Author(s): VARIOUS

Music and Film

In one of the striking opening scenes of La Dance, Frederick Wiseman s study of the Paris Opera Ballet, we see the corps de ballet collapsed to the floor like a field of crumpled flowers. When they rise, its to commentary. In this huge company, with its own school, seven different ballets are in preparation, and choreographers rule. The film pulses to their interaction with the dancers not until the end do we see the dancers soar over the footlights. The choreographers are a diverse lot, and so is their way of working. One, Anjelin Prelocaj, is as graceful as some of the soloists he works with. When he corrects a move, he demonstrates, and its immediately clear. He s working on a version of Medea with the soloist Emilie Cosette. Strikingly tall, with a body she employs with brilliant fluidity, she is wondering about how her character unfolds.