New Starz Series Spotlights Seedier Side of Ballet

Premium channel Starz has recently ordered a new pilot entitled “Flesh and Bone” that will focus on the nasty side of the ballet world. Described as a “TV version of Black Swan”, the new series will focus on a young ballerina (Sarah Hay) at a prestigious New York company who has a bit of a seedy past of her own. The minds behind the show include Inglorious Bastards producer Lawrence Bender and “Breaking Bad” co-executive producer Moira Walley-Beckett, both of whom are former ballet dancers. The series will not be anything like the late “Bunheads”, which was a fun little romp while it lasted; instead, the show will be gritty, dark, and dysfunctional (no word yet on whether or not any of the dancers will also sell meth...).

Hay herself is a bonafide ballerina, who has danced with the Dresden Semperpoer Ballet company in Germany. Additional cast members are also talented dancers, including former American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Irina Dvorovenko (pictured), ABT soloist Sascha Radetsky, and Ballet Arizona Company dancer Raychel Diane Weiner. Dare we hope for a cameo by Mikhail Baryshnikov?

(Photo via Joseph Marzullo/WENN)

- Sarah Osman, YH Staff