Documentary film “Dance!” released in Russian distribution

The TheatreHD project is showing the documentary film “Dance!” in domestic cinemas: director Henrike Sandner, using the example of four ballerinas and dancers, explores that fateful age limit after which artists have to leave the profession. Tells Tatiana Kuznetsova.

Ballet is for the young. Henrike Sandner either tries or doesn’t try to challenge this maxim by choosing the heroes of his film “Dance!” three leaders of the largest companies – Polina Semionova, Friedemann Vogel and William Moore, adding to them the ordinary dancer Gesine Moog from the Dance troupe, which gave the name to the entire project. The director’s intentions are not obvious: there is no author’s commentary in the film, the dramaturgy is amorphous, and the visuals are based on the principle of contrast: pictures of behind the scenes and hard rehearsal work are interspersed with performances on stage. In between, the characters reflect on a given topic: about dance and their age. They think approximately the same way: dance is the main means of self-realization; they cannot imagine any other profession. Everyone’s situation is different.

For example, the 43-year-old (at the time of filming) principal of the Stuttgart Ballet Friedemann Vogel demonstrates such bodily perfection and such exemplary form that even 25-year-olds will envy. It is clear that he will not give up dancing, at least until he is offered to become the director of a serious troupe. Zurich Ballet premier William Moore is years younger than Vogel, but his body is unyielding, and the artist has been plagued by injuries since his youth; he has been dancing under painkillers for the last ten years, so the decision to retire is an urgent necessity for this fanatic. Former Muscovite, 37-year-old prima of the Berlin “Staatsoper” Polina Semionova appears in the film in the role of Aurora, which is not winning for her (height is 177 cm, long muscular legs, broad shoulders, sharp features of a thin face – what a 16-year-old princess here). The smart ballerina herself admits that she doesn’t feel quite at home in the old classics. However, she is in excellent shape, dances impeccably and in a repertoire suitable for her (say, in the recent premiere of Forsythe) has no equal in this troupe. It is obvious that her upcoming departure from the stage will not be stressful for her: a happy wife and mother, she is already a professor at the Berlin Ballet School. With modern dance that promotes tolerance, it’s even simpler: in the right place you can dance until you are very old. 46-year-old Gesina Moog was lucky enough to find such a troupe after retiring from the Kullberg Ballet: the company’s choreographer for those over 40 is sure that audiences want to see their own kind on stage, and therefore brings together teenagers and elders on stage, offering They have the same movements and similar emotions. The plump Gesine gives herself over to the dance with a somewhat comical passion. And in the interview he beams with contentment, sincerely believing in the significance of his activities, although their therapeutic aspect clearly exceeds the artistic effect.

The vagueness of the director’s concept is aggravated by the mosaic composition of the film. The camera follows Polina Semionova as she goes to put on her makeup before the rehearsal of The Sleeping Beauty. He looks into the rehearsal of the Berlin dance troupe, where Gesine Moog is thoughtfully stretching her stubborn legs. He admires how flawlessly Friedemann Vogel does exercise. Infiltrates William Moore’s torturous massage session. The neophyte director’s delight in the exoticism of the ballet profession, in the contrast of the hard labor behind the scenes and the brilliance of the stage result, finally displaces the problems of retirement adaptation.

Meanwhile, in Europe they are solved at the state level, providing (and paying for) a variety of retraining courses for older dancers. But the film is about those who will never stop dancing, be it 85-year-old Marcia Heide, who passes on her dance experience to Polina with all possible liveliness, or Jiri Kylian, who was the first to create a separate troupe for NDT pensioners (NDT-III). Fragments from the NDT-III performances stand out against the background of the banality of other ballet episodes. Kilian not only talks about the unique experience of older dancers and their acting talent, which only blossoms over the years, but also shows how it all works on stage. True, one must have a Kilian genius to create a repertoire for pensioners in which they will be unsurpassed.

But this is for a whole troupe, and for outstanding individual artists who retain amazing creative youth, there are no such obstacles. Let’s remember Galina Ulanova, who amazed London with her 46-year-old Juliet; Maya Plisetskaya, who received her main role in life – Carmen – only at 42 years old; the unique Anyuta of 47-year-old Ekaterina Maksimova. All these ballets were created by choreographers of different talents, but for exceptional ballerinas. Among the heroes of “Dance!” There are no such unique artists, and therefore his simple message is simple: dance while you can and want to. While they give you the opportunity to dance.