Movies
'Balanchine on Film' offers rare chance to see dancers of various eras

By Moira Macdonald
Seattle Times movie critic

	FRED FEHL Jacques d'Amboise, left, Francia Russell, Diana Adams and Jillana in "Apollo," part of PNB's "Balanchine on Film" series.
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"How you dance is who you are," says former New York City Ballet prima ballerina Suzanne Farrell, in her soft, precise voice, in the documentary "Balanchine Lives!" She's quietly hit on one of the reasons ballet on film can be so compelling: the capture of a fleeting performance, and of the unique qualities of dancers who can take a role and, within its prescribed steps, make it their own.

And, starting Tuesday, Pacific Northwest Ballet presents a rare opportunity to glimpse some legendary dances and dancers on screen — such as Farrell, Tanaquil LeClercq, Edward Villella, Jacques d'Amboise, Diana Adams, Arthur Mitchell, and many more. PNB's first film series, "Balanchine on Film," will screen on three subsequent Tuesdays in McCaw Hall's Nesholm Family Lecture Hall, in conjunction with the centennial celebration of choreographer George Balanchine. The Russian-born master, who died in 1983, revolutionized ballet in the 20th century, turning a traditionally European art into something energetic, wildly creative, and unmistakably American.

Among the films are rare archival footage of Balanchine ballets from the 1950s and '60s (performed by the company he co-founded, the New York City Ballet), a documentary about the preservation of Balanchine's works and a recent film of PNB's production of Balanchine's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," shot at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London. Doug Fullington, PNB lecturer and dance historian, will introduce the films (most of which will be shown on high-quality video) and host post-screening discussions with special guests.

	George Balanchine

Ballet, that most ethereal of arts, can be diminished on screen, with the camera's distance sometimes stripping the dance of its immediacy and breath. But a skilled cinematographer or a magical performer ("The Red Shoes," greatest of all ballet films, had both) can create a gift for future generations, letting a dancer's personal stamp on a role live on.

For example, PNB's Patricia Barker makes a regal, stately Titania in "Midsummer Night's Dream." Calm and lovely, Barker's perfect technique and deliberate quality lends a mature dignity to the character, even as she falls under an impish spell. Farrell — a legendary dancer in the '60s and '70s, with New York City Ballet — danced the role of Titania several decades ago in a filmed version of "Midsummer Night's Dream," excerpted in the documentary "Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse" (not shown in this series). Her enchanted fairy, though the steps are identical to Barker's, has a sweetly girlish, dainty way of moving; it's a lighter, slightly more comedic variation on a theme. Both interpretations are glorious; both, thankfully, are preserved.

Film series preview "Balanchine on Film," a film series presented by Pacific Northwest Ballet, 7:30 p.m. April 27, May 4 and May 11, Nesholm Family Lecture Hall in Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St., Seattle; $12 single tickets, $30 for three-film series (at the door, at the PNB box office, 206-441-2424 or www.pnb.org).

And a beautiful ghost from ballet's past will haunt the McCaw Hall screen. In a 1951 film of dances from Balanchine's brooding, dark dream-ballet, "La Valse," the camera at first can't find the wispy, white-clad ballerina at its center: Tanaquil LeClercq appeared to be in another world. A dancer with endless limbs and an unmistakable quality of abandon (when she tosses the hem of her tulle skirt into the air, you sense that she's leaving everything behind), LeClercq was one of Balanchine's great muses, but her career was cut tragically short when she was paralyzed by polio in 1956.

"La Valse," a formerly silent film whose music was re-created by PNB pianist Dianne Chilgren (who also re-recorded music for "La Source" and will be present for the screening of both films Tuesday), feels like watching a piece of history. Though it's grainy and a bit lined, the deteriorating images seem to suit this decadent ballet; it's as if LeClercq and partner Nicholas Magallanes are puppets pulled by divine strings.

LeClercq is also showcased in a rare 1956 film of Balanchine's rousing cowboy ballet, "Western Symphony," filmed in Paris during a NYCB tour. This was LeClercq's final performance on film, as she became ill shortly thereafter. Look carefully in the first-movement corps de ballet and find PNB co-artistic director Francia Russell, as an 18-year-old newcomer.

These early films make up the first series evening, followed on May 4 with a 1965 collection of New York City Ballet pas de deux filmed in 1965, with Balanchine providing commentary. Also showing that evening is "Balanchine Lives!," a 1997 documentary which follows a number of stagers of Balanchine's ballets — including Russell, Farrell and many others — through the process of re-creating. The film takes its audience into rehearsal studios around the world, as those who worked with Balanchine pass along his legacy to a new generation — "the holy assignment of remembering," as Russell describes it.

Finally, the series concludes May 11 with "Midsummer Night's Dream," just weeks before PNB concludes its season with a re-staging of that ballet, in early June. The film is only five years old, but already it's a PNB time capsule; preserving the work of dancers past (Julie Tobiason and Seth Belliston have both since left the company, but their wistful Hermia and soaring Puck remain) and present (Ariana Lallone's spiky grace as Hippolyta; Kaori Nakamura's glowing Butterfly).

And the film is especially moving for the glimpses of the children on stage, as tiny butterflies and fairies, tracing the steps created by an artist whose long life ended before theirs even began, making the simple movements their own. Throughout all the films in this series, there's a sense of history and legacy, with these rapturous-looking children — one of whom may grow up to be a Suzanne Farrell or a Francia Russell — as the latest living, breathing link.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com

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