Ballerinas

There are two interesting documentaries on Netflix, interesting if you like ballet: Ballerina and The Dancer. Ballerina focuses on Russian ballerinas and follows several dancers as their careers advance. There is something about a Russian trained dancer, they are like feathers floating through life, their arms drift seamlessly, the epitome of pure grace in motion.  It appears as if they use their bodies effortlessly, but nothing could be further from the truth.

The Dancer focuses on one dancer as she trains relentlessly. The film vacillates between rehearsals and performances. We see our dancer endlessly repeating intricate moves wearing the ubiquitous tights, leg warmers and ballet slippers, then transitions to her stage performance in front of an adoring audience. One segment of the film focused on the making of toe slippers, a true art and one few could master. I was fascinated to watch the shoes  pounded, wrapped and baked. It is a whole new world, that of wrapping, then baking toe shoes.

What neither documentary depicted was the dark side of ballet. In a world that focuses on beauty, there is much that is not pretty.  (See Black Swan.)  Girls twist their bodies into inhuman postures, and there is a relentlessness to their rehearsing that is ruthless.Their muscles ache, they push themselves to the brink of destruction and constantly feel they should be doing more. Eating disorders are epidemic in ballet troupes, and jealousy constantly torments those in the chorus because there is so little room at the top.  Even while performing,  it is unclear if the ballerina is enjoying herself.  Although she lives a life of obsessive training, the ballarina remains a fragile china doll that could easily shatter.

The  reward for all this physical punishment is a very short-lived career. By the time she is 40, her career is over, she is pushed aside by a beautiful younger dancer. We enjoy the beauty of her performance, let's hope she is able to enjoy the rest of her life.

It's All Temporary