Ballet doc trips up
By Wade KwonThe Alabama Ballet can make the impossible look easy onstage, though we know hard work and determination went into the performance. So why not go behind the scenes to see how dancers interpret a classic for today’s audiences?
Such is the premise behind Alabama Public Television’s latest documentary, “Alabama Ballet: The Making of ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ “ While the hourlong film shows fleeting glimpses into the some of the labor in putting on a performance, viewers will gain little insight into what makes this company or this performance unique.
A rehearsal in “Alabama Ballet: The Making of ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ “
Alabama Power, which sponsors the Alabama Ballet, is sponsor of the documentary.
Filmmakers spent six weeks with the ballet company during rehearsals for “Romeo and Juliet,” but so little of that effort makes it to screen. The first half of the doc shows rehearsals and interviews with the key players.
Out front is Wes Chapman, artistic director, who becomes the narrative voice throughout the film. Not only do we see Chapman in action, we visit his family in Union Springs, where we learn that his mama and daddy are proud of him.
How does this tie in with the creative choices in staging Shakespeare’s tragedy of star-crossed lovers? Very little, but the film is littered with unsurprising revelations.
Viewers see that dancers rehearse long hours, become tired, love swordplay, suffer injuries and lose focus. One dancer explains that it’s time to get into character, but we don’t actually learn anything about that process.
Ballet master Roger Van Fleteren explains that dancers must maintain the count in their heads, but none of the rehearsals shown feature Sergei Prokofiev’s score (or even why it was chosen). Just how they put the steps to music remains a mystery.
We hear from two of the junior dancers about 15 minutes into the film, but learn little about what they bring to the production.
So many questions remain unasked during the film’s first half, such as:
- Why “Romeo and Juliet”?
- Why a classic interpretation over a modern one?
- Was the choreography modeled on another company’s performance?
- What themes drive this show?
It seems as though this is just another company doing just another show. We are left with little to distinguish the Alabama Ballet from other companies, or this production from its other ones.
The 30-minute second half is the actual performance, intercut with Chapman’s telling of “Romeo and Juliet.” Not only is this unnecessary (do audiences really need narration of the world’s most famous literary work?), it proves to be a recurring distraction as the footwork isn’t allowed to speak for itself.
(One unfortunate edit has shows Juliet killing herself with a knife, as Chapman narrates that Juliet is killing herself with a knife.)
We finally see the finished product onstage, but little connects it with any of the rehearsals already witnessed. The “making of” promised in the doc’s title is a tease. We’re seeing the tragedy unfold onstage with no real insights on how we arrived here.
We’re treated to clips from the onstage performance, mostly shot from audience’s point of view. But we see nothing of the backstage chaos or coordination in a live show.
The documentary ends up as a series of vignettes with no story to tell, no special revelations as to why this company or production stands out — or why viewers should care.
Even the most casual ballet fan can appreciate that dancers work extremely hard and display incredible athleticism in their art. But “Alabama Ballet: The Making of ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ ” doesn’t dig nearly as deeply, allowing us to marvel at the grace — but wonder what actually goes into such artistry.
The documentary airs at 8 tonight, and repeats at 7 p.m. Nov. 24 and 9 p.m. Nov. 28 on Alabama Public Television affiliates.
