Ballet and Bullets: Dancing Out of the Favela

“Na Ponta dos Pés” (On Tiptoe) is a ballet project in the Alemão favela complex in Rio de Janeiro, created by Tuany Nascimento—a 24-year-old dancer who teaches in the Morro do Adeus neighborhood, which is at the center of a roiling feud between rival drug cartels. Intensifying violence in the area heightens Tuany’s motivation to build a community center which will give her girls a safe space to dance and study. Tuany knows they can’t all become pro ballerinas, but the discipline they learn transcends the act of dancing and equips them to escape a life of hardship. This film is about the power of culture to instill hope, and how art can transform reality—even in the most marginalized places.