After Diaghilev, a Deluge of Ballets Russes

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After Diaghilev, a Deluge of Ballets Russes

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• Publié par: igytogad
• Nombre de lectures: 80
• Langue: Français

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2005 FILM REVIEW After Diaghilev, a Deluge of Ballets Russes

By A.O. SCOTT

In 1929 Serge Diaghilev, whose name is pretty much synonymous with ballet impresario, died in Venice. His passing left a void not only at his famed company, the Ballets Russes, but also in the larger world of dance. The companies that tried to fill that void — and that spread midcentury balletomania toAustralia, South America and the United States — are the subject of “Ballets Russes,” a graceful and fascinating new docu- mentary by Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine. Like New York City pizzerias, the successor organizations laid claim to their predecessor’s august and com- mercially potent name: the first, run by thedancer and choreographer Leonide Massine, was known as the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. The sec- ond, overseen by Col. Wassily de Basil, called itself the Original Ballet Russe. They also competed for the allegiances of dancers and audiences, a struggle that gives this film’s histor- ical narrative an air of show business intrigue. And “Ballets Russes” does tell a marvelous story of midcentury show business, encompassing both the most exalted expressions of pure art and the sometimes grubby commerce that sus- tained it. The filmmakers, who spent years gathering rare clips and arti- facts, triumphantly demonstrate the almost magical power of archival doc- umentary. Dance is, axiomatically, the most ephemeral of art forms, expiring the moment it comes into being. But here it achieves at least a virtual immortality, as the remarkable accom- plishments of dancers, choreogra- phers, and costume and set designers come alive, briefly and sometimes blurrily, on the screen.

Frederic Franklin and Alexandra Danilova, in the late 1930's.

But the real life force pulsing through “Ballets Russes” — what makes it a delight even for a dance philistine like this critic — belongs to the veterans of the two companies. Many of these dancers were well into their 80’s when they were interviewed for the movie, and several have since died, but they remained spirited and active to the end. (Many still teach dance, and a few still dance onstage.) They speak in a variety of accents, Old World and New. The cadences of old Russia can be heard in the voice of Nathalie Krassovska, who manages to be regal and earthy . The Russianness of the ballets is also affirmed by two of the Monte Carlo company’s famous “baby ballerinas,”Tatiana Riabou- chinska and Irina Baronova. Recruited by Massine and George Balanchine in their early teens, the babies (Tamara Tourmanova was the third) created a

Ballets Russes Opens today in Manhattan Directed by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller; written by Mr. Geller, Ms. Goldfine, Gary Weimberg and Celeste Schaefer Snyder; nar- rated by Marian Seldes; director of photogra- phy, Mr. Geller; edited by Mr. Geller, Ms. Goldfine and Mr. Weimberg; music by Todd Boekelheide and David Conte; produced by Ms. Goldfine, Mr. Geller, Robert Hawk and Douglas Blair Turnbaugh; released by Zeitgeist Films. At the Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, west of Avenue of the Americas, South Village. Running time: 118 minutes. This film is not rated.

new ideal of slender, delicate feminin- ity for ballerinas. Hearing them reminisce, you can infer that their lives were not always easy, but toughness and resiliency are as much a part of their artistic identi- ties as delicacy and grace. Of course, not all of the dancers are women, and not all are Russian. Frederic Franklin, an English-man who was one of Massine’s principal dancers, is one of the major figures here, as is Maria Tallchief, one of five American Indian dancers recruited into the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and later prima balle- rina at Balanchine’s New York City Ballet. Balanchine himself casts an inter- esting shadow over “Ballets Russes,” appearing variously as protégé, col- laborator and rival. Mostly, though, the film is concerned with de Basil and Massine’s companies, which con- tended with war, each other and the caprices of backers, critics and audi- ences. There is something undeniably bittersweet in this chronicle of their various rises and falls. Mr. Geller and Ms. Goldfine, in putting together this impeccable memorial to a perishable art form, have also composed a mov- ing, invigorating elegy to the civiliza- tion that sustained it.