BALLETS RUSSES
Directors: Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine Documentary
Reviewed by GREG KING
This fascinating and carefully researched documentary tracks the rise and fall and fluctuating fortunes of the Ballets Russes, the premier ballet company in the world in the middle part of the 20th century.
This famous dance troupe featured the likes of Nijinksky, and even tv’s future Batgirl Yvonne Craig. The company was formed in 1909 under the leadership of the famed Russian ballet master Diaghilev, who was its guiding force until his death in 1929. Comprising many Russian-born dancers who never actually danced in Russia, the company was made up largely of refugees who fled the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and found a safe haven in Paris. A rival company was formed in Monte Carlo in 1931.
These two distinct companies performed under the same umbrella, although a great rivalry existed between the two principal choreographers George Balanchine and Leonard Massine. During World War II, the two companies found themselves stranded in the US, and many of the dancers went on to make Hollywood musicals and tour extensively through South America. But in the 1950’s and ‘60’s the companies fell apart due to internecine struggles and backstage intrigues.
Ballets Russes is clearly a labour of love for noted film makers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine (Isador Duncan: Movement From The Soul, etc), who have collaborated together on a number of Emmy-award winning documentaries over a sixteen year period. The pair accessed some remarkable archival footage that brings to life the history of both modern ballet and this famous company. However, they deliberately steer away from openly exploring scandals and controversy, preferring to give a wonderful overview of its history.
Ballets Russes becomes something of a cultural and social documentary of 20th century history. The filmmakers use carefully sourced archival footage, as well as candid interviews with many of the surviving members, to flesh out this wonderful tale of the behind-the-scenes clash of egos, politics, and passion. The film uses as its starting point a reunion of the surviving members of the various incarnations held in New Orleans in 2000. Some of these former dancers, now well into their ‘80’s and ‘90’s, are sprightly and remarkably articulate, and make for fascinating subjects with revealing and very amusing anecdotes.
This painstakingly researched and lovingly made documentary will mainly appeal to those with a passion for and knowledge of dance and theatre. However, Ballets Russes is hugely entertaining and accessible enough that it will also appeal to even those with little interest in ballet.
***
Reviewed by PETER MALONE
This documentary is a model for its blend of a complex and intricate story and its clarity of telling the story. It is always interesting and entertaining. Those who have little knowledge of the ballet – or even interest in the ballet – will probably be absorbed.
The directors had a strong reputation, with awards, for their documentaries. For this history of the Ballets Russes, they went to archives as well as individuals (through internet search) and discovered a great deal of 16mm footage from the 1920s and 1930s, including much material from the ballet tours in Australia in the 1930s. This material has now been catalogued for museums and provides a visual history of this chapter of ballet history.
The directors also tracked down many of the dancers from the 1930s. The fact that so many of them were still alive and so lively and articulate, in their 80s and 90s, is a strong indication that ballet is good for physical and mental health. Many of them were still teaching and acting as consultants. The makers then decided to follow them to New Orleans in 2000 where a reunion of members of the ballets provided the occasion for interviews and candid shots of elderly artists reminiscing.
And the Ballets Russes? You would need to see the film to clarify just who these ballet companies were. They derive from Diaghilev’s company in Paris in the second decade of the twentieth century and into the 1920s, Diaghilev dying in 1929. Entrepreneurs resuscitated the Ballet Russe in 1931 in Monte Carlo and this company and the splinter and rival companies danced for the next thirty years.
The voiceover and commentary, spoken by Marian Seldes, is both benign and discreet, alluding to egos and clashes, hinting at the divisions and fights, issues of money and contracts rather than offering a scandal expose. We see the clashes between dancer-choreographer, Leonid Massine, and Colonel de Basil and the formation of two companies. We see US entrepreneur, Sol Hurok, playing one against the other as well as employing both and George Balanchine’s years of success.
What complicated matters, besides the egos and power-control involved, is the social history of the times. Initially, the talent came from Russian émigrés after the 1917 revolution and finding Paris their haven. World War II hindered development (especially after their great success in London and on tour) and the companies found themselves stranded in the US and touring extensively during those years, taking part in Hollywood movies or travelling in Latin America. We see the first Native American ballerinas, the repercussions of racism in the American south of the 1960s on a black ballerina. This continued background makes the ballet story an engrossing document of 20th century cultural history.
The old dancers are vivid personalities, loved their dance and their lives – and make great raconteurs, especially Frederic Franklin, the male lead for twenty years who, at 90, still has all his wits and witticisms.