DANCEMAKER
Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Artistic License Films Director: Matthew Diamond Cast: Paul Taylor, Bettie De Jong, Ross Kramberg, Maureen Mansfield, Kristi Egtvedt, Lisa Viola, Thomas Patrick, et al
A visitor from Mars, seeking familiarity with the world's customs, might be surprised to see that the viewers for sporting events is entirely different from the audience for the dance. The dance may not have the excitement of competition between opposing teams, but many pieces involve the same type of conflict that you find in literature. More important, sporting events and the dance share the love of physicality, allowing the performers to express themselves not as talking heads but in corporeal work. Apropos, when a modern dance group visited a high-school auditorium about 15 years ago to put on a show, the performers were heckled by some of the wise guys in the audience. Two of the fellows doing the taunting were called up to the stage by one of the players--always a wise move because it's sure to reverse the tide and get the teens to turn on their buddies. They were asked simply to stand for ten seconds on their tones and move about for a couple of steps. Of course they couldn't, leading to pandemonium in the audience. For the rest of the concert, the halls were quiet, the dancers concluding their act to tumultuous applause.
One would like to report that some of these kids now in their thirties, would turn up for the approaching concert of the Paul Taylor Dance Company, which will be in New York's City Center from March 2 through March 14 before moving out to tour several locales in California. Coinciding with the Manhattan concerts will be the opening at the Film Forum of the Oscar-nominated documentary, "Dancemaker," a fitting tribute to Paul Taylor whom some consider to be the world's finest choreographer. Taylor, who in his more youthful days once danced with Martha Graham, is today a tall and distinguished-looking man, an inveterate gum chewer and, surprisingly enough a smoker (as are some members of his famous troupe). The movie is directed by Matthew Diamond who brings his own experience as a dancer to bear, filming with the aim of showing what goes on backstage as the performers rehearse, bond, gripe about their pains, but who apparently have nothing evil to say about their teacher- choreographer. Diamond is nothing if not thoroughly informal in his presentation, yet at the same time he presents to us an intimate canvas upon which the steps are painted, the ideas thrown back and forth. We get an innermost look at the financial side, at the need to raise funds from corporations, because the fairly hefty prices that this world-famous group can draw can still not begin to meet their costs.
As a documentary, "Dancemaker" follows the typical pattern of the genre, alternating talking heads with actual portrayals of selected dances--by both soloists and the ensemble--all brought to a stunning conclusion by a Chorus- Line style excerpt from a major feature. While three of the heads are dance critics, including the New York Times' expert interpreter Anna Kisselgorf and New York Post critic Clive Barnes, no one has anything but praise for Taylor and his company. Some of the audience for the work might hope for a bit of criticism for the sake of credibility lest we consider the movie a puff-piece for all its artistry. (Even a recent film about the life of Anne Frank focused to no small degree on how the young Ms. Frank was anything by an angel.) And director Diamond seems throughout to pander to channel- surfers in the audience, tempting us with wondrous, even awesome looks at pieces like "Aureole" only to cut to yet another talking head or fast-forwarding from one segment of the dance to another. Those of us who regretted that the Broadway play "A Chorus Line" showed the young performers in full uniform doing their thing for all too brief a time at the show's conclusion will relate to this reproach.
The technique that works best in the film is the introduction of fragments of dances performed by Paul Taylor himself during the early 1960s, comparing them with the same dances executed today by members of the current troupe. Diamond goes back to the obligatory early days of the choreographer, briefly touching on his parents' divorce but affording no major insights into what made the boy choose his profession. He opens the movie with a fairly extended piece of athleticism which looks to the untrained eye more like a practice session of gymnasts for the Olympic games but as the film progresses, we observe the construction of particular steps and how these steps are coordinated with the music, whether the music be of recent vintage or of 19th century stock such as some overtures by Offenbach.
The most exciting dance, one with a strong message as well, is the selection from the 1976 "Cloven Kingdom," a romp of men wearing formal attire, holding their hands like rabbit paws and switching from their upright positions to all fours. The obvious purport is that we are both highly sophisticated, urban creatures and primitives not unlike others in the animal kingdom. Perhaps this, the most original and striking part of the film, should have been used as its finale rather than a more conventional piece which is an ode to the tango, "Piazzolla Caldera."
Many are those who take part behind the stage to give the company the reputation it deserves today, people like rehearsal director Bettie De Jong and the company's executive director (and fund raiser) Ross Kramberg. Ultimately the film affords us a solid portrayal of a unique artist and may even lead diehard film fans to shell out for the forthcoming live shows in New York and California of the Paul Taylor Dance Company.
Not Rated. Running Time: 85 minutes. (C) 1999 Harvey Karten
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews