A Ballerina's Tale

Documentarians could not possibly wish for better luck than that which befell on Nelson George when he was recently finishing up his profile on the ballerina Misty Copeland and it was announced that she was to become the first African-American soloist with the prestigious American Ballet Theater in over two decades. It’s a perfect ending to a fairy tale story and is one of the highlights of George’s otherwise rather patchy movie.

The opening scenes show some grainy home videos of a teenage Copeland dancing with her local ballet troupe in California and you can see already that this skinny young girl, who didn’t even take up ballet until she was 13 years old, is remarkably gifted. By the time she is 15 years she is already local star and then from there she transitions to New York where she becomes the only African/American in ABT’s company of some 80 dancers.  George’s emphasis here, as earlier, is very much of the cultural significance of Copeland’s breakthrough and sadly we learn very little about the young girl herself or anything of her family background or roots at all.

Copeland is not only an exceptional talent in pointe shoes but she is also a stunning beautifully and simply lights up the screen whenever we see her performing at the Metropolitan Opera House, or in a dress rehearsal when she is learning a new part. There is a rather lengthy section when she discovers a leg injury after dancing Firebird that is hinted maybe the end of her career but after successful surgery and rest she recovers fully in time to land her first leading role.  After that she becomes the cultural face of the ‘Under Armour’ label and when the video of their advert goes viral, there is even more talk of Copeland’s position of being one of the leading ballet dancers of her generation attracting much more diversified audience to the somewhat privileged airs that still surrounds the whole ballet culture.

Nelson’s film beautifully shows us an extraordinary ballerina  …. watching her star as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake is a sheer joy ….but  it’s just a pity he didn’t let us discover the woman too.

★★★★★★

BALLET 422

Being plucked from the lowly ranks of the Corps de Ballet to be thrust into the forefront and ask to choreograph a new ballet for the prestigious New York City Ballet is the stuff that dreams are made of. For 25 year old dancer Tyler Peck this dream actually became a reality, and filmmaker Jody Lee Lipes was there every step of the way to create an enthralling and intimate record of how the Ballet Company's 422'nd new ballet came into being.

As well as dancing in the back row, Peck had also been attending the Company's Choreography Institute and so impressed the powers-that-be that he became the only current dancer to be asked to stage a new work for the Company. This piece commissioned for the 2013 Season would in fact be his third piece, and this time he chose to feature three of the Company's Principal Dancers and set the ballet to a musical composition from 1935. He had exactly two months to turn his dream into a staged piece.

Lipes filmed the whole process without narration or explanation which greatly adds to the build up to the all important premiere. Peck is disarmingly calm throughout and although he is clear and quite forceful about what he wants to achieve, he is not adverse to seeking advice, and is positively polite when it is offered to him unsolicited as times.  For one so much younger than most of all the other people involved, from the dancers to the stage managers and even the orchestra, he is both courteous and self-assured in a way that makes everyone really want him to succeed.

We first see Peck experimenting on his own as he works out moves which he then abstractly plots out on paper.  His soloists listen respectfully and quite intently as he describes in minute detail as the ballet is shaped, but he is more than happy to take on board when they suggest alternative ways of doing certain moves. Even ballet master Albert Evans who is always on hand as a second pair of eyes, chips in occasionally with details he feels that the young choreographer may have missed, but like everyone else, he is also happy to defer to Peck in the end.

Lipp never shows us the finished Ballet even at the Premiere but his camera trails Peck everywhere and giving us vignettes of the rehearsal process and the behind the scenes maneuvering of getting the staging and costumes.  As the big night looms close and the ballet gets its fine tuning, Lipp's camera captures all the fine detail of the creative process that ensures even if the remarkably calm Peck doesn't outwardly seem that invested in his own success, we certainly are.

Come Opening Night and its a full house at the Lincoln Center, and Peck is sitting in the audience to watch his 'Paz de la Jolla' get a standing ovation from the crowd. After he joins the dancers on stage to take a bow, he hurries off to his dressing room. He has to change for the last Ballet in tonight's program, in which he is back dancing with the Corps De Ballet. This particular dream for this exceptionally talented young man is over.

This enthralling and engrossing documentary is so beautifully crafted that it will appeal to more than just ballet aficionados. Watching such a young talent at work in front of your eyes like this is a real treat to behold, especially when he is  someone that I'm sure that even Mr. Balanchine himself would approve of.

P.S. Since then Justin Peck has been promoted to Soloist.

★★★★★★★★

BALLET BOYS

Ballet Boys is a feature length documentary that follows in the footsteps of three adolescent male dancers as they are about to graduate from the Norwegian Ballet Academy and move on to the next stage of their training. These classmates, who are also very good friends, all love dancing but they are coming to the point in their lives where they have to make tough decisions as to whether they want to make a career in ballet, and if in fact they are actually proficient enough to be able to do so.

The three of them : Lukas, Syvert and Torgeir have already had to sacrifice many of the usual joys of being regular teenage boys and having fun with their other mates for the sake of their dedication to their art. In Syvert's case he has also been neglecting his academic school work too and may not even be able to graduate. They are all very likable boys whose charm and enthusiasm comes shining through in all the talking head interviews, and they all very innocently are so unsure of what could/should happen next.

Svyert is the odd one of the trio as he complains that as an Asian Immigrant he has difficulty getting a girlfriend, and also he cannot make up his mind at all whether to stick with dancing or not.  In fact during one school term he gives up ballet completely only to soon return and ask to be allowed back in the Academy.  Torgeir on the other hand looks like a classic blond Norwegian lad and he was a late starter with ballet. Despite his natural talent he lacks both the confidence and drive to be able to decide if he really wants to spend his life dancing.  

Of the three, Lukas is unquestionable the star, and although he had no intention of auditioning at the prestigious Royal Ballet School in London, they invite him anyway and so he pirouettes his way into being offered one of the few rare places. Despite the honor of his talent being recognised in this way, he is still in two minds whether to accept the offer.  The other boys have been offered places with the local Ballet Company which will give them a great training and a BA degree, and plus its free for Norwegians.  Going abroad however means saying goodbye to all of that, and not just leaving home but handing his parents a 70000 euro annual tuition fees which may not all be covered by scholarships. When you see the genuine angst on his face, you suddenly remember that the boy has only just celebrated his 15th birthday.

This well-meaning movie talks about the all boys prowess as dancers but sadly fails to show us much of them in action. And the narrative as cute as it is, lacks real substance to make it as compelling as it could have been. We should therefore at least be grateful for Lukas's success at the end, as without this the movie would have had no climax at all.

Having said that its a refreshing insight into ballet from a male perspective for a change, and even as lightweight as director Kenneth Elvebakk has made this profile, it is still difficult not to be charmed by these three young men and want them all to succeed and be happy too.

★★★★★★★