Dancing on the Edge

It’s a lusciously shot and brilliantly written and acted account of how the British aristocracy and progressives in high society fell in love with what can best be described as the tantalizing edginess of jazz music and the sense of exploration and wonder it brought to those who heard it even though society at the time was not ready to accept what it all implied.

Many of the people we meet in the cast are good guys, which gives Dancing a hopeful tone, even when the odds go the other way. We want the folks who deserve it to win, and so does the show.

Dancing is so carefully curated with period detail that it is sometimes rendered inert, especially in this bloated premiere. But it's worth sticking around for the remaining four parts to enjoy the still-fresh music and the agile performance by Matthew Goode as a shady journalist. [18 Oct 2013, p.61]

Though the gorgeous production starts out slowly and has its pompous moments, it's ultimately worth your time.

[A] dignified and sometimes moving mini-series.

There's some lovely Jazz Age music (by Adrian Johnston), charismatic performances and a story worth telling in Starz's evocative but languorous five-part miniseries.

While Dancing On the Edge features what should be a compelling story, acted by a top-notch cast underscored by a terrific jazz soundtrack, it’s not quite as riveting as I expected.

While the atmospherics are great and the cast is impressive, the weight of the film is too much for the slender premise.

What's missing is passion, joy and (ultimately) interest.

The script, by director Stephen Poliakoff, who also directs, has its good parts, but every few minutes, the quality is undone by characters announcing things to advance the plot, as opposed to dramatizing events.

Dancing [isn't] without elegant moments. It’s just that in the slow waltz of a miniseries that envelops them, someone forget to hone its edge.

The only times Dancing On The Edge doesn’t move like molasses are during the brief moments of excitement or pleasure.