"Ballet" -- a 1995 American Ballet Theater Documentary

This is raw behind-the-scenes footage from "Ballet", a 1995 American Ballet Theater documentary directed by Frederick Weisman.  (The documentary itself is nearly four hours long; this is excerpts totaling about ninety minutes.)  The film gives a sense of what it's like to be part of a ballet company and school, and explores the lives of the dancers, choreographers, and other staff members of the company.  Wiseman's method was to shoot endless hours of film, and then take bits and pieces of what he had and splice them together. Some scenes last for 15 minutes, but some last for 15 seconds. There's really no plot. We walk with Wiseman into the rehearsal room, or the break room, or the business office, and we watch with him to see what happens next.

The footage features choreographers/ballet masters:  Agnes de Mille, Irina Kolpakova, David Richardson and Michael Somes; and principal dancers: Alessandra Ferri, Cynthia Harvey, Susan Jaffe, Christine Dunham, Julio Bocca and Wes Chapman.

The movie portrays rehearsals, choreography, performances, tired dancers resting, physical therapy sessions, business transactions, and other day-to-day life of the American Ballet Theatre.  Much of the footage dates from the 1992 season.

You'll also see appearances of Julie Kent, Julio Bocca, Angel Corella, Amanda McKerrow and others. Various ballet masters and choreographers also appear, including Kevin McKenzie, ABT's artistic director, Ulysses Dove and Natalia Makarova. I spotted David Howard, teaching class (in the beginning footage).  I was so amused watching the business transactions by then-director Jane Hermann -- she's wonderfully brutal on the phone, bolstered by her cigarettes and coffee!

Enjoy being a fly on the wall!