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Etoiles - Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet film
by Anjuli Bai |
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The setting for the presentation of the film was the plaza area outside the Art Museum, Balboa Park, San Diego, California. People sat in lawn chairs, or on blankets on the grass, around gentle fountains and lily ponds, on a lovely summer evening. The film was projected against the side of the building and proved to be a good innovation. Approximately 500 attended this free showing. Many came directly from viewing the exhibition of the Degas Bronzes presently at the museum. The film was done in 1999 by Nils Tavernier and delves beneath the ivory veneer of the ballet; its nuts and bolts, its flesh and sweat and its wear and tear. Many principal dancers, retired or still dancing, are interviewed. The film is in French, (except for Bejart who spoke in English), with English subtitles which sometimes fade to invisibility when set against a light background. I found myself frantically torn between trying to read while at the same time desperately wanting to keep my attention riveted on the dancing. A number of times the snippets of dancing are abortive, leaving one unhappily moving onto the next segment, appetite painfully teased. There are longer segments of "Swan Lake" and Bejart's "9th Symphony" (Beethoven), the latter certainly looked like a ballet I would enjoy seeing in its entirety. Those are the quasi-negatives. They are far overshadowed by the positives. The dancing, on stage, in rehearsal and in the classroom, is marvelous. The filmmaker has an unerring eye for framing indelible pictures: sweat on the delicate back of a swan, the tension in the wings, the devouring (a term one dancer aptly uses) love-hate relationship between the artists and the ballet. Their vulnerability is driven home: fear of failure, fear of accident, stage fright as well as their constant questioning, though they never deny it, of why this love? They are addicted and they know it. There is the poignancy of the dancers who are constant understudies. They take notes of choreographies and roles, they work and study, they come to class and rehearsal, they warm-up and get into makeup, but they don't often get to actually dance. One feels their commitment, sorrow and acceptance. Some unusual and memorable portions of the film show rows of silent long white tutus hanging in a half darkened costume room; the armor of the ballet dancers, waiting for the games to begin. During a rehearsal of "Swan Lake" when the corps de ballet is moving in a long sequence of bourrées, up and down, back and forth, the camera only shows the feet of the dancers. It's quite mesmerizing seeing all them moving in unison, so perfectly alike, and yet so individual. The dancers discuss how much they can allow "real life" to intrude. They know how isolated and insulated they are, and that eventually they will have to face the outside world with few bows in the quiver of experience to do that. Some have already tasted the everyday world through marriage and children. For some this has added depth, for others more stress. Many spoke of the loneliness of being part of a team. While the team provides support and camaraderie it also presents the nemesis of competition and ready replacement. It makes friendships difficult though many have been amongst the same people since childhood. The underpinning of this film is the acceptance by the dancers of their vulnerability and the all consuming nature of their chosen field for a few moments in the light on the stage.
I believe that anyone who loves the ballet will enjoy this film.
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