Ballet

Ballet is Wiseman's twenty-seventh documentary since he started filming twenty-eight years ago. The film is a portrait of the American Ballet Theatre in vintage Wiseman style, with the cinéma vérité approach: the various people involved in the ballet are being followed at their activities, without Wiseman intervening. The first part of the film concentrates on the arduous creative and physical demands made upon the dancers. We get a close look at the working methods of the choreographers. In the second part Wiseman follows the troupe on a European tour, calling in at Athens and Copenhagen. Resplendent images of performances are interspersed with images of the ballet dancers in their daily lives. Ballet is Wiseman's ode to the enchanting world of ballet. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)