I'm back from my week-long trip to VA (where I had a wonderful time). Now to hit the flute/picc Nutcracker parts for the Franklin performances the first weekend of Dec. (And which, come to think of it makes at least part of this video entirely à propos). 😃
Review: ‘Rebels on Pointe,’ and in Tutus
On days when it seems there isn’t too much to smile about, grab a glass of wine and watch “Rebels on Pointe,” Bobbi Jo Hart’s playful documentary about the all-male comedy dance troupe, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo.
The cinematography isn’t the greatest, and the structure is hit or
miss, but so what? In a movie this good natured, the heart is
everything.
The
performances are hilarious, but the dancing is no joke. As Gia Kourlas,
a dance critic for The New York Times, points out, it takes
exceptionally strong technique to merge classical choreography and
comedy. Achieving what James Whiteside, a principal dancer for American
Ballet Theater, calls “a balance between high art and clever camp”
requires endless rehearsal and often physical therapy. Hoisting a
150-lb. man aloft is not for the weak-kneed.
Born from the dust of the Stonewall riots in the 1970s (the name is a homage to the legendary Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo),
the company was initially blackballed by financiers and quickly learned
to survive on a budget. Leading us lightly through that history, the
artistic director and the movie’s unofficial narrator, Tory Dobrin,
describes the devastation of AIDS and the relief of creating a space
where dancers could forge their own identities. Giving the middle finger
to classical ballet was just gravy.
Filming
for four years, Ms. Hart follows a handful of touching individual
stories and takes us on the road (the Trocks, as they are known, are
rock stars in Japan), a punishing travel schedule that gobbles up more
than two-thirds of the year. Oxygenating almost every scene, though, is
the men’s delight in being liberated from the gender restrictions of
traditional ballet — a freedom that allows them to create art that’s
uniquely their own.
No comments:
Post a Comment