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What do ballet professionals think of this film?

posted 9 years ago by bcamphome
2 replies | jump to latest

I'm not a dancer or choreographer, but I think I'd be pretty appalled at the notion that a ballerina has to go crazy or engage in some pretty destructive/self-destructive behavior in order to play the part of the Black Swan. Plenty of dancers play this role all the time without going off the deep end. And those that do go off the deep end (not that I know of any) do so for reasons completely unrelated to the roles they perform.

Also, does a choreographer or ballet master give a leading role to a dancer just because she bites him on the lip? Aren't there more rigorous criteria involved? That seemed to me to be what happened in the film.

So, how do ballet pros feel about all of this?

[–] Jasonm-green 9 years ago

All companies are different. The Bolshoi would give a principal role for that reason but the ABT or Houston would not.

[–] Uribou-Inoshishi 8 years ago

I'm not a ballet professional but I do other forms of art. The "creative process" here felt very familiar to me: sometimes you push yourself mentally and physically to create your best art, and sometimes it's hard and you're faced with doubts, fears and insecurities. In the film the characters were just shown actually acting on the most extreme thoughts and emotions that one might get, like Nina truly "became" her role by doing things that were essential to her character, and Beth was shown actually destroying her legs and her face, instead of how in real life a person in her situation would just feel really angry and sad and think about doing it, but eventually be able to deal with it or rise above it.
I quite liked the film and identified with it, as a dramatization of the creative process.