Battling ballerinas forge a firm friendship in coming-of-age drama
Birds Of Paradise blends dancing with timely themes. Georgia Humphreys meets its stars
Gruelling physical training, mental breakdowns in rehearsals, and Covid-19 pausing filming for several months – making Birds Of Paradise certainly had its challenges for stars Diana Silvers and Kristine Froseth.
The intriguing comingof-age drama, from a novel called Bright Burning Stars, centres on ballet dancers competing for a prestigious prize at a Paris dance school.
“They make it look so effortless,” Froseth – who grew up between Norway and New Jersey – says of real-life ballerinas. “I understood there was a lot of discipline that must have gone into it, and sacrifice, but to what degree… I just didn’t know how far.
“I felt like I had so many mental breakdowns during rehearsals because we had those three months where I was just trying to hone in and really get in tune with my body,” continues the 26-yearold actress.
“I’d never danced before, and so there was a lot of just trying to learn everything super quickly, and then we had to put it into practice with the actual choreography.”
“It was really hard to show myself compassion,” adds Laborn Silvers, 23. “I expected myself to be a dancer. Our choreographer, she’d be like, ‘Diana, you look amazing, you’re doing the work, it’s OK. You are literally doing the best you can and then some, it’s OK’.
“She was so encouraging and supportive and patient with both of us, and same with all of the actual dancers, they were always there to help us.”
As well as providing a fascinating insight into the lives of aspiring ballerinas, Birds Of Paradise deftly explores themes of grief, redemption, betrayal and sexual awakening, through the eyes of young adults.
Silvers plays tomboy Kate Sanders, an ambitious ballerina from Virginia who is awarded a scholarship at the prestigious, cut-throat institution because of her lowincome status. There, she meets the beautiful Marine (Froseth) , who is struggling after her brother, who was also her dance partner, recently took his own life.
They are pitted against each other as they both desperately want to win a contract to join the Opera national de Paris, but end up forging a friendship along the way – one that faces jeopardy and could potentially end in turmoil.
“The thing I loved about Kate is that she starts out with such pure intentions, of just, ‘I’m good at what I do, and I’m going to go and bring home this prize, and then my whole life is going to change’, and slowly but surely, that changes,” explains Silvers.
“The pressure of being a female in this very maledominated world gets to her and she is no longer as pure of heart. It’s this challenge of, ‘How far am I willing to go? What am I willing to do to be the best, to achieve greatness?' ”
Froseth adds: “A lot of it for me was just exploring where she’s at when we first meet [Marine], and how she’s coping with her trauma and loss, and hoping that it will hopefully make other people feel less alone, and knowing that at the end of it, you can find some sort of peace or healing and that you can always begin again, it’s never too late.”
● Birds Of Paradise is available to watch now on Amazon Prime Video.