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Fred Wiseman's New Documentary of The Paris Opera Ballet


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PBS has posted a trailer:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/la-...w-the-film/988/

For his 38th film in a career spanning more than 40 years, master documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman turns his attention to one of the world’s greatest ballet companies, the Paris Opera Ballet. Observing daily classes, rehearsals, and performances, the camera roams the vast Palais Garnier opera house, the company’s opulent home: from its chandelier-laden corridors to its labyrinthine underground chambers, from its light-filled rehearsal studios to its luxurious theater replete with 2,200 scarlet velvet seats and Marc Chagall ceiling. La Danse – Le Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris devotes most of its time to watching young men and women — among them Nicolas Le Riche, Marie-Agnès Gillot, and Agnès Letestu — rehearsing and/or performing seven ballets, including: Genus by Wayne McGregor, Paquita by Pierre Lacotte, The Nutcracker by Rudolf Nureyev, Medea by Angelin Preljocaj, The House of Bernarda Alba by Mats Ek, Romeo and Juliet by Sasha Waltz, and Orpheus and Eurydyce by Pina Bausch. La Danse will air as part of THIRTEEN’S Great Performances series on PBS stations nationwide on June 16, 2010 at 9 p.m. (check local listings).
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Friendly Advice to folks planning to tape or DVD-record the show: Don't forget that it's a 3 HOUR film, so adjust your recording options accordingly to not be unpleasantly surprised with a DVD or tape of only the first two hours of the film.

By the way, the PBS website listing for this program cites that it can indeed be recorded and kept for up to one year, for educational viewing purposes.

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Thanks, all, for the information. For those in smaller markets, I suggest looking closely at the tv schedules. Of our two PBS stations, one is not carrying it. The other has it from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. -- technically the 17th. (Elvis Presley has the earlier slot.)

Don't forget to check this thread once you have it taped. Some of the posts are very helpful about who is doing and saying what, and when. Posts by silvermash, Dance Actress and Estelle were especially helpful in helping me figure out what was going on.

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So did anybody watch La Danse on PBS? What did you think? [Yes, I realize that many BalletTalkers saw the film earlier, in cinemas.]

I enjoyed it because I'm prettty familiar with the dancers, if not all of the ballets shown in rehearsal or performance. However, I think that Wiseman's earlier ballet-themed work (on ABT) was more entertaining and "rolled" better. My husband is a 'moderate' ballet fan and found it to be rather dull. My mom -- a huge POB fan -- stayed with it a bit longer than did hubby, but she gave up five minutes into the l-o-n-g MEDEA clip (somewhere past the halfway mark).

What I absolutely LOVED about La Danse were the candid comments among Pierre Lacotte and his wife & co-stager, Ghislaine Thesmar. I bet that they forgot that the cameras were rolling and that there was a open microphone. Ditto the stage rehearsal of Lacotte's Paquita, when a choryphee who I did not recognize was attempting a solo from the Act I Pas de Trois; Lacotte or some other man made some rather catty-nasty comments...then praised the male soloist (Heymann, I think) who immediately followed the maligned female.

NICE BONUS - The final 30 minutes of the 3-hr PBS presentation was a fascinating film about the history of NYC's 92nd Street "Y" -- also known as the Harkness Dance Center.

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NICE BONUS - The final 30 minutes of the 3-hr PBS presentation was a fascinating film about the history of NYC's 92nd Street "Y" -- also known as the Harkness Dance Center.
This is all I've had time to watch so far (after checking to make sure I had actually gotten Wiseman on my tape, and not reruns of gardening shows or something like that).

Among the people who appear are Carmen de Lavallade, David Parsons, and Doug Varone, as well as (this is for miliosr) Carla Maxwell, A.D. of the Limon Company. There are a few video clips from Y performances, the most interesting of which (for me) was de Lavallade dancing Georffrey Holder's "Songs of the Auvergne" in 1974, a performance I actually saw around that time. :blink:

I'm looking forward to re-watching the Wiseman film -- and to reading what people have to say about it, either those who are seeing it for the second time or those who are new to it.

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Just quick notes until I can write more...

RE: the dancing: I just tried to follow the previous comments of BT'ers of who was who and what was what, and kept my own thoughts about technique. But I did notice that battu sequence everyone mentioned. And also paid attention to Jose Martinez when I could recognize him, for other reasons as well. ( I also tried to spot our local symphony orchestra conductor, Kevin Rhodes, who is the conductor for the POB, was present at some of the filming, and is much esteemed there from what I've heard.)

I was glad to see Wiseman (or his cameraperson?) use handheld and many of the same angles I did to film. So problems I was worried would be noticeable, I did notice he had too, but they did not distract from the action, and my attention. Phew! :sweatingbullets:

Also noticed in the long sequence from Medea?--(I assume so because of the blood and children etc.), the camera stayed in a medium-shot/CU throughout most of it, rather than the usual FS or wider shots used previously in other dance segments.

Though always fascinated, by the agility and precision of the dancers, the more modern pieces definately got rather repetitive and boring for me. I liked the pdd of (McGregor's?) piece, but the rest looked too much like a combo of Forsythe and Elo to me. I also longed for pointe shoes after so many bare feet.

I danced Paquita (who doesn't?) a very long time ago--and probably not a complete version, so because I don't remember as much as I should, this was nice to see in rehearsal and performance at POB.

The two funniest moments for me were (1) my mother's comments that these 'modern' (her term) choreographers were too 'full of themselves interrupting movements to go on and on about the deep meaning behind each little movement when the dancing--(ie. choreography)--didn't show any of that.' (It reminded me of a favorite cartoon I have of an art teacher droning on about the 'major emotion & angst' expressed in an abstract painting, that turned out to be titled: Pink Snow Bunny.) And (2) when mother also said, "the mind was willing but the body weak", and decided to give up and go to sleep since she had already dozed off during most of the modern dance sequences. (Mother also commented 'your film will work better because it has a story'--ie. story arc. But of course she is biased, and doesn't know that that is not usually the point of a Wiseman film.)

Interesting the repetition of static shots of stairways and halls. I was trying to see if it was because of changes in lighting as the day progressed, or in order to separate different sequences or themes of action? Also interesting to start the film with shots of the basements and mechanics rather than the 'beauty shots' of dancers or golden architecture, to really show this is a 'down & dirty', truly behind-the-scenes view of the POB)

Liked the ext. high angle wide-shots of Paris and the sunrise/sets of course.

And there was one sequence I loved the nat sound,(can't remember exactly where) --but again was glad I had thought to do similar when filming.

That's all for now, may add more later.

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Saw this for the first time on PBS. Disappointing. The Wiseman gimmick of providing no context and no identification of what and who we're watching makes for intermittently tedious viewing in this instance, particularly over the three hour stretch. At least a half hour could have been cut with no loss. I probably could have survived watching it in a theater but I'm now not unhappy that I waited. Must see viewing for any ballet fan for the reasons already presented by many of the posters in this long thread, but it could have been better. I fear I nodded off over the last hour and will have to try to catch that on DVD or a repeat. It's very nice that the film has been as widely distributed and favorably reviewed as it has been, Wiseman certainly deserves it at this point in his career.

Mother also commented 'your film will work better because it has a story'--ie. story arc. But of course she is biased, and doesn't know that that is not usually the point of a Wiseman film.)

I think your mother is a good critic. Wiseman's movies didn't always go on for hours and his approach doesn't always work. The rehearsal sequences would have gained in effect if we knew a little backstory - is this X's first time in the role? Is Z a last minute replacement? What exactly did Lacotte mean when he mentioned Suzanne Farrell's flaws? We can hazard a guess, but with no follow up it's just a passing remark.

A lot of the dance excerpts didn't do much to compensate, especially the Buckets O' Blood Medea.

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Was anyone else fascinated by the lovely woman in the costume shop? She was only in a few short scenes but I loved watching her face as she went about her work, humming to herself. She looked like someone who has an active inner monologue going on.

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Saw this for the first time on PBS. Disappointing. The Wiseman gimmick of providing no context and no identification of what and who we're watching makes for intermittently tedious viewing in this instance, particularly over the three hour stretch. At least a half hour could have been cut with no loss. I probably could have survived watching it in a theater but I'm now not unhappy that I waited. Must see viewing for any ballet fan for the reasons already presented by many of the posters in this long thread, but it could have been better. I fear I nodded off over the last hour and will have to try to catch that on DVD or a repeat. It's very nice that the film has been as widely distributed and favorably reviewed as it has been, Wiseman certainly deserves it at this point in his career.
Mother also commented 'your film will work better because it has a story'--ie. story arc. But of course she is biased, and doesn't know that that is not usually the point of a Wiseman film.)

I think your mother is a good critic. Wiseman's movies didn't always go on for hours and his approach doesn't always work. The rehearsal sequences would have gained in effect if we knew a little backstory - is this X's first time in the role? Is Z a last minute replacement? What exactly did Lacotte mean when he mentioned Suzanne Farrell's flaws? We can hazard a guess, but with no follow up it's just a passing remark.

A lot of the dance excerpts didn't do much to compensate, especially the Buckets O' Blood Medea.

We probably won't get it, but it would be exceptional if Wiseman (or someone connected) would do a secondary audio track for the disc release...

btw, the only case where I've seen a secondary audio track with running commentary has been John Neumeier's ILLUSIONS OF SWAN LAKE. Are there any others?

-goro-

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A lot of the dance excerpts didn't do much to compensate, especially the Buckets O' Blood Medea.

I thought this was excellent, brutal but went all the way--the buckets on the kids heads stupendously imaginative. I think that's a hallmark of POB--even though they do rather tedious things like 'Caligula'--to go all the way, they're so thorough yet noble, and that's one of the reasons why they're my favourite company. I'm praying they'll do that 'Wuthering Heights' here--the clip they used to have on the site was sublime. I also liked that pdd, is that the modern R & J? but with effective marriage of choreography and music at certain points--it's been a few months, Aurelie is in that one--there's one startling opened-up moment, almost orgasmic, when the music literally seems to deliver the dancer or vice-versa, it may have been on a big brass note, trombone or tuba.

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Found this waiting for me in the TiVo this weekend, seems like ballet hasn't been on Great Performances much in the past few years, I have an auto-record for anything with ballet in the description... this basically results is a couple bad TV movies and children programing :( Anyway! I was taken by the intimacy this approach gave, unfortunately my mind did wander during the extended modern/contemporary type performances that I just don't "get". A view on the administrative side was very interesting, from what we saw it seems to be run quite well indeed! Watching the choreographic process is always engaging and sometimes can provide at least some insight as to what all I'm supposed to be understanding that invariably I would miss otherwise.

I watched it all again after reading this thread so I could keep track a little better who was rehearsing what, things that ended up in performance.. I think there is great value in taking it all in without tracking everything - as an experience, but I needed another viewing to really make the connection of the evolution of rehearsal to performance (on my little TV and not being familiar with POB dancers, everyone looks about the same to me) and let's face it, I wanted to see again some selections of quite exquisite technique. :)

The Medea piece when it got to the part to the children I found quite shocking and moving, but as it slowly moved on, the moment was lost to me. I enjoyed the selections from Paquita, appreciated the lovely corps work which I often miss when trying to divide my attention.

And thank you Paul for pointing out Ms. Thesmar's La Sylphide, I have that tape and something always struck me about it. A light and supple quality to the petit allegro, the style and execution hit my sweet spot for sure. :crying:

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Also noticed in the long sequence from Medea?--(I assume so because of the blood and children etc.), the camera stayed in a medium-shot/CU throughout most of it, rather than the usual FS or wider shots used previously in other dance segments.

I'm interested in your analysis... did this seem shot to encourage the moment to be uncomfortable?

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btw, the only case where I've seen a secondary audio track with running commentary has been John Neumeier's ILLUSIONS OF SWAN LAKE. Are there any others?

-goro-

In one of the recent box sets of Astaire/Rogers films, critic John Mueller narrates several of the dance numbers, discussing the structure of the choreography and relating it to other works (I'm sorry but I cannot remember which film this is, and I've lent my copy out to a friend)

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Also noticed in the long sequence from Medea?--(I assume so because of the blood and children etc.), the camera stayed in a medium-shot/CU throughout most of it, rather than the usual FS or wider shots used previously in other dance segments.

I'm interested in your analysis... did this seem shot to encourage the moment to be uncomfortable?

Working from memory now, but I don't know if it was uncomfortable to me because I wanted to see a FS (so I could see the dancer/choreography) or because I understood what was going to happen plotwise, and was internally wincing. The use of a CU, of course, was probably to pull us into the scene to better see the acting and action--ie. to make it more 'visceral' and subjective, than distant/removed and objective. I also noted it was mostly shot on diagonal. (I did think the buckets were a very interesting prop effect to indicate a disembodied death--kind of like the back scrim descending in C. Wheeldon's VIII to indicate Anne Boleyn's fate.) On the second late-night viewing, I immediately recognized and better understood the 'choreography' of that scene when viewing the previous solo rehearsal.

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" The contempory works in addition to Medea which was rather extensively used were Genue

and another which I am not sure of it' title, it involved women in long black dresses and an oblong table. A lot of thumping and shouting by a male lead and the women. You may reconise it, but sorry I did not."

Thank you for this. I also enjoyed the film enormously. As for the work you weren't able to identify, I believe it was Mats Ek's House of Bernarda Alba. I have to add that I found it a pity that Wiseman felt he didn't need to provide captions identifying the main dancers and choreographers. Of course he wouldn't have been able to identify everyone, but maybe the main dancers could have been identified the first time that they appeared? He said that he did not do this as he felt that people who knew the company wouldn't need the captions and that the rest of his audiences wouldn't need to identify the dancers. To be fair, he also said that he felt that captions would spoil the aesthetic effect of the film but I do wish he had found some way of getting around this problem as, for many of us, it would have added to the interest of an already fascinating film.

ps I hope you don't mind if I point out a typo. The McGregor work was Genus.

I agree with you, Bella 12, that it would have been most helpful if many of the people and the works shown had been identified with captions, if only once. It's true that people who know the company well don't need them but I think Wiseman is mistaken to say that the rest of his audience - a substantial portion, one would imagine - wouldn't need or appreciate the help. The occasional caption would be no more detrimental to the aesthetic effect of the movie than subtitles. (And a few transitional titles might have been advantageously substituted for repetitive shots of hallways, postcard views of the building and the city, etc.)

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"I can't believe I ate the whole thing!" ...or watched the whole thing, but I did. Not because I wasn't bored, because I was earlier, but because it seemed to get less boring later; we seemed to see more dance, finally, although rarely any from the front, where it's directed toward. Usually find diagonal and side shots and shots from rear less involving. Like it better when it hits me right between the eyes, instead of going "over there" somewhere. (Dancers may not see dance this way so much. I wonder. But this film is not for dancers, specifically...)

While I was glad for the evidence of deep seriousness and involvement of the whole institution, I rarely felt about the backstage stuff that I was getting something I didn't already know. Of course, some one new to ballet would, and ought to be impressed, and moved, even.

Some interesting remarks were dropped along the way, like the students' not showing up for modern classes as much as for academic? And LaCotte's crack about Farrell's flaws becoming everyone's virtues or something to me meant either that he was way behind -- during her first tenure with NYCB Balanchine was supposed to have tried to get everybody to dance like her -- or that LaCotte's another of the school of thought that believes Balanchine didn't know how his ballets should be danced, because everything should be danced one way, in LaCotte's case, their way, POB's way. (Would anyone like to shoot this down? Do they take care to shift gears and adapt to different ways appropriate to different periods, say? I'm not thinking of the contemporary material outside what I'm taking to be the academic vocabulary. I don't know POB.)

I too was disappointed that we got so much contemporary material; is that really what POB mostly does in the theater these years? Don't know POB. (I meant, I thought I shared some the preferences of the young students there, not necessarily the posters here. Young idealists? Wanting classic purity? Does that mean I should grow up? I'm already 72, I don't have time left...)

What was more classical was mostly Nutcracker, maybe because it was that time of year. Didn't think it was musically perceptive, compared to my perennial fave (a certain B.); interested to see on a theater poster it was Nureyev's. Better than Joffrey's though, must say, more musically perceptive. But liked the dancing of it. If there were any instant when I was not impressed and taken with the clarity and precision and fullness of the dancers' movement, I don't remember it.

Well, more initial impressions than I thought I would post, based on watching the PBS broadcast three days ago. I will try a second look. Thanks to bart for mentioning the posts here I can use as a guide, and of course thanks in advance to those posters especially.

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There's a long and interesting review by Daniel Jacobson in the latest issue of Ballet Review, which just arrived in my mailbox. (Spring 2010).

Like the rest of us, Jacobson has his favorites. They include the "Paquita" excerpts, which all of us seem to have loved.

For those splendid moments alone, it is worth sitting through the nearly three hours of this often fascinating, but sometimes maddening and stultifying film.

I just finished my second viewing. I've revised a couple of my earlier impressions. I like the Sasha Waltz "Romeo and Juliet" balcony pas de deux a good deal less than before. Dupont, wearing an unflattering house dress, seems poorly cast. There is little romantic or, indeed, human connection between her and Herve Moreau. For me at least, they are never more than dancers doing the paltry and random steps the choreographer has given them to do.

On the other hand, I am now in a minority in finding that the clips from McGregor's "Genus" make me wish for a chance to look closely at the entire work. The pdd between Letestu and Ganio was only so-so. But Ganio's and Gilot's solos had a very real energy and visual power.

(Why is it that so much contemporary choreography works better with isolated individuals -- solitary planets moving in space -- than with couples or groups?)

Based on the performance of Delphine Moussin, I think I would also like to see the entire "Songe de Medee." I should mention that Jacobson hated this:

For me at least, the ballet is what W.H. Auden would have called a "hideola," a brutal expressionist nightmare relying heavilly on shocking and angsty images to make a vivide effect ...
I can understand why Jacobson feels this way. But I have no problem with well executed expressionism. The character of Medea seem to demand it.

Moussin's performance -- a strange, intense, and seductive pdd with Jason (Wilfred Romoli); and the "buckets-of-blood" scene in which she kills her children and then must react to the immendisty of what she has done -- is deeply moving, almost hynotically so.

It is also one of the few instances in the film in which we get to see just how amazing a dancer's transformation can be between coaching session and stage performance.

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I watched it all again after reading this thread so I could keep track a little better who was rehearsing what, things that ended up in performance.. I think there is great value in taking it all in without tracking everything - as an experience, but I needed another viewing to really make the connection of the evolution of rehearsal to performance (on my little TV and not being familiar with POB dancers, everyone looks about the same to me) and let's face it, I wanted to see again some selections of quite exquisite technique. :)

For those people who want to own "La Danse" it will be available on DVD starting July 12th,2010 from Wiseman's website, zipporah.com. Later in July, the website states that a blue ray option will be available. Zipporah.com is the only place to buy Wiseman documentaries, since he doesn't make them available through commercial sites like Amazon.com. While checking out "La Danse" , balletomanes might also look for "Ballet", the documentary on ABT that was filmed around 1990-19991. To my mind, this is an even better documentary than "La Danse" and contains the only filmed version of Ferri and Bocca dancing Macmillan's Romeo and Juliet bedroom scene.

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