As public radio listeners, we know the value of learning about something we didn’t even know we were interested in, and maybe even more when it’s something we didn’t realize existed in the first place.
The documentary Swan Song follows the National Ballet of Canada as they prepare to put on Swan Lake in the aftermath of the pandemic. And yes, of course I know ballet exists, and to an extent, I’m already interested. What I didn’t know about were the tights. More on that in a second.
We’re given a look into the excruciating hours of preparation, especially among the corps de ballet, the dancers who surround the principal performers and who are asked to punish their bodies endlessly in pursuit of art. I’m a sucker for process, and seeing the sheer amount of work that goes into the performance—the repetitions, the adjustments, the pain… this is like catnip for me.
The ballet’s artistic director is Karen Kain, herself an internationally known former ballerina. And here, she wants the dancers to perform with bare legs, without wearing tights. The decision brings up issues I’d simply never considered in my privileged ignorance, and this opens the entire film up into being a lot more than simply a fly-on-the-wall look at creation. There are plenty of dancers in the company who are not white, and they say how deflating it feels to have to constantly cover up half of their bodies with a color that isn’t theirs. Removing the tights remedies this, even if it goes against convention. As one dancer says, “You want to honor the tradition, but racism isn’t a good tradition.” But the decision also raises a host of unexpected concerns, including the perils of dancing with sweaty legs, and the hesitance of one dancer who’s recently cut her own legs in an effort to deal with her mental health struggles. It all reminds us that these are actual people doing this, and that what we see on stage is only a tiny part of what goes on when we pursue the highest of artistic heights.
Swan Song is on VOD July 26th.
