Review of “A Ballerina’s Tale”
Ballet was first performed in the Italian Renaissance courts during the 15th century. Sadly, not much about the world of ballet has changed since then. Nelson George’s documentary A Ballerina’s Tale tells the story of the trailblazing African American ballerina Misty Copeland. During 2015, Copeland became the first African American woman principal dancer in American Ballet Theatre’s seventy five years.
Ballet’s traditional aesthetics were imagined and defined by George Balanchine, a Russian choreographer often regarded as the father of American ballet. Balanchine idealized the strikingly slender, youthful, and pale ballerina. This precise image, along with ballet’s tendency towards assimilation and uniformity of dancers, creates a problem for African American ballet dancers. The film explains that despite being a ballet prodigy, Copeland’s dark skin tone, muscular body, and larger chest provided objections and created road bumps in her career.
George fails to provide insight into Copeland’s complicated and interesting backstory. Aside from briefly stating that she grew up in a lower income household, George grazes past the details concerning Copeland’s abusive childhood. There is no explanation given as to how Copeland worked her way out of a difficult past to become the sensation she is today. Michael Rechtshaffen of The LA Times says, “Copeland's victories are shortchanged by the film's prevailing sense of detachment from its main subject.” In my opinion, the audience is left feeling as though the triumphant story of an underdog exists but is unexplainably left untold. Sadly, this is a recurring theme in A Ballerina’s Tale.
The film begins just before Copeland receives the lead in Firebird, one of the most iconic and prestigious roles in ballet. This role is typically given to prima ballerinas, and it had certainly never been given to a black ballerina before. In one of the film’s most climactic and triumphant bits, prominent and accomplished black women from around the country come to see Copeland perform in this groundbreaking production. However, while the film continues to mention the magnanimity of this event, there are no personal interviews about that night by either Copeland or the women in attendance. The event is narrated over a snippet of Copeland’s stunning performance, giving little documentation of the important evening.
The film’s conflict occurs when Copeland faces an injury not long after opening Firebird. George chooses to focus largely on Copeland’s struggle with her pain and her duty to continue climbing to the top of the ballet world as an African American woman. Many scenes depict Copeland leaping and bounding about the stage accompanied by a narration of her pain. George includes various clips of Copeland’s physical therapy in which she is violently bent and cracked. These scenes are gritty and work to illustrate the trauma and pain that Copeland chose to endure in order to continue to pave a path for black ballerinas in the world of professional ballet.
A Ballerina’s Tale is largely anticlimactic. After overcoming a fracture that nearly snapped her leg in half, Copeland became the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in American Ballet Theatre’s history, However, Brian Seibert of the New York Times comments that even this momentous occasion is announced in sober, anticlimactic text: “Dreams do come true.”
George’s fault lies in his lack of depth in any one direction. The film neither focuses intently on Copeland’s life and story or the topical issue of race in the ballet world. Towards the beginning of the film, various authors and other specialists give commentary on “the color of ballet” and its history. This short segment touches on the belief that ballet is one of the last remaining institutions of white supremacy in the modern world. Ballet is known to be soft and delicate and white. The idea of a black white swan for instance has previously been unimaginable to the ballet world. However, these asides exist only within the first quarter of the film. The film then loses some of its purpose as it fails to fully connect Copeland’s journey with the barriers she was forced to breakdown due to racial inequality in her field.
In one exception, an interview with Susan Fales-Hill, an African American author and producer, explains the way in which various trailblazing African American women mentored Copeland. The most poignant scene in the film occurs when Raven Wilkinson, a woman who is known to have been the first African American woman to have danced with a major ballet company, visits Copeland in her home. Copeland describes herself sobbing the first time she saw a video of Wilkinson dancing and explains that she didn’t know that professional black ballerinas existed. The moment is sincere yet heavy as the two share a kinship over a fight they continue to fight. The two briefly discuss race and the importance of discussing its issues openly. Frank Scheck of the Hollywood reporter explains that “the bonding between [the] two generations of barrier-breaking performers provides a rich emotional context to this cinematic portrait that otherwise has little more impact than a television-newsmagazine puff piece.” However, in my opinion, even this more intimate scene leave much is left unsaid that could have provided background and intrigue to the audience. There is no mention of Wilkinson being forced to paint her face white for her performances as a young girl, the violence she faced in some southern towns the company performed in, or her eventual leave from the company. Instead, George provides a lengthy scene in which the two women lovingly bond over their shared remembrance of the choreography from Swan Lake.
The film is full of documentary self indulgence such as lengthy scenes of Misty walking down the street or getting dressed for her performances. The film’s dialogue is sporadic and uncentered, creating little to no storyline. With a living legend as a subject, it is curious that George chooses to focus on Copeland’s recovery from an injury as the subject for the film. Injuries are obstacles faced by athletes at all levels. Copeland’s struggles reach much further, as do her accomplishments. George’s film leaves the audience wanting more because they know that so much more exists.
