After captivating audiences in Western Australia, Pointe: Dancing on a Knife’s Edge is set to screen across Australia, offering audiences a rare and deeply moving portrait of dancer and choreographer Floeur Alder, daughter of Australian ballet icons Lucette Aldous and Alan Alder.
Directed by Dawn Jackson in her debut feature, the film charts Alder’s extraordinary path through trauma and artistic rebirth. At just 22, she was the victim of a random knife attack that nearly ended her life and her rising international ballet career. As her body recovered, she found herself confronting a deeper inheritance: the expectations and emotional legacy of a family synonymous with ballet greatness.
Through choreography, Alder reclaims agency and voice, transforming pain into art. The film follows her as she crafts works that channel grief, rage and resilience, culminating in an emotionally charged return to the stage at His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth, a performance that signals renewal rather than closure. “The healing was not only about my incident,” Alder reflects, “it was about my childhood, my parents, my whole life.”
Rich with archival footage and intimate studio moments, Pointe honours the lineage of ballet while revealing the private cost of brilliance. Featuring appearances by Chrissie Parrott, David McAllister, Dame Monica Mason, Dame Gillian Lynne, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev and Robert Bestonso, the film is as much a tribute to the global dance community as it is a portrait of personal endurance.
For Alder, sharing her story on screen has brought a sense of peace and purpose. “It means the world to me and I am so grateful to finally share my story, have a voice and put people’s opinions or judgements about my family to rest,” she says. “Thank you to Dawn Jackson for her perseverance and tenacity to not give up when times were tough, and there were a few of those times, which makes this journey even sweeter. It has been overwhelming in a good way to witness people’s heartfelt reactions and to bring awareness to the power of healing through dance and nature. It has been a rather private healing experience, however I now feel ready to share and hopefully help anyone with trauma to know there is choice and to never give up.”
It is a sentiment that captures both the vulnerability and quiet strength at the heart of Pointe: turning personal healing into a shared experience of empathy and renewal.
Supported by Screenwest, Lotterywest’s Brian Beaton Award, Screen Australia and the Australian Cultural Fund, the film embodies the power of collective generosity.
Australian screenings are confirmed for:
- Sydney: Thursday 27 November, 6.30 pm
- Melbourne: Sunday 30 November, 3.30 pm
- Launceston: Thursday 4 December, 7 pm
Screenings in Adelaide and Brisbane will follow in 2026.
A fundraising campaign is currently underway to support the national tour and to produce a captioned version of the film to ensure accessibility for all audiences. Donations can be made via the Australian Cultural Fund.
Pointe is proving to be a study in resilience and the quiet triumph of reclaiming one’s art, not in spite of suffering, but through it