LEAP

Students at an elite dance school in Bucharest confront their identities and futures.

Ana Florean and Carina Scarlat have been secretly dating for three years. In Romania, being out can have dangerous consequences, and Carina doesn’t want to jeopardize her promising ballet career. Ana understands—mostly—and resigns herself to supporting Carina, stepping in as her practice partner in empty studios. But with Carina busy rehearsing, Ana finds herself wondering whether she even likes dancing anymore. She starts spending more time with her new roommate, Sara Dumitrescu, who’s also in the contemporary dance program. As the two become friends, Ana finds someone she can trust with her ambivalent feelings about Carina, and Sara, who thinks she might be gay, too, finds someone who’s willing to visit queer spaces with her. As the girls move through the dynamically illustrated panels, they explore their sexuality and what they want from dance. Most of the work features bold, fluid, black linework against a soft pink background, but many dance sequences include bright bursts of color. While the portrayal of the world of pre-professional ballet is sobering, reflecting the struggles of many dancers who present as queer or have bigger bodies, it also shows glimmers of a better future as the girls rediscover the joy of dancing and explore how gender norms can be bent or broken.

An ultimately hopeful portrayal of dance, coming of age, and being true to yourself.