In Netflix series Tiny Pretty Things, murder, mystery and ballet at an elite Chicago dance school
- The Netflix series is set at the elite Archer School of Ballet in Chicago, and starts with a student’s murder
- Lead actress Lauren Holly talks about playing Madame Monique Dubois who runs the school, and trying to move like a dancer
Chicago can’t have nice things – even on the small screen. The new Netflix series Tiny Pretty Things begins with a person wearing a hoodie pushing ballerina Cassie Shore off a building at the city’s only elite dance school. The whodunit unravels over 10 hour-long episodes that follow Cassie’s classmates as they point fingers, fight, kiss, break up, make up, kiss, break the law, kiss, and, oh yeah, dance.
Much of the drama centres around rising star Bette (played by Casimere Jollette), who stops at nothing to snag the lead role in productions; newcomer Neveah (Kylie Jefferson), who refuses to abide by the rules; and Madame Monique Dubois (Lauren Holly), who sacrifices love, joy and family to run the Archer School of Ballet.
“Madame Monique is complicated, to say the least. She was a prima ballerina in a different era and needs to find a way to stay relevant and to keep some power and find her way in this new world, especially doing a job that until that point was done by a man,” Holly says.
The 57-year-old actress – known for her roles in Dumb and Dumber, NCIS and Picket Fences – laughs when asked about her own dance background.
“When I was four or five, I danced to Here Comes the Sun in a gymnasium, does that count? But no, I did not have dance experience, and it was very hilarious because when they were all in training, before we started filming, I wanted to go to their classes as sort of a bonding thing.