"There's a lot of valuable information here, but for all the archival footage on view, dance is rarely allowed to make its effect... ultimately, the film will make its case only for the true believers..."
"...tells several overlapping stories engagingly.... Drawing on home-video footage, news clips, recently shot interviews and other sources, most of the film is devoted to charting Sy's development in Western classicism... Abundant dance excerpts provide both entertainment and evidence of Sy's progress."