Breaking Pointe Preview: The CW's Ballet-Focused Reality Series Premieres Tonight

Set to premiere on The CW tonight is an unscripted series that takes a closer look at the competitive and challenging world of ballet dancing. The clips we have to show you from the premiere give us a look at some of the dancers that will be featured in the series and shows us what they're up against as they attempt to prove themselves and their talents.

Breaking Pointe follows the inner-workings of the Salt Lake City Ballet Company, Ballet West. The series will show us the rehearsals, stage performances, and give us a look into the lives of the dancers. As you'll see in this first clip, there's some variety among the young, aspiring dancers being featured in the series.

By comparison to current unscripted series like The Real World and Jersey Shore, it's especially interesting to see a series that's focusing on people within that same age bracket, who are dedicating their time and energy to achieving their goals. Granted, the shelf-life of dancers isn't likely to be especially long for those who really want to hit the big-time, so there's no time to waste, but it's still good to see examples of young people who know what they want and are willing to put in the work to achieve it. It's certainly impressive.

Effort is important, but is it enough? This clip explores the subject of the dancers' contracts. A spot in a company isn't a permanent position. The dancers have to continue to prove themselves to keep their jobs…

I'll be interested to see how the show works and how much focus there is on the dancers' private lives. From the clips, it seems like there will be a mix of both as we come to know them as dancers and see how their work affects their personal lives.

Breaking Pointe premieres Thursday, May 31 at 8/7c on the CW.