danceDanced by Anastasia Shevtsova; Jérémie Bélingard · Choreography Angelin Preljocaj
Polina and Karl perform their finished duo on a snow-covered stage before the festival audition panel.
The completed Polina-Karl duet gathers the film's classical training, improvisation and choreographic authorship into a fully staged work. Its snowy setting answers the child's opening improvisation and frames Polina as a creator rather than only an interpreter.
Open the film at this point · Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. No edition-specific timestamp used. DancePlug explicitly identifies the final scene as the fully staged Polina-Karl duo on a snow-covered stage; the official English press kit says Angelin Preljocaj created the final duet with and for Anastasia Shevtsova. Generic contemporary dance has no exact supplied dance_key.
Liria's contemporary-company audition
Contemporary danceDanced by Anastasia Shevtsova; Juliette Binoche; company dancers
Liria steps forward to demonstrate movement while testing whether Polina can stop being only a technically 'pretty dancer.'
The audition makes Polina confront weight, release and personal presence instead of merely reproducing classical form. Liria's physical demonstration turns the studio into the film's clearest lesson in unlearning technique to find an individual voice.
Open the film at this point · Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. No edition-specific timestamp used. In the official press kit Juliette Binoche describes the audition scene and being asked to demonstrate the moves; the same source identifies Anastasia Shevtsova as Polina and says the shoot combined dance and acting moments. Generic contemporary dance has no exact supplied dance_key, so no approximate technique was assigned.
Snow White pas de deux
Contemporary BalletDanced by Anastasia Shevtsova; Niels Schneider · Choreography Angelin Preljocaj
Polina and Adrien's Snow White duet becomes the artistic shock that changes the direction of her career.
A sustained excerpt from Preljocaj's Mahler-scored Snow White lets Polina experience partnering, theatrical emotion and contemporary ballet as an alternative to the rigid classicism she has mastered.
Open the film at this point · Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. No edition-specific timestamp used. The official English press kit names Snow White as Anastasia Shevtsova's favorite scene, confirms that she performed it with Niels Schneider in Aix-en-Provence, and describes Preljocaj's direction of the dance material; DancePlug identifies the excerpt as Preljocaj's Snow White pas de deux.
Young Polina improvises in the snow
Improvised creative movementDanced by Veronika Zhovnytska
Eight-year-old Polina joyfully makes up dance moves in a snowy park against an austere industrial landscape.
The child Polina temporarily escapes the discipline of ballet school by inventing movement outdoors, establishing spontaneous observation and play as the creative impulse she will recover later.
Open the film at this point · Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing. No edition-specific timestamp used. DancePlug explicitly links the opening snowy-park improvisation to the final duet; ArtsATL independently identifies Veronika Zhovnytska as the young Polina. The generic improvisational movement is not represented by an exact supplied dance_key. The current U.S. Apple TV title page was opened on 2026-08-14; no scene time or dedicated clip was inferred.
Poster artwork from TMDB.
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