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| Alessandra Ferri |
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| Director Frederic Wiseman |
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| Choreographer Agnes De Mille |
BALLET A USA (170 mi) 1995 d: Frederick Wiseman
This is one of the most joyous and loving films on record, where without a word of narration, we immerse ourselves in both the onstage and behind-the-scenes cast and crew of the American Ballet Theater, profiling the managing administrators, principal and supporting dancers and choreographers as the company prepares for its European Tour in 1992. Wiseman gives viewers an inside glimpse at what it takes to successfully stage a ballet production including rehearsals, business dealings, dancer recruitment, makeup application, photo shoots, costume fittings, and interviews with the press. The camera is completely unobtrusive and beautifully captures the flavor and personality of the various ballet choreographers as they work with their dancers in daily rehearsals at the company’s Lower Manhattan studio, usually shown in long single takes without cuts, although the positions of the camera may change, as even if the same dance is repeated, it’s filmed differently. Former dancers themselves, each rehearsal is superbly presented, endlessly repeated, exhibiting a performance-ready flair where they are learning to refine the interpretation, essentially a performance art film emphasizing the collaborative nature of ballet. The film begins with a sunrise before taking us inside the studio, as the work begins with the first light of dawn, where right off the bat we witness dancers warming up, as we are lured into this intoxicating world of precision and grace, as many cutaways and transitional shots show dancers stretching, warming up, watching other dancers rehearse, and sometimes just resting. Twice we see the staff physiotherapist working on dancers’ aching muscles, and several more are waiting to see her, reminding us that at the core these are fine-tuned athletes performing with seemingly effortless agility, with one dancer receiving the sobering prognosis that the injury might take a full year to heal. These bodies may stretch in what seem like fantastic positions, as we see in the film’s opening montage, but they have physical limits, with one ballerina even speaking with the artistic director about personal concerns involving aging and the demands of her multiple roles. The choreographers occasionally let their own bodies demonstrate, which is one of the most wondrous aspects of the film, particularly when we’re allowed to witness the impeccable movements of Irina Kolpakova, a former prima ballerina for the Kirov Ballet who is now a coach, whose love for the art simply can’t be contained in her outgoing smile and elegantly flowing body movements. The poor lead dancer from the company (Susan Jaffe) pales in comparison during the rehearsal session, working together for several repeated takes, revealing the difficulty of the dance, but it’s a unique opportunity to learn from one of the greatest ballerinas in history. Later we see her being interviewed with the aid of a Russian interpreter and her buoyant energy, her love for dance remains vibrantly alive even after she has retired from performing, which may as well be the theme for the film.
Wiseman typically shuns narration, emphasizing the subject over individuality, but one of the film’s limitations throughout is the lack of information about who these choreographers and dancers are, many of them legendary in their own right, or what dances are being performed. Case in point, one of the choreographers turns out to be the legendary Agnes de Mille, the niece of Cecil B. DeMille, now a gruff, plain-speaking elder spokeswoman in the last year of her life who directs from a wheelchair as she rehearses her final piece, “The Other,” occasionally spouting out sounds as directions. “You must look like something that’s absolutely broken, and stuck up in the wind,” she tells Amanda McKerrow, her star. Another unidentified dancer gets an eruption of applause from people witnessing her flawless execution in a rehearsal room, while another rehearses to the music of Schubert German Lieder, where the exquisite voice of the man singing at the piano only complements this art form, a wonderful merger of music and dance movement. Early on in rehearsals, where we can see other dancers practicing off to the side during the main rehearsals, we witness the jubilant moves of percussion-laced, African-influenced dance, whose choreographer is black (Ulysses Dove), a man who can’t stop himself from being delighted by what he sees, joining in with the dancers himself, creating a brilliantly flowing work that is simply sublime, perhaps the dance of the entire film, as it veers away from established practices of traditional ballet execution and invents a new technique expressing a feeling of complete liberation, where the men and women dip and flow together miraculously in rhythm, simply an infectious feeling of energized delight, where it’s hard not to be affected by the transcendent power of art. Interspersed with these rehearsals are dancers resting, laying on their backs in hallways bracing their legs up against the wall or getting massage treatments for specialized ailments, or we see Jane Hermann, the company director, on the phone attempting to head off foreseeable problems, explaining to the owner of a prospective venue the actual costs and considerable logistics involved in producing live ballet. In addition to the dancers, we are reminded there is the orchestra, transportation, advertising, stagehands, per diems, and so on. She also confronts inopportune disasters head on, where her linguistic skills, which are as precise as the dancer’s moves, turn incendiary and graphic when she learns they’ve been unexpectedly undercut by a “Russian” Kirov Ballet troupe that will be preceding them the week before their tour, programmed by the Metropolitan Opera without her knowledge, which will not only cut into the financial proceeds but duplicate some of the exact same dances, which she anticipates will drive the ticket sales down. The contrast between the elation from the effortless freedom of dance movements and being double crossed by your own business partner couldn’t be more pronounced, but both are part of the same artistic enterprise.
The mood of the film changes when they get to their European destinations and finally perform onstage, literally opening up their world and liberating them from the endless hours of rehearsals, spending a week in the outdoor Acropolis in Athens, where nightfall is illuminated by the moonlight, also performing in Rome and Copenhagen, where the dances are filmed using only two cameras, one in front zooming in or out while meticulously following a precise path of movement, not always following the lead action, sometimes sticking with off-lead performers, but always capturing the beauty of the moment. Another camera is just offstage, a memorable view in Chaplin’s LIMELIGHT (1952), which is able to capture a different line of movement from the side angle. These two cameras are amazingly effective, lead camera by John Davey, assistant camera by film director Lodge Kerrigan, the maker of CLAIRE DOLAN (1998) and KEANE (2004), who also worked with Wiseman in Tribute to Frederic Wiseman: High School II (1994), and essentially offer the viewer front row seats. The speed of the free-flowing movements from multiple directions can at times resemble slow motion or fast action photography, but everything is filmed in natural time, shooting in long takes mostly without close-ups. The authenticity of the performances is one of the special features of the film, as is the action captured offstage after the performances, such as the next day under a brilliant sun when the company hits the beach, or spends time together having fun on the roller coaster and carnival rides at Tivoli in Copenhagen, and most especially at a night club one night when the company hits the dance floor, an unforgettable picture of these dancers letting loose, where their undeniable rhythm and grace is nothing less than phenomenal. Always in these group moments there is plenty of camaraderie, applause, and joyous laughter, balancing the precision of performance with moments of carefree joy. Traveling informally with this relaxed group is an unexpected delight, which when added to the pleasure of witnessing them perform onstage at such a high level of expertise just increases our appreciation for them over time, closing with long scenes from Romeo and Juliet, where at one point Romeo runs toward the wings in a moment of dramatic blocking, as if he were running toward the camera and directly towards us, becoming so much more effective than seeing it from a distance live on stage, ending as the lovers depart from the balcony scene, where we’re in the midst of the story, as if it never ends. Despite the 3-hour running time, this is a near perfect film. There isn’t a moment that doesn’t radiate with a special degree of warmth and love, a film that may produce tears of joy from the sheer beauty of it all, leaving the viewer with a feeling that you just might want to share this with the whole world.
Some of the music and principal performers:
Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty” and “Swan Lake,” Cesar Frank’s “Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra,” Bruch’s “Violin Concerto No. 1,” Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” and Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
Choreographers/ballet masters: Agnes de Mille, Irina Kolpakova, David Richardson, Georgina Parkinson, Natalia Makarova, and Michael Somes.
Principal dancers: Alessandra Ferri, Cynthia Harvey, Susan Jaffe, José Carreño, Amanda McKerrow, Christine Dunham, Robert Hill, Julio Bocca, Julie Kent, Angel Corella, and Wes Chapman.
Performers
The Other – Amanda McKerrow Bruch “Violin Concerto” – Robert Hill and Julie Kent Prokofiev “Romeo and Juliet” – Alessandra Ferri and Julio Bocca Tchaikovsky “Swan Lake” – Susan Jaffe and José Carreño Stravinsky “Rite of Spring” – too many to name
Choreographers
Kenneth MacMillan … “Romeo and Juliet,” “Sleeping Beauty” Glen Tetley … “The Rite of Spring” Frederick Ashton … “Symphonic Variations” Clark Tippet … “Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1” Agnes de Mille … “The Other” Ulysses Dove … “Red Angels”
