Dance

Earlier this year TO’s film section gave the cinema release of ‘Ballets Russes’ five stars. Now fans of the film have the DVD to look forward to. It comes complete with a cornucopia of bonus tracks – more than an hour’s worth. This marvellous documentary is the work of the award-winning team of Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller. ‘We really wanted to do right by history,’ says Geller from the couple’s San Francisco home. ‘At the same time we wanted a movie that was fun and entertaining.’

It all began with a reunion of octogenarian dancers, many of whom hadn’t seen one another in 50 years. They’re great characters, eccentric and funny, bursting with energy. All of them are still passionate about dance and about life; none of them is your typical old-age pensioner.

The reunion took place in 2000; the directors ended up spending the next five years following the dancers. Through interviews, augmented by historic clips, we discover the fascinating story of two rival ballet companies –
consisting mostly of ex-patriate Russians. Stranded in the USA by WWII, they spent the 1940s trouping back and forth across America on endless one-night stands, introducing ballet to an often uncomprehending public.

Exotic and glamorous on the stage, these companies and their dancers were in fact often operating on a shoestring, sleeping on trains, doubling up in hotel rooms, working the kinds of hours that would be unthinkable today.

But, as these dancers tell it, it was a fantastic adventure, and many of their anecdotes are laugh-out-loud hilarious.