I’ve yet to see it myself but, from the review, I’d guess it were

“These children see dancing, and dance competitions, as a way up, and maybe out.”

I haven’t seen it though and you have, so why was that message diluted? If it’s not that apparent, how much of my time would be wasted watching it? I don’t wanna spend time watching something that pretends (or tries but fails) to be profound only for it to be little more than what it’s critiqued for — even at eighteen, I found Heinlein’s portrayal of women in I Will Fear No Evil cringeworthy and don’t wanna spend hours watching barely pubescent girls being exploited just to make the point that girls are exploited when they’re barely pubescent (I know that already).