Ballet Russes
Ballet Russes Filmmakers, Dan Geller & Dayna GoldfineUnearthing a treasure trove of archival footage, Emmy-Award winning filmmakers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine have fashioned a dazzlingly entrancing ode to the revolutionary twentieth-century dance troupe known as The Ballets Russes.
Ballet Russes was first aired at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival and drew critical acclaim for its multi-character documentary narrative and became a sure fire hit, not only among dance fans, but with a wider audience.
Asked about their motivation in making the film Dan Geller said, "Our producers came to us with the idea of filming what they described as a once-in-a-lifetime event. The event was the first ever official reunion of Ballets Russes dancers."
"At the time, neither of us knew very much about ballet, but we were intrigued for a number of other reasons. Our last three documentaries had been about groups of young people in their teens and early 20s, and we were excited by the opportunity to make a film about people at the opposite end of the age spectrum," added Dayna Goldfine, "and we were taken with the thought of spending time with a group of people who had lived their lives so fully in the arts-many of the Ballets Russes dancers were still actively engaged in the art of dance well into their 70s, 80s and even 90s!"
The film maps the company's beginnings in turn of the century Paris-when artists such as Nijinsky, Balanchine, Picasso, Miro, Matisse, and Stravinsky united in an unparalleled collaboration-to its halcyon days of the 1930s and '40s, when the Ballets Russes toured America, astonishing audiences schooled in vaudeville with artistry never before seen, to its demise in the 1950s and '60s when rising costs, rocketing egos, outside competition, and internal mismanagement ultimately brought this revered company to its knees.
"The Ballets Russes dancers, themselves, came up with some extraordinary footage," says Dayna. "Miguel Terekhov gave us his 8mm footage, which captured the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo's bus tours of the 1950s and Mia Slavenska contributed several hours worth of 16mm performance and backstage footage shot by her husband in the 1940s and '50s."
Combining this archival footage, over 400 archival stills and interviews with the surviving stars the film makers have come up with a movie that braids the characters' individual personal stories together forming a larger portrait of the human experience making a documentary that operates at both an emotional and an intellectual level; a movie that will appeal not only to dance lovers, but to a broad general audience.
Ballet Russes plays at the Film Club at Siamsa Tire in association with Samhlaiocht on Sunday night, February 11th, at 8:00 pm.
Ballet Russes was first aired at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival and drew critical acclaim for its multi-character documentary narrative and became a sure fire hit, not only among dance fans, but with a wider audience.
Asked about their motivation in making the film Dan Geller said, "Our producers came to us with the idea of filming what they described as a once-in-a-lifetime event. The event was the first ever official reunion of Ballets Russes dancers."
"At the time, neither of us knew very much about ballet, but we were intrigued for a number of other reasons. Our last three documentaries had been about groups of young people in their teens and early 20s, and we were excited by the opportunity to make a film about people at the opposite end of the age spectrum," added Dayna Goldfine, "and we were taken with the thought of spending time with a group of people who had lived their lives so fully in the arts-many of the Ballets Russes dancers were still actively engaged in the art of dance well into their 70s, 80s and even 90s!"
The film maps the company's beginnings in turn of the century Paris-when artists such as Nijinsky, Balanchine, Picasso, Miro, Matisse, and Stravinsky united in an unparalleled collaboration-to its halcyon days of the 1930s and '40s, when the Ballets Russes toured America, astonishing audiences schooled in vaudeville with artistry never before seen, to its demise in the 1950s and '60s when rising costs, rocketing egos, outside competition, and internal mismanagement ultimately brought this revered company to its knees.
"The Ballets Russes dancers, themselves, came up with some extraordinary footage," says Dayna. "Miguel Terekhov gave us his 8mm footage, which captured the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo's bus tours of the 1950s and Mia Slavenska contributed several hours worth of 16mm performance and backstage footage shot by her husband in the 1940s and '50s."
Combining this archival footage, over 400 archival stills and interviews with the surviving stars the film makers have come up with a movie that braids the characters' individual personal stories together forming a larger portrait of the human experience making a documentary that operates at both an emotional and an intellectual level; a movie that will appeal not only to dance lovers, but to a broad general audience.
Ballet Russes plays at the Film Club at Siamsa Tire in association with Samhlaiocht on Sunday night, February 11th, at 8:00 pm.
For more information on the film please log onto http://www.balletsrussesmovie.com/
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