"Dance what you feel" and "Dance the s--- out of it!" are sentiments that all dancers (and dance movie fans) know well. But it's time to take an unflinching look at the real-life drama and struggles behind the glossy veneer of films like Center Stage in the new Disney+ docuseries On Pointe — and EW has your exclusive first look at the trailer.

Launching Dec. 18, the six-part series follows young ballet dancers vying to become prima ballerinas (for the girls) and premier danseurs (for the boys). Think Cheer, but instead of cheerleading, it centers on ballet — a.k.a. the "unforgiving art form" — and the dancers who "can't live without it."

The show will feature unprecedented access to New York's prestigious School of American Ballet, upon which Center Stage's fictional American Ballet Academy was based. Chronicling the lives of world-class students age 8 to 18 pursuing their dreams of becoming professional ballet dancers in an uber-competitive environment, the series reveals what it's really like to make it as a professional dancer, including all the highs of success and the very low lows. While older students rigorously train for professional careers, younger students are put through their paces as they rehearse and perform in New York City Ballet's holiday classic George Balanchine's The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center.

On Pointe is produced by Imagine Documentaries and DCTV, with Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Sara Bernstein, Justin Wilkes, and Matthew O'Neill serving as executive producers, and Larissa Bills directing and producing.

Watch the trailer above.

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Author:Sydney Bucksbaum - Source: EW