"La Danse" - If You Dance and Love Ballet

"La Danse" - Le ballet de l'Opera de Paris is aTimes-Picayune. Hah - dance fans are not fidgety!
wonderful dance film. By Frederick Wiseman, it givesYou'll get an ongoing and interspersed revelation into
you the role of a fly on the wall. I saw it with a friend, athe rehearsals of "Medea". During the two and a half
real estate mogul, who is also a doll house maker andhours, between the studio rehearsals and stage
a seamstress. She said afterwards "I want to runrehearsals, I wondered what the buckets across the
away and join le ballet! In the wardrobe department!"back of the stage were for. Duh - uh. Oh, Medea,
Tutus galore, masks, wigs, and more...I can see her inevery mother's worst sacrifice. If you are not familiar
Paris.with the Medea story, you may want to look it up
Oh....the wide shots of Paris..... wonderfulbefore going to this ballet.
cinematography.You'll see rehearsals with le corps de ballet, and with
Shots from the roof - where beehives are harvested -soloists/principals. You'll see the dyeing of shoes, the
shots below with water filled causeways - the realsewing of crystals on tutus and the dyeing of costume
Phantom of the Opera location -fabric.
And then there's the dance! La Danse, le ballet....You'll see it all! is where you can read about Brigitte
Rehearsals, performance, moderne, classique - officeLefevre, the current Director of Dance at the Paris
meetings, union meeting, you are a fly on the wall......National Opera.
"Also, at two and a half hours, it's not a film for theIf you love dance, you'll love this movie.
fidgety." reviews Mike Scott, of the The