Swan Song (2023) Movie Script
1
[dog barking]
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen,
this is your 15-minute call.
Fifteen minutes, please,
to the top of Act 1.
The stage is available.
Thank you.
[indistinct voices]
[indistinct voices continue]
[knock at door]
ROBERT: Toi, toi, ladies.
It's gonna be amazing. Have fun.
DANCER: Thanks for
everything, Rob.
ROBERT: Thank you.
SHAELYNN: We're gonna
be really fucking good.
ROBERT: I have no
doubt. I am pumped.
DANCER: Yeah, as you should be.
ROBERT: No, like,
we're ready, we're there.
DANCER: Yeah.
ROBERT: It's gonna
be great. Have fun.
Will you read it to us?
MONIKA: "Dear dancers."
"Thank you for all
of your hard work,"
"creativity, and
brilliant dancing."
"It has been a privilege
and a pleasure"
"creating this ballet with you."
"Sincerely, Rob."
ARIELLE: "Thank you for being
so responsive and adaptive"
"to the 35 million changes
we've made to this ballet
- "in the last three months."
- In the last two days!
- Yeah!
- [laughs]
"Thank you for all the stress
you've endured"
"and for all the
tears you've cried."
"They mean a lot to me."
[orchestra practicing]
[orchestra practicing continues]
[crowd murmuring]
[orchestra practicing continues]
[indistinct voices]
[orchestra practicing continues]
[orchestra quiets]
[orchestra tuning]
[orchestra tuning]
ANNOUNCER: Thank
you for joining us
for the world premiere of our
new production of Swan Lake.
[Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake
Act 1 Introduction playing]
MAN: [on video call]
You know, the announcement
of the new season and so forth,
I think... personally,
I think we all know
that it's likely that
we're gonna cancel
the March and June season
as they're currently announced,
and I think we need to
make that announcement
sooner than December.
I know we had always
sort of targeted
the beginning of December,
but I think for a
variety of reasons,
it's too hard...
[voice fades out,
music gets louder]
[Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake
Act 1 Introduction continues]
Well, here's the thing.
We had just done
Swan Lake at the Met,
and I had danced
with Rudolf Nureyev,
and he said, [Russian accent]
"Come with me, come with me.
"We go party, we
go party." [laughs]
I'm doing a terrible,
terrible imitation of him!
INTERVIEWER: No, I love it.
So, he has this limo
take us over there.
And he takes me up,
we go up in this elevator
in this fancy building,
and the door opens,
and it's packed full of people.
[indistinct chatter]
KAREN: There's bowls of cocaine
on the tables, and caviar,
and people... there's every
rock star you've ever
it's a zoo!
I am wandering through this,
no... like I'm in a movie.
I'm just wandering
through this place.
And I meet Andy and he says,
"She looks like an
angel." [laughs]
And, um...
So I waited there, and he asked
me to put my hands like this,
and he mumbled
and he walked all around me,
and he took pictures
from all angles,
and he disappeared.
And that was it.
I just hated it.
I just was like, "Oh,
all that glitter, ugh!"
You know? Like... [laughs]
[inspirational music]
ROBERT (INT): Karen Kain
is one of the biggest
international ballet stars ever,
like up there with
Rudolf Nureyev
and Margot Fonteyn.
SEIKA (INT): She is
completely a legend.
ROBERT (INT): When I
go work in Russia,
still the only ballet
name they know is.
[Russian accent] "Karen Kain."
She's beloved.
She's like the Princess
Diana of Canada.
PAULA (INT): Everything that
woman touches turns to gold,
whether it's performing
or being an artistic director.
KAREN (INT): This year was
a culmination of so many things,
for me personally and for
the National Ballet of Canada.
But 50 years with the company,
in my capacity as a dancer
and then artistic director,
it's really time
for me to retire.
We needed a new Swan Lake,
and I thought,
"I want to try to find
the courage to do this."
KAREN: That, some fan gave me
and I don't like it.
But I didn't know what to do
with it, so I stuck it up there.
KAREN (INT): I am directing
for the first time.
I admit that I
have no experience,
but I guess I felt that
at this point in my career,
if I felt this strongly
about this ballet,
this would be the
only time I would ever
have a chance to do it.
I have to feel just so
brave, going forward to do this.
I-I...
It has to be a success.
It has to be.
[phone ringing in distance]
KAREN: [voicemail]
Thank you for calling
the National Ballet.
This is Karen Kain.
Our offices are now closed.
Please listen carefully, as
some of our voicemail options
have recently changed...
[exhales]
JURGITA (INT): So,
every ballet company,
we have a hierarchy from
apprentices, or junior company,
to corps de ballet,
to Demi-soloist, to a soloist,
to a first soloist, and
principal ballerina,
and then so-called toile,
or internationally
acclaimed dancer
that travels around the world
as a guest ballerina.
So, um, I think I've been
fortunate in my career
to be the... the
the principal ballerina
and internationally acclaimed
ballerina worldwide.
This will be my tenth different
production of Swan Lake.
Swan Lake is the ballet
I have performed the most
around the world.
Swan Lake has definitely been
always somehow my ballet,
so, um, I do expect to dance
as Swan Queen.
[speaking Lithuanian]
Oh.
See?
You can't hold the horse back.
- What did he tell you?
- [laughs]
- What did you tell them?
- Just say "yes."
[laughter]
[speaking Lithuanian]
[laughs]
In general, in
the Western world,
I mean especially here,
in everything is so many
activities for kids, right?
I didn't grow up with that.
I grew up with just, like,
if you do something,
you do it seriously,
not as a hobby.
JURGITA (INT): I had to fight
for everything.
From the first day of even
getting the ballet school,
I had to even fight for that.
When I look back how I started,
I just could never even imagine
that this is the life
I would be living.
[exhales]
Oh, that was hard!
I love Swan Lake.
I mean, it's just a
classic, you know?
The only thing I
want in my whole life
is to be a principal dancer.
But I'm not, like,
at that level,
yet, so
I will be the nice, like,
30-second duck in the
back of the stage.
Okay, Google, how's the weather?
GOOGLE: Currently in Toronto,
it's 62 degrees
and mostly sunny.
[Shaelynn yawns]
There's Cheez-Its in here
if you guys want any
morning Cheez-Its.
Okay, Google, what
does it all mean?
Just kidding. It can't tell me.
GOOGLE: According
to Google Books,
should the hard questions
of philosophy matter
to ordinary people?
In this down-to-earth,
non-historical guide.
SHAELYNN (INT): I was born
in Nacogdoches, Texas.
Very Bible Belt.
Maybe not white
trash, but eggshell!
INTERVIEWER: You were
an Army brat, right?
Yeah!
Still am.
My whole wall in my
bedroom was, like,
plastered with ballet pictures,
just, like, from top to bottom.
I didn't, like, give
myself another option.
I was just like, "I'm going
to be a ballet dancer."
I will always be hoping that
somebody is gonna see
something good in me, you know?
Um, but it's
not really that simple.
KAREN (INT): It's been
more than two years
that we've been talking
about Swan Lake, and
I think in my mind, just to
make it easier for myself,
I just kind of let
it go, thinking,
"It's not gonna happen."
KAREN: I can't believe we're
finally getting to do this.
The stop-and-start,
the excitement and
the disappointment.
The first thing is to
take off the cat sneakers
and put on the dance sneakers.
[chuckles]
There are Swan Lakes
all over the world
and they're danced beautifully,
but I'm tired of
looking at things
that are academic exercises.
I want to be moved.
It's theatre...
You know? I want to cry.
The music starts, it's the key
for me to everything.
I hear the music
my body can remember everything.
I can feel the
coordination inside,
and can remember
every step on every note
that you haven't even thought
about for so many years.
But it's still there,
in some part of your brain.
It's still there.
Ayano?
How're you doing?
Good. What do you want to do?
Yeah, yeah. No,
we should go slow.
How's your foot?
ROBERT: Good, good.
How's it feeling?
Yeah?
ROBERT: So, we will
do Leighlynn[?] 16,
Monika 17, Shae 18,
Jackie 19, Maya...
[someone hits the piano]
[laughs]
Maya 20, uh,
Jeannine 21, Jenna 22,
Tene 23, and Kate 24.
All good?
JURGITA: Come on!
ROBERT (INT): The first
meeting we had,
Karen just sat me down and said,
"Okay, I need your help.
"I need you to make sure
that young people
"aren't gonna think
this is stupid." [laughs]
Which is at once,
like, a very simple
and very difficult
brief to be given.
KAREN (INT): I've never
considered myself
a choreographer.
I knew that I needed someone
who could actually choreograph
the new sections.
Robert Binet is a wonderful
young choreographer,
and I think he can do
some amazing formations
with the swans, making it
a little more of today.
ROBERT: Five,
a-six, other one...
One-a-two, three-and-a-four,
five-a-six, seven, eight.
Now we're crossing
to get to two lines.
Five, six, seven, eight...
Go one-a-two, three-a-four,
five-a-six, seven-a-eight.
One, two...
TENE (INT): Any time
you go and see the ballet,
so, for example, Swan Lake,
and you see all
the swans on stage,
that's the corps.
It means the body
of the company.
I don't think you really
can have a beautiful ballet
without the corps.
ROBERT: One-a-two, three-a-four
go, Jeannine...
five-a-six, seven-a
that's gonna look better.
SELENE (INT): Being part
of the corps de ballet
means that you are just
full-throttle all the time.
You are in every single show.
ROBERT: Arielle,
move forwards a little bit.
[dancers breathing heavily]
ARIELLE (INT): I was
just, like, dying.
Like, my arm felt like
it was gonna fall off.
They think you're doing it,
and then they're
like, "No, uh, hmm,"
and then they start
picking it apart.
ROBERT: Space for your head,
Erin[?], and your elbow.
ARIELLE (INT): The arm
extension, the hand...
There's so many details that
go into, like, just to stand.
[piano playing and
feet pattering]
ROBERT: Good, that's
rhythm, ladies!
Good!
SHAELYNN (INT): Like, and corps
work is not always about, like,
pulling your dick out and doing
12 pirouettes, you know?
It's literally like, "Oh,"
like, "Can you please stand
"on that mark that we
told you 17 times?"
[piano playing]
ROBERT: Keep the arms moving...
Better!
Up!
Down!
Up!
SEIKA (INT): That unison,
the duration, the stillness...
So many things that are
so difficult about ballet,
that make ballet so beautiful
to watch, are in that ballet.
And if I go to see Swan Lake,
it's for the corps.
PAULA (INT): Every damn hand
of the corps de ballet
better be exactly where
everyone else's damn hand is
in the corps de ballet.
If they're not together,
I get really cranky.
ROBERT: So, and one,
and two, and a-three,
and a-four, and a-five.
- It wasn't together at all.
- It was just visual before.
ROBERT (INT): Working
on Swan Lake, you know,
all the formations
have to be perfect,
and they have to
resolve perfectly
with the tallest
people in the back
and the shortest
people in the front.
You know, it doesn't matter how
good the principal dancer is.
If the corps de ballet around
them is a mess, the show's bad.
And that's something Karen
is really adamant about,
that, like, the corps de ballet
level has to be so high.
ROBERT: Let's try that
same section again.
Thank you, ladies.
[piano playing]
[indistinct conversation]
ROBERT: So, in terms of casting,
well, we've got
first cast Jurgita,
Harrison with Jurgita,
and then Brendan with Heather,
and then we've got Guillaume,
Naoya, Donald, Chris.
And then understudying
with have both Ben and Siphe.
KAREN (INT): The
principal dancer
who dances Odette and Odile,
the White Swan and
the Black Swan,
has to have a huge
number of qualities
because they demand
completely different things.
This kind of dichotomy
of this beautiful, gentle,
spiritual White Swan,
and then this cunning
and seductive Black Swan,
it's a very demanding role.
That's why people really want
to test themselves against it.
Well, and if I could
work with Jurgita on, like,
incidental Odette stuff,
it would be great to have time,
'cause she's our
first cast, to, like,
experiment and
play with the mime
and how she's gonna do
the whole crown, and...
Yeah, and she's got so many
other versions in her head.
- Yeah, she'll have ideas.
- But I don't
I don't want to do
those other versions.
- No.
- I might!
I might. She might convince me.
- ROBERT: Yeah.
- KAREN: She's very convincing.
- This was okay, I think.
- Mm-hm.
And pendulum up and down,
and this one's down.
Down, down, down.
REX: I think just step...
step is not enough,
but I think you
might need a little,
"Dee, dee, dah,
dah, dah," run, run.
Because you used to
do this right away,
"dee, dah, dah, dah"...
We didn't have the temps levs,
and I think that...
[piano playing]
REX: Now you go.
That's it.
KAREN (INT): Well, the impact
of the first cast matters,
because it's, you know,
the moment where
where the production's unveiled.
Um...
Everything. [Laughs]
Jurgita, you know when you...
before you start
to come to him for the first
time, don't run so far.
- Okay.
- You know?
JURGITA: I'm trying
to get to the centre,
so the girls are
around and I see them
being in this position.
KAREN: Oh, okay, well,
then I'll see with everyone.
JURGITA (INT): Me and Karen,
we're very different ballerinas.
It's definitely going to be
interesting, of... of
what she wants to see,
and how can I make it mine.
Are you... are you saying
that I insisted on that?
No, no, no, this is
the right what we agreed.
This is what we did.
REX: It's lovely.
Let's leave it.
KAREN: Okay, alright.
REX: We're not gonna change it.
Go back.
KAREN: Okay. [Laughter]
KAREN (INT): I know
what it's like.
Once you've got it figured out,
and it works for you,
and you've been successful
a certain way,
you... you wanna do that.
And I wanted it a
little different.
It wasn't a lot different,
but it was a little different.
KAREN: Jurgita...
Why don't you
bravely try doubles?
Well, rond a little more.
Just rond a little...
relax your knee.
Are you?
It looks like a
really good single.
Okay, just think, "In, in, up!"
No, it can't be on the floor.
Nobody... nobody in the world
does them on the floor.
- REX: Up, up...
- KAREN: Brush, in, in, up.
In, in, up.
[sighs] One second.
KAREN: It's just doing them
quick enough
that you don't
knock yourself over.
If you do them slow,
it takes too much time.
[piano playing]
REX: And one, that's it!
And one...
One...
[piano playing]
- KAREN: This is what I like.
- REX: Yeah.
Yeah, this is
this is exactly right,
what they're doing.
I don't know what everybody is
doing, but that's exactly...
This is what I like.
KAREN: This is what I like too.
REX: Want to do your solo?
You have four minutes.
I just wanna do the beginning.
REX & KAREN: Okay.
REX: Okay, yeah.
And...
[piano playing]
[orchestra playing]
ANNOUNCER: Jurgita Dronina...
KAREN (INT): She's
kind of extraordinary.
Well, she's a pretty
major ballerina.
She's an animal!
Like, she eats the stage.
TENE (INT): People all over
the world know who she is.
When she's on the stage, like,
you can fucking, like, feel.
ROBERT (INT): She used to
do a performance
of Sugar Plum Fairy
in the Nutcracker here,
go to the airport, get on
a night flight to London...
In the makeup still...
Get off the plane,
go to the theatre...
- Warm up...
- Do the show there...
Run straight to the airport,
take the flight overnight,
sleep on the flight,
and the next day perform.
Never heard of anyone
else doing that!
[applause]
JURGITA (INT): I was born
in Saratov in Russia.
Our relatives in Lithuania
said that the Soviet Union
was going to collapse.
[crowd chanting]
JURGITA: And we better
get back to Lithuania, ASAP.
She packed the bags.
Soviet Union
collapsed... war, tanks.
That was the
beginning of the end.
[crowd chanting]
REPORTER: [TV] By this evening,
the demonstrators outside
the Lubyanka were
beginning to claim Moscow
as their own.
[crowd chanting]
JURGITA: When my father
arrived to Lithuania,
he did not fit in.
Our life changed
from being a normal family
to a very violent
and abusive family.
We lost literally everything.
We lost all the documents;
we lost housing.
We lost everything,
he burned everything.
We were on the street.
And we literally sent
my father away by train,
and we said, "Please
never come back."
"Please promise to
never, ever be back."
And that's when the story came
that I was given a chance
to go to ballet school
and live in the dorm instead.
And have food!
Have electricity, and have
a chance to create a life.
SERGUEI (INT): That childhood
has formed her as a mother,
as a wife, and
definitely as a dancer.
You can't hide who you are
when you're on stage,
because she's seen stuff that,
as kids, not many have.
JURGITA: It was not just doing
a pink tutu and ribbons dance.
I saw it as a way of living.
[cheering and applause]
[speaking Russian]
[piano playing]
WOMAN: We're talking weeks now
before we'd have to start,
you know, distributing tights.
And why can't we
just have bare legs?
ALL: We can.
I mean, maybe I won't like it,
but I-I watch it in
contemporary works
and I think it looks fantastic.
CHRISTOPHER: I'm only
concerned that we get there
and a week beforehand,
you just think,
"I would love to
see something else,"
and that we didn't
prepare for that.
If you're ready, that's fine.
- It's just that I wanted...
- I wanted it to look like skin.
I didn't want it to
look like tights.
CHRISTOPHER: No, Karen,
I want exactly what you want.
I only worry for you.
I just got worried
about the idea...
KAREN (INT): In 2020,
we had conversations
with the dancers in the company,
and I had no idea that this
was an issue for them,
but I found out
that wearing tights
that weren't their skin colour
bothered them.
It just never occurred to me.
And then I started thinking,
for Swan Lake,
when they're in the
corps de ballet,
they don't have to
all have pink legs.
That's always been
tradition with Swan Lake.
SEIKA (INT): After the murder
of George Floyd in 2020,
if I had to use one word about
what happened within the world
of ballet, it would be fear.
And that was the fear
of being looked at
very, very, very closely.
The world of ballet is having
a very slow reckoning
with its deep, long
problem of racism.
ROBERT (INT): I think Karen
was called on to address
some biases, especially when
it comes to casting and hiring.
Swan Lake, for hundreds
and hundreds of years,
has been all these women
in pink or white tights,
white tutus, looking identical
and, back in Karen's
day, painted white.
KAREN (INT): Well, certainly,
I've been on a journey, too.
I mean, I was brought up
on the stereotypes
of how dancers are cast.
TENE (INT): We have
dancers that are Black,
we have people of colour.
So when you wear, like,
white tights or pink tights
and pink shoes, it's
not one long line,
which was the intention.
And it's frustrating
'cause it's like
a sense of impostor syndrome
that you didn't create.
KAREN: I really want to try it.
I really want to
seriously try it.
Like, even if we go to
the rough dress and do it.
ROBERT: No, but I think
this is a good plan,
and I think we have
to be very clear,
like us with the dancers,
you with the dancers,
that Karen will
make this decision.
Like, nobody gets to say,
"I want to wear tights,"
"I don't want to wear tights."
Like, when we're saying
there's two options,
they are Karen's options;
they are not
everybody's options.
WOMAN: Yeah.
[orchestra playing
in background]
Hey, Mom. Do you have a minute?
I'm doing Odile. Odette/Odile.
I know!
Like, it's official.
I'm learning it with Chris.
I know!
Oh my God!
I... Oh my gosh.
I know, I can't...
It still hasn't processed yet.
KAREN (INT): Genevieve's the new
one on the block, as they say!
Each cast needs to
rest between shows,
because it's so demanding.
Otherwise they'll get injured.
So you need at least four casts
to even get through one week.
STACY: And then
that sort of sits
I mean, I was thrown into
Swan Lake when I was 19.
Woo, woop! Caught it.
- That's okay.
- [laughs]
CARRIE: Have fun!
GENEVIEVE: I will.
[laughter and
indistinct conversation]
GENEVIEVE (INT): This is a big
opportunity for me at my age.
SIPHE: Yes, village girl!
GENEVIEVE (INT): I don't think
most people can say
they started their
career with Swan Lake.
WOMAN: Are you from Bridgerton?
Bridgerton, yeah, yeah!
Guys, it's a mermaid!
[Genevieve laughs]
KAREN (INT): Whenever you
go up the ranks really quickly,
there's resentment.
And even though they're
all good people,
it's just human nature.
[lighter clicks]
Why, are you trying
to make me a villain?
I actually have to,
like, fight my jealousy
because I know it's not, like,
useful to anyone, you know?
And I am really happy for her
and I know she's
gonna be really good.
But of course, I'm
like so jealous,
and every time I'm like, "Ugh!"
But I know I, like,
could not do it so
yeah.
Hopefully I'll get to,
like, I don't know,
use some of this 'big sad'
one day on stage.
That's all I can hope for.
And work for.
I should also say I don't really
actually, like, know how to
um, make anything.
I just, like
mess around with all of
my stuff all the time.
SHAELYNN (INT): I
was homeschooled,
um.
With a heavy
emphasis on the home,
less of an emphasis
on the schooling.
They were, like,
did not want me or my siblings
to be learning from
a place that, like,
taught or believed in evolution.
They were, like, "The Devil's
work is done in public schools!"
[laughs]
It says, "Socialist, Marxist,
Libertarian, Slut."
That's me!
Hi, Bubba! [Laughter]
Caroline's in Germany.
- How's it going?
- It's good. Look.
[laughter]
- Cheers!
- Cheers!
- Happy Easter!
- Happy Easter.
[laughter]
SHAELYNN (INT): My mom worked
as, like, the receptionist
at my ballet studio.
My brother and I used
to clean the studios
because we couldn't
afford classes.
I mean, of course
some half-Mexican kid
that's cleaning the studios,
you're gonna be picked on.
I just wanted to fit
into the pink box so bad
when I was little.
I would, like, check the box
with like a cross for Jesus.
I would pray so much just to,
like, not be queer, to, like,
not be sad, to have,
like, my mom be happy.
I would, like,
pray all the time.
CAROLINE (INT): For Shae
to make it this far
is kind of crazy,
considering what she had
to put herself through
to show up and, like,
take a ballet class every day.
SHAELYNN (INT): I had to,
like, find sponsors
so I could get pointe shoes.
Like, I had to,
like, do fundraising;
I had to work in
my ballet schools.
CAROLINE (INT): She is gonna be
a principal dancer
somewhere, sometime, for sure.
There's, like, nothing stopping
her, except, like, herself.
ROBERT (INT): She's
incredibly talented,
and she's incredibly
hard on herself,
which is a tough combination.
SHAELYNN (INT): Being in a room
where I don't belong,
that's been, like, the thing,
since I was a kid.
It's hard, like, to have
a personality that isn't, like
it's in direct
conflict with, like,
the thing you love most
in the world, you know?
[emotional music]
[Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake,
Act 4, Finale playing]
KAREN (INT): Rothbart represents
the evil quality of men.
You know, you live long enough
and you see the evil
that men are capable of.
It happens in the real world
and it also happens
in this fairy tale.
[loud tapping]
ROBERT (INT): The resistance
of the corps de ballet
to Rothbart is something unique
to this production,
and it's not totally clear yet.
I need to make it clear
and I'm not totally sure how.
ROBERT (INT): The idea has been
that Rothbart can control
not just the women
but the weather,
and he creates these huge storms
that get more and
more wild and violent,
and we see those
in the shape of the women
because they are
sucked into the storm
and essentially become
the storm unwillingly.
KAREN (INT): What I really
want to do is make sure
that we can understand
that the swans
are women who have
been abducted,
and they are trapped women,
they're not birds.
They've been forced
to dress a certain way
that appeals to
this very sick man.
ROSS: Rothbart...
He's abducted these women.
He has abducted them
and he has forced
them to wear...
Yes.
Swan costumes in order
to satisfy his craziness?
Wow, I didn't hear this before.
He's ordered them to
dress a certain way
- because it gets him off.
- Wow.
Oh, I haven't told
you about this!
- No, you haven't! - Yeah,
that's how I'm seeing it.
[piano playing]
ROBERT: Okay, I want to
do that whole section
one more time, and
then we'll go on.
[indistinct conversation]
ROBERT (INT): You know,
every time she comes
to see a section I've
made, I'm nervous,
because, you know, all these big
group numbers are a ton of work
to get them looking
like something.
[piano playing]
ROBERT (INT): She's been
a mentor to me my whole career
and has really, like,
guided my development
as a choreographer,
so her liking it is
really special to me.
[Robert claps]
ROBERT: Um...
Shanae[?], you're
just a half-beat late there.
I think let's do
that one more time,
'cause it's getting
better every time.
And one-two-three,
two-two-three, three-two-three,
four-two-three, five-two-three,
six-two-three, seven-two-three,
eight-two-three, five-two-three,
two-two-three, three-two-three,
four-two-three,
five-two-three, six-two...
Good. [Claps]
Uh, was that in front
of Monika that time,
or behind Monika?
Okay. And...
One-two-three, two-two-three,
three-two-three, four-two-three,
five-two-three, six-two-three,
one-two-three, two-two-three,
three-two-three, four-two-three,
five-two-three, six-two-three,
seven-two-three...
SHAELYNN: Shit,
sorry, sorry, sorry.
ROBERT: You just have
to turn around sooner.
Okay, one more time.
ROBERT: I'm just trying to
show them as really human,
right before the end.
We're going far,
and we may have to pull it back,
but it's like they try to
they try to rebel
against Rothbart
and he knocks them
all to the floor,
and they have this moment
where they're trying to recover,
and then he turns them
back into birds at the end.
- Okay.
- So we're just playing.
Okay, okay.
ROBERT: Okay...
[piano playing]
ROBERT: So, five,
six, seven, eight...
And one, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight...
One, two, three, four...
[piano playing]
ROBERT: [claps] Good. Thank you!
What do you think?
KAREN: It's interesting, yeah.
- It's interesting?
- [laughter]
It's the first time to see it.
ROBERT: Let's try it one more
time with that shift, please.
ROBERT (INT): This was always
gonna be a tricky moment
because Karen's way is always
that she needs to see things
and then make decisions.
But, like, it's such
a gentle evolution.
And so I'm saying,
like, "You see it now."
"What do you want?"
And she's still like, "Well,
I don't really see it yet."
And I'm like, "I know it's not
perfect, but it's there",
"and we need to
start making calls."
ROBERT: [claps] Thank you.
Okay, I need to sleep on it.
Do you have any thoughts?
KAREN: No.
[chuckles] No.
I-I'm just absorbing.
Yeah, same.
ROBERT: Endings are tough.
KAREN (INT): I did an audition.
Like, I did a proper audition
for the National Ballet at 18.
But then, a year later,
suddenly the ballerinas
were injured,
and we were going on tour,
and I had to learn it.
The whole thing, Swan Lake,
on tour, all over the US.
Not long after that,
Rudolf Nureyev came
to the tour with us,
and from the moment
Rudolf laid his eyes on me,
he decided that I was
going to be his protg
and he was going to help me.
RUDOLF: Reach down, hand.
- Reach down.
- Okay, that'll slow it down.
KAREN (INT): Rudolf had just
filled my sails with air
and I lived on that
for a number of years.
And then I didn't have it,
and that was hard.
I did not do well.
I quit dancing for a while,
and the love of dance
could not overpower the anxiety
and the feeling that I wasn't
worthy of all of this attention.
REPORTER: Do you overwork?
I felt that I have,
during the last year.
I've just pushed myself almost
to the point of going too far,
and I think this is something
I have to be very careful of.
Something eventually gives out.
If it's... if it's not an ankle
or a knee or a back,
it's your morale that
just drops very low.
KAREN (INT): When I took over
as artistic director,
we were deeply in debt.
MAN: Please join me in welcoming
the new artistic
director, Karen Kain.
[applause]
KAREN (INT): We
were losing support.
I tried my best to help
keep the company afloat.
I felt desperate to do that
because this organization
has been my life from
the time I was 18 years old,
and it's given me everything.
[tearfully] Sorry.
And, um, I felt it was
going into bankruptcy,
basically, at that point.
There were some very dark days
in my early years as
artistic director.
I was completely terrified.
I would have heart palpitations,
like really bad,
but that was my nature.
I was like that as a child.
You know, it just was who I was.
So I still have
anxiety with Swan Lake,
just with my heart
rate and everything.
The responsibility is enormous.
I was thinking again today
that we thought
we were gonna do
this two years ago.
We would have been more rushed,
but I would have been younger
and would've had
a lot more energy.
[laughs]
Hey!
STACY: Hello!
It's so exciting!
It's so pretty!
TENE: We're just testing out
to see whether or not
bare legs is gonna
feel comfortable
while we're dancing
and if there's any adjustments
we need to make, or what
we can do so everyone feels
like their best selves.
I hate this.
Oh, no!
Oh my God, cut!
[laughter]
I... no.
DANCER: No, no, the bare legs.
CARRIE: Oh, I see.
DANCER: It's very uncomfortable.
CARRIE: Well...
TENE: One by one, here we go
I can't see, like, my toes,
to like, go down.
TENE (INT): When
I was auditioning
for the Australian
ballet school,
my mom, I was old enough
for her to sort of talk to me
about being a Black woman, like,
in society and all of that,
and she said, you know,
"It is going to
be harder for you"
"regardless of what
career you are in;"
"it's just going to be harder,"
"so as long as you're
prepared to do the work,"
"that's all that matters."
SELENE: Oh, that looks amazing.
Bare legs.
Cut?
Yeah. [Laughter]
KAREN (INT): The whole idea was
that they're these trapped women
and they all have
different skin colours,
so the discussion is around,
"If we just wear our skin,
my shoes won't match," or...
"What if I'm sweating?"
and, "What if this?"
and, "What if that?"
I know, right?
ROBERT: So, we decided
we'd start Tirion on centre.
And then, I mean, if we can get
all the way to Brenna on centre,
that would be ideal 'cause
then we go back the other way.
And...
[piano playing]
TENE (INT): It's definitely
been hard to see,
like, the lack of
enthusiasm, I think,
from peers and colleagues.
We're like, "This is
a huge thing for us",
"to finally get to be
ourselves on stage,"
and it looks better
on... in my opinion,
I think it looks
better on everybody.
With ballet,
everyone wants to be
like, you want to
honour the tradition.
But racism isn't
a good tradition.
[piano stops]
KAREN: I think they
look beautiful.
- ROBERT: Yeah?
- Yeah.
ROBERT: You happy
with the bare legs?
- I am.
- Great.
We'll do it.
So, bare legs means
that everybody
has to pancake their shoes.
Cool.
Okay, so let's go...
Is it okay to let the ladies
get out of costume now?
KAREN: Yeah, yeah.
ROBERT: Okay, so ladies who are
in costume, you can get out.
We're gonna go to the top of
Act 4 and just start putting...
[ambient city sound]
- SHAELYNN: Hey.
- ROBERT: Hey.
SHAELYNN: Can we
go in the hallway?
- Is that okay?
- Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
SHAELYNN: Sorry.
So, for the costumes,
y'all have like fully decided,
like, no one's
wearing tights, right?
That's what Karen wants.
Okay, 'cause, like,
you know my whole, like,
thing that happened in December?
No.
Where I was, like,
in the hospital.
Oh, I don't have
details, but I mean...
Well, basically I just like,
really, like, I went crazy
and, like, cut my legs
and had to get 75 stitches.
Oh my God.
And it was almost
like to the muscle, so
I just have like really, really,
like bad scars
- that are still, like, purple.
- Ah, okay.
- Okay.
- And, like, really raised.
Like, I tried to
like cover them,
- but it doesn't do anything.
- Yeah.
- I can, like, take a picture...
- I mean, I believe you.
You don't need to
prove it to me.
Um
I'll just need to
brainstorm with Stacy.
- Okay, yeah.
- We'll come up with a solution.
Okay, just checking,
'cause I was like
I don't want it to
be, like, distracting.
No, I mean, I... um...
It's also gonna be about
like, is it important to you
that they're covered,
or are you worried about us?
- Well, it's like...
- I'm worried about you guys.
SHAELYNN: Okay, cool.
Thank you so much.
- Sorry, Rob.
- No, don't apologize.
SHAELYNN (INT): I had
a really bad, um,
depressive episode
and I went a little crazy
and slipped back into, um,
some bad habits I had
when I was younger.
[soft, emotional music]
SHAELYNN (INT): We had done
the last show and, like,
I was hanging out with people,
and I got so in my head.
I thought, like,
everyone hated me.
I...
When in reality, I
just hate myself!
Ballet is the only
thing that, like,
helps me, like...
It's like my...
It's like my angel, you know?
But it's also, like,
my fucking demon.
CAROLINE (INT): It's, like,
amazing how much she, like,
bounces back, like,
every time something happens.
Like... [laughs]
She just loves
ballet so much, like,
even though it destroys her.
SHAELYNN (INT): It's
like I'm in, like,
an unrequited love
situation. [Laughs]
Like, I love ballet,
and sometimes it feels like
it doesn't love
me back, you know?
Approved?
I have two bad options, so
the best out of the bad
is to get injection.
Okay, okay...
[voice fades]
JURGITA (INT): I don't
talk about this injury.
I don't think
even my colleagues really know.
I just don't talk about it.
I just deal with it,
every single day.
I've had this nerve injury
for about eight years.
When the nerve starts hurting,
it causes spasms.
[groans in pain]
JURGITA (INT): The pain is,
I can't even tell you
the strength of the actual pain.
You scream.
Like day and night,
I would go up the stairs
and I would just
scream from pain.
Sometimes therapy is enough
to release the nerve,
and sometimes it's not,
and then I have to
get an injection.
Sorry, sorry. Come back down.
JURGITA (INT): This
injection carries a risk.
It's a trigger point...
you hit one, everything goes.
And Swan Lake is in
two and a half weeks.
Any other person probably would
have stopped a long time ago.
But I refuse because
it's part of me, it's who I am,
it's my identity.
And where I feel human.
What ballet means to me
is so much that, again,
I just refuse to accept this.
[upbeat music]
[saw buzzing]
KELLY (INT): It's
a massive show,
and it's an important
production, because,
well, there's
Karen's retirement.
Like, there's a lot
of people's life goals
that revolve around
these moments.
BARNEY (INT): We don't really
know how it's going until
we start to put it together
in the theatre next week,
and even then, when we start
to see it under lights,
we won't know till
we try it with the dancers
and with the scenery.
KELLY (INT):
Gabriela's the designer
for this Swan Lake production.
She designs all the
costumes, all the set.
KAREN (INT): Gabriela has
worked for major shows,
and she's used to having
an unlimited budget.
That's why
Andrew Lloyd Webber loves her!
[laughs] Yeah.
She certainly has a flair,
from what I've seen.
And, you know, it's
lavish, it's big.
Mm-hm.
Have you been waiting for long?
Yeah?
It's been a hell of a time.
GABRIELA: First time
I flew over to Canada,
I flew from Australia to meet
with Karen, and we got on.
We really connected,
and I sort of
I think I kind of got to
what Karen wanted to
say with the show.
It wasn't just, you know,
"This is Swan Lake"
"and we're gonna
have white swans."
The themes were much deeper,
and she was really interested
to explore the darkness
of somebody actually possessing
somebody else's life.
CARRIE (INT): So, today
is a costume run-through.
Um, it's really a chance
for the costume designer
to see everything together,
and it's a good chance for us,
too, to practice putting them
on and seeing how they fit.
HARRISON: That's a snug fit.
CARRIE (INT): I was asked about
this show in my interview
in August 2019,
and it's all I've thought about
until this moment,
so I'm so excited
that it's finally happening.
[laughs]
And I'm just like, "How am I
gonna get through Swan Lake?"
"It's so massive."
[indistinct conversations]
[indistinct conversations]
[laughter]
SHAELYNN: We need
to ask for that.
- Yeah, I can't...
- GENEVIEVE: 'Cause it's like...
ARIELLE: This is
as high as I go.
GABRIELA: Karen, I'm just
warning you, it might be
because I haven't seen
them all together,
if some of them
jump out too much,
we can always knock them down.
[laughter]
ROBERT: Okay, welcome back.
You look amazing.
We're gonna go from
the top of Act 3.
This is gonna be a
bit more stop-start
'cause we're integrating
some supers into this,
and we re-choreographed
the waltz yesterday.
So, could I have
everyone in place
for the top of the act, please?
ROBERT (INT): It'll be
the first time it goes from,
like, a series of dances
to a story, is the hope.
And making sure
the story comes through
is the most important thing.
[piano playing]
[piano playing continues]
[tambourine jingles]
ROBERT: Let's do
the circle again.
Ladies, we need to do it faster
if the music's faster.
Go back the other way, supers!
SHAELYNN (INT): It
is chaos right now.
We didn't have space
to do our dance,
and then our costumes
fuck us over so much.
[piano playing]
KAREN (INT): You
see the frustration
for the performers, too,
because it just feels like
it's so much harder,
or the costume's in the way.
It just feels different.
[dancers gasp]
[dancers applaud]
ROBERT: Okay,
we're going to keep going.
We're gonna give
you your five now,
and then some time
to get into costume.
I'm gonna throw up! [Laughs]
- Take care.
- Uh-huh.
KAREN: And I've decided
to let them all have
their natural colour skin...
Yeah.
Like, not make them,
even as swans, wear white.
- Yeah, I think Stacy told me.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- So I think this is...
Yeah, and I've heard
there's possible issues
with some girls because...
Yeah, well, we'll see,
but I think it's more
contemporary to do that.
Mm-hm.
I mean, if you're going
to have certain skin colour...
Then why are you putting tights?
Why would you have white tights?
- Yeah, true.
- So...
Yeah.
[laughter]
[piano playing]
KAREN: She's caught.
[piano playing]
JURGITA: They do a lot.
They dance a lot.
Corps de ballet works like...
they work like dogs.
[piano playing]
ROBERT (INT): I do
feel every day like
we're balancing on, like,
the tip of a razor blade,
because it's this thing
where you have to push
hard enough to get there,
but not so hard people get hurt.
Oh...
ROBERT (INT): But
it's also like,
Karen's looking at me like,
"This is a mess."
And I'm like, "I know.
Can't address that now."
[piano playing]
KAREN (INT): It's just still
a lot of question marks for me,
you know, at this moment in it,
and I'm really anxious.
[piano playing]
[piano stops]
[dancers murmuring]
[applause]
ROBERT: Dancers,
you're all excused!
Thank you very much!
[indistinct conversations]
KAREN: Oof!
- A lot of work to do.
- Yep.
The fourth act...
[voice fades into
surrounding voices]
[indistinct conversations]
Ti! Get it together!
You're gonna flood this place!
SHAELYNN (INT): This part
makes me nervous,
more than, like,
the actual shows.
[breathing deeply]
[ethereal, meditative music]
SHAELYNN (INT): We're just,
like, doing more, and, like,
bodies are more tired, and
brains are not
working. [Chuckles]
'Cause everything just
starts hurting more.
[thunder rumbles]
[truck beeping]
[upbeat music]
KAREN (INT): The move
into theatre is always
an adjustment for everyone.
It's like a different life there
than the life here
in the studio.
ROBERT: Two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight.
Okay, let's go back to...
KAREN (INT): The lights
are coming at you
from different sides,
and the set is in a place
you didn't expect.
You've got a different hurdle.
SHAELYNN: Punk rock.
Yeah! [Laughs]
KAREN (INT): Like, there's
just so many things to adapt to
before they go in front
of thousands of people
and do really hard things.
ROBERT: And then [inaudible]...
Coming right down, yes.
Okay, that'll work. Thank you.
We're gonna go back
to after the coda...
ROBERT (INT): The stage is
really revealing for corps work
because you suddenly pick up
on these differences
and inconsistencies
that you didn't in the studio.
ROBERT: Two, three, four...
ROBERT (INT): And
it's also like,
the corps is what
makes Swan Lake.
To me, they're the
star of the show.
TENE: I need to, like,
get into the circle.
ROBERT: Over by Tene and Jenna,
can you open the circle.
JENNA: I go directly
into the wing.
ROBERT: Yes?
TENE: We were just thinking they
might be going into the wing.
SHAELYNN: There's a spike there.
TENE (INT): Everyone
wants the best.
But it's hard when there's
so many different voices.
CHRISTOPHER: I walked
all the way over there
and I could see her...
[overlapping voices]
[indistinct conversations]
KAREN: Nan... Nan?
Is it possible...
[overlapping voices]
It's bumpy, but
today I have to
push really hard.
I know that if I can get to
a place where everyone knows
where they're supposed to be,
at least they can
focus on their dancing
and not wonder
what the fuck is going on.
ROBERT: Just keep hiding,
get behind that centre line
no, no.
Stay behind them. That's it.
Stay hidden.
JURGITA: Just criss-cross.
And it's quite heavy, this one.
So it better be attached well.
[laughs]
JURGITA (INT): It's one
of the hardest days
because you're just
in the theatre all day
from morning till evening,
and not knowing
when you're gonna go on.
So you just wait for your
entrance while they stop and go,
stop and go, it doesn't work,
changes, entrances...
Just embody what Karen
believes that Swan Lake is.
ROBERT: One, two, three,
four, five, six, seven, eight.
One, two, three, four...
JURGITA: It's gonna
be painfully slow.
[laughs]
- I'm prepared.
- Are you?
ROBERT: I need to see all
my courtier supers on stage.
We're going to place you...
DANCER: Okay, courtiers,
let's go to where we think
- we're supposed to be.
- DANCER: Good lord...
ROBERT: So, peacock
is furthest that way.
So we need to go
butterfly and peacock.
Then mermaid.
Then swan.
And musicians.
Then gingerbread, unicorn,
Queen of Hearts, [inaudible].
[piano playing]
KAREN: I think that
looks too far on.
I think it looks
too far on, too.
Rob, I think it's too far on.
ROBERT: Vanessa, you need to get
the up faster to conceal her.
Yes, Jurgita?
ROBERT: Do you want to
try the whole entrance again?
ROBERT: Okay, we'll go from
the same place again.
[piano playing]
[piano playing]
[piano stops]
I have no space.
KAREN (INT): I've always been at
the side of the choreographers
who came to work with us.
I've never been fully
responsible for it before.
[laughs] That's the difference.
And boy, it's a big difference.
JURGITA: Um, they have to come
in earlier for the fouetts,
because I'm standing there,
it's my music to go,
I've barely made it,
and I have to start going.
- Yeah.
- It's ridiculous.
We'll fix it, we'll fix it.
We'll fix it, don't
worry! We'll fix it.
- Um, yeah, thank you.
- Okay.
[indistinct conversations]
[single pair of
footsteps on stage]
[piano playing]
KAREN (INT): Mostly I see
what isn't working,
as opposed to what is,
and then I try to tell myself
to look at what is working.
[laughs] And snap out of it!
I was so happy to see
Genevieve this afternoon,
even though it's her first time
on the stage
in the lights and all that.
[piano playing]
KAREN (INT): If
the worst happened
and Jurgita couldn't perform,
I would sit down with Rob
and the artistic staff
and I would listen to
all of their advice,
and then I would
make up my own mind
about who I would
give that opportunity to.
[sighs] I
I would like to.
[piano playing]
JURGITA (INT): I'm probably
getting an injection.
[exhales]
JURGITA (INT): If the injection
has the outcome
that I don't want it to have
and I don't do the shows,
then I'm done.
THERAPIST: Okay?
It's not fair.
- Not wearing a vest, no.
- Muscley...
No, not wearing a vest.
A muscley guy with a dog.
I feel like you would
date like a, like...
"Hmm, I wear a
watch all the time."
I feel like you would
definitely date a guy
who wears, like, a big watch.
Absolutely!
You're like, "Money, money,
money, money, money!"
No, not about the money,
but it's just, like,
a watch is important!
This is what it looks like
to actively be overcoming
your eating disorders.
High five.
I think we're all capable of it.
- Yeah, definitely.
- That's the thing.
So it's just like we have to
save ourselves so that we can
- make it to opening night.
- Yeah.
And I feel like it's
especially hard for, like,
people our age to save
ourselves because, like...
Well, yeah, you're just
trying to prove yourself
- all the time, yeah.
- There's, like, pressure
to prove yourself and do
everything always 100% full-out.
- Yeah.
- And you're like
"I'm gonna fucking break
my foot again," you know?
Mm-hm.
Yeah, it's finding
the balance of, like,
saving yourself but also
doing your best every time.
SHAELYNN: Yeah.
ARIELLE: And every show.
NAN: [inaudible]
[piano playing]
[feet pattering on stage]
NAN: Bourres, fast
bourres, ladies.
NAN: Good. Energy
in the back leg!
Better, good!
NAN: Mind the arms
on those piqu turns!
DANCER: What fucking arms?
NAN: And up on jet
will help the landing.
I'm gonna fucking
sprain my ankle doing this.
NAN: Nice clean lines.
I was like...
[piano playing]
[piano playing]
KAREN (INT): It's
really demanding,
really demanding,
both technically and physically.
But the corps' been quite rough.
[dancers breathing heavily]
[piano playing in background]
WOMAN: That was much better.
TENE: Yeah? Pssht.
Good, 'cause it
doesn't feel better.
[piano playing]
[feet pattering on stage]
[piano playing]
SELENE (INT): Tene
wore her Apple watch
during the fourth act
and realized that,
uh, she ran 5K.
Then we had to do it again
for every principal.
So something like that,
it's pretty brutal on your body.
[piano playing]
[piano stops]
ROBERT: Uh, Maya in the back,
you were just a bit...
Somehow this diagonal...
JURGITA: This is not right.
Death. Slow death. [Laughs]
INTERVIEWER: Tene told us
that she had a pedometer on,
and during Act 4 they run 5K.
Wow.
[laughs]
I think that's where, when you
sign on the dotted line,
that's what you were in for!
[ethereal electronic
voice singing]
[thunder rumbles]
INTERVIEWER: How's it going?
It's going.
I guess.
It's kind of like a
shit show right now.
It's, like, crazy and chaotic,
and I'm like so anxious
and all of the girls are like...
[sighs]
They're just like...
[sighs deeply]
It feels like we're just
working and working and working
our bodies and not
actually fixing anything.
And, like
there's, like, a
disconnect somewhere,
between, like, the staff
and us, it feels like.
So it's, like, stressful and
I don't know.
All of us are just, like,
crumbling, you know?
KAREN (INT): There have been
a couple of nights
that I just went home
and Ross was like,
"How's it going?" you know?
And I'm like...
"Not well!" [laughs]
Um, and then, of course,
I can't sleep, so, um
I just...
Just a million thoughts
going through my head about
what we can do, how we can route
and other things, going,
"I think that should work,
but it's not working."
They did it right
yesterday afternoon,
one of them, and I thought,
"Okay, we're getting closer
to this moment."
[indistinct conversation]
KAREN (INT): There's one
that I love already
I always wait for it...
it's when all the women,
they're all huddled together
across the back,
and they're
consoling each other.
Those moments for
me are so important.
They hit you in a
way, if you see them,
they hit you in a way
that nothing else can.
I also think I've never seen
that done in any Swan Lake.
It's just always
perfect swans and lines,
and everybody dances well.
But here, there are moments
when they stop just being
incredible dancers
and they become human beings.
- [buzzing]
- [winces]
- [buzzing]
- [winces]
DOCTOR: So, last time I used
a slightly thicker needle,
so I'm purposefully using
a thinner needle today,
just so you know, because...
As long as it does the same job.
Yeah. [Chuckles] "Just fix it!"
[in a whisper] Just fix it!
- [buzzing]
- There we are.
JURGITA (INT): So, when I
went to get injection,
the doctor suggested to
do only partial injection,
to just relieve the nerve enough
but not deactivate the muscle.
The next day,
I knew that I'm gonna be fine.
That's much better.
JURGITA (INT): Just wish I would
have had that answer before.
So I'm just grateful
that events aligned itself
that I can dance today.
Incredibly thankful that I
did not do the full injection
'cause I wouldn't
be able to dance.
SERGUEI: Enjoy. Okay?
You enjoy.
- I will.
- Good, I hope so.
If not, you'll tell me.
[birds chirping]
[indistinct voices]
[bottles clinking]
Fun games that we play.
I don't think this is something
we should be super proud of,
- but it's our Advil tally!
- You could duct tape it.
Oh yeah, maybe I'll just
tape it to the door.
It has to be taken
in this building,
and then depending on how much
you're taking you get, like,
1 point, 2 points,
or 2.5 points.
It's starting today
because of opening night.
ROBERT (INT): Opening night
is always weird for me
because it's the
first time that, like,
I don't have a
microphone! [Laughs]
I can't say anything.
Like, if something's
wrong, I can't fix it.
So it's really, like
a big, for me, like
just handing over
all my trust to the dancers.
[indistinct conversations]
ROBERT (INT): I'm
really reckoning with,
like, how hard I push them,
but I hope that they know
that I am asking
all this of them
because I see, like,
limitless potential
in what they do as a group.
And I think that
ultimately, like,
it is the most powerful
force on stage.
But all of these
women want so much,
which is also why it's so good
and why they push
themselves so hard.
Okay, I gotta... I
gotta go and warm up,
but I'll chat to you soon.
Alright, love you. Bye.
ROBERT (INT): But yeah,
this question of, like,
"What's worth it,
and what's too much?"
is kind of like one of
the endless challenges
in ballet.
And it's like, "Okay, yeah,
they all agreed to it."
That doesn't necessarily
make it right.
[knock on door]
ROBERT: Toi, toi, ladies.
Um.
It was not a good rehearsal.
ROSS: You know what
they always say, that...
KAREN: Mmm, we hope!
Tough dress rehearsal,
great opening night.
So we're really hoping
for the best for tonight.
It's sold incredibly well.
It's probably also that people
are just really anxious
to see dance again.
But this is the best sales
we've had in a long time.
Well...
Well, I think Swan Lake
is a pretty compelling...
ROSS: Take some credit
for once, woman!
[laughs]
KAREN (INT): We've waited
two and a half years to do this,
so there's a lot riding
on this emotionally.
And the artists, you know,
they have to rise to that level.
It's now in their hands.
There's nothing I can do.
[upbeat music]
[indistinct chatter]
[Austra vocalizing]
[orchestra warming up]
ANNOUNCER: Thank
you for joining us
for the world premiere of our
new production of Swan Lake.
[applause]
[orchestra tuning]
[orchestra tuning]
[applause]
[orchestra playing Swan Lake,
Act 2, no. 10]
[nervous whispering]
[orchestral music continues]
DANCER: Yes!
[dancers breathing heavily]
[musical section ends]
[applause]
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct conversation]
[indistinct chatter]
[orchestra playing Swan Lake,
Act 3, no. 24]
DANCER: Just for the next one.
It's fine, it's okay.
[indistinct conversation]
[musical section ends]
[heavy breathing]
[ethereal music]
[heavy breathing]
[indistinct murmuring]
[heavy breathing]
[feet pattering on stage]
[orchestra playing Swan Lake,
Act 4, no. 29, Finale]
[music fades to silence]
[music swells back in
for dramatic finale]
Let's save her!
Let's help her!
[feet pattering on stage]
[music swells]
[finale music becomes softer]
[indistinct murmuring]
[music swells poignantly]
[thunderous applause]
[applause continues]
[applause and cheering]
[applause and cheering]
[applause and cheering]
[applause continues]
[applause and cheering]
[applause and cheering]
[applause and cheering]
KAREN: You were so good.
- Thank you.
- Muah!
Thank you.
[applause]
[applause and cheering]
[peaceful, ethereal music]
JURGITA (INT): When
I started ballet,
I just could never even imagine
that this is the life
I would be living.
I made it from zero.
Those memories of stepping
on stage when I was nine
to what I do now,
it makes sense.
I let go, I risk
I'm a soul on stage.
[applause and cheering]
[dancers applauding
and cheering]
And, you know, every second,
I believed every
second of what you did.
- Thank you.
- Every second.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- I poured my heart.
- You sure did.
You were amazing, all of you!
All of you, thank you so much!
All your hard work.
Just so beautiful.
It came so far.
Thank you so much, ladies.
I hope you enjoyed
it a little bit.
- [laughter]
- A lot?
Muah!
Really fantastic
corps de ballet.
Thank you all.
TENE (INT): I loved it.
I think everyone looks
amazing without the tights.
I even had friends that watched
that thought it was beautiful
and were shocked that this
wasn't just the normal thing
that we do.
And I was like, "No,
guys, this is the first"
"classical ballet that
is not requiring us to"
"change half of ourselves
or be anything else."
Like, we are actually just us.
One, two, three...
[laughter]
- ROBERT: Are you okay?
- Yes! [Laughs]
ROBERT: Don't you fuckin'
dare hurt yourself!
[laughter]
Thank you so much, Rob.
ROBERT: Thank you.
You guys were amazing.
- You had fun?
- Yes.
ROBERT: Good. Act 4 was like.
SHAELYNN: I feel like we all
were like... [inaudible]
Hello, sweetheart! [Giggles]
- Did you have a good time?
- The best time.
- It was beautiful, wasn't it?
- It was fantastic.
SHAELYNN: Congrats on
your first Swan Lake.
DANCER: Thank you.
[indistinct conversation]
Do I look cranky?
I mean pretty.
[inaudible]
I'm the ugly ducking.
[water running]
SHAELYNN (INT): I just want
to, like, bow by myself.
One day I'm gonna fucking do it.
I just need to figure out how to
not hold myself back, I think.
And I need to just be like,
try and believe people when they
say nice stuff to me, you know?
Ballet is punk rock as fuck.
Nobody wants to admit
it, but it's true.
JURGITA (INT): It's
a one-in-a-lifetime experience,
to be part of something so big
and be trusted with the choices
I make artistically on stage.
I know that I did my best
in trying to make
her vision alive.
Long lift?
JURGITA (INT): For now,
I have still another
eight to ten years
to dance, hopefully.
It will be time to
transition from dance.
But not yet.
GABRIELA: Congratulations.
KAREN: Oh!
KAREN: Fantastic.
They were fantastic, yeah.
GABRIELA: It just
went another level.
I mean, finally, it all...
No, no, it just
takes time, yeah.
Well, thank God it was tonight
that it gelled...
Yeah, I know!
I was thinking maybe next week
it'll gel, after yesterday.
ROBERT: Remember
when you said, "Show ten"?
"Show ten, it's gonna be great!"
ROBERT: We got show one!
But, you know,
I came expecting to, you know,
have to accept that some things
were gonna be a little bit iffy.
- Yeah, and it was...
- And nothing was iffy.
- Yeah, yeah.
- That's a miracle.
Agreed, agreed!
ROBERT: That's hard work.
GABRIELA: It's hard work!
KAREN (INT): I'm ecstatic.
I mean, they all danced
their little hearts out.
It was just...
Yeah, I was, like...
I could barely move, I was
[indistinct conversation
in background.
They pulled me in to the drama.
Just the way I wanted! [Laughs]
I am so happy and I haven't
even had a drink yet!
Oh, the "Story About Me"?
This is my book,
"A Story About Me"
by Karen Kain! [Laughs]
"When I grow up,
I'm going to be a ballerina."
"I could go out every
night and dance."
Only I said "dace."
"I will be in 'Giselle.'"
"It will be so much
fun being a ballerina."
[laughs]
"Dancing is never really fun."
[laughs]
Oh, dear!
INTERVIEWER: Did you say that?
KAREN: I guess I did.
[reading] "Sometimes afterwards,
you can say",
'That was a really
good experience
'and I really
enjoyed it.' [laughs]
"But you're concentrating
so hard on what you're doing"
"that the only time
it's ever really fun"
"is when you're feeling no pain"
"and things seem
to be going well."
So
I was 27.
I'd forgotten all this stuff.
Oh my God, well...
Oh, this is when we were
filming Giselle, I think.
Oh, this is Frank and I.
Oh my God, we're so young.
Yeah, this is like the final
the final moments in Swan Lake.
The last... the last Swan Lake.
[Swan Lake, end
of Finale playing]
[music swells]
[music ends]
[applause]
[piano music playing]
[dog barking]
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen,
this is your 15-minute call.
Fifteen minutes, please,
to the top of Act 1.
The stage is available.
Thank you.
[indistinct voices]
[indistinct voices continue]
[knock at door]
ROBERT: Toi, toi, ladies.
It's gonna be amazing. Have fun.
DANCER: Thanks for
everything, Rob.
ROBERT: Thank you.
SHAELYNN: We're gonna
be really fucking good.
ROBERT: I have no
doubt. I am pumped.
DANCER: Yeah, as you should be.
ROBERT: No, like,
we're ready, we're there.
DANCER: Yeah.
ROBERT: It's gonna
be great. Have fun.
Will you read it to us?
MONIKA: "Dear dancers."
"Thank you for all
of your hard work,"
"creativity, and
brilliant dancing."
"It has been a privilege
and a pleasure"
"creating this ballet with you."
"Sincerely, Rob."
ARIELLE: "Thank you for being
so responsive and adaptive"
"to the 35 million changes
we've made to this ballet
- "in the last three months."
- In the last two days!
- Yeah!
- [laughs]
"Thank you for all the stress
you've endured"
"and for all the
tears you've cried."
"They mean a lot to me."
[orchestra practicing]
[orchestra practicing continues]
[crowd murmuring]
[orchestra practicing continues]
[indistinct voices]
[orchestra practicing continues]
[orchestra quiets]
[orchestra tuning]
[orchestra tuning]
ANNOUNCER: Thank
you for joining us
for the world premiere of our
new production of Swan Lake.
[Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake
Act 1 Introduction playing]
MAN: [on video call]
You know, the announcement
of the new season and so forth,
I think... personally,
I think we all know
that it's likely that
we're gonna cancel
the March and June season
as they're currently announced,
and I think we need to
make that announcement
sooner than December.
I know we had always
sort of targeted
the beginning of December,
but I think for a
variety of reasons,
it's too hard...
[voice fades out,
music gets louder]
[Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake
Act 1 Introduction continues]
Well, here's the thing.
We had just done
Swan Lake at the Met,
and I had danced
with Rudolf Nureyev,
and he said, [Russian accent]
"Come with me, come with me.
"We go party, we
go party." [laughs]
I'm doing a terrible,
terrible imitation of him!
INTERVIEWER: No, I love it.
So, he has this limo
take us over there.
And he takes me up,
we go up in this elevator
in this fancy building,
and the door opens,
and it's packed full of people.
[indistinct chatter]
KAREN: There's bowls of cocaine
on the tables, and caviar,
and people... there's every
rock star you've ever
it's a zoo!
I am wandering through this,
no... like I'm in a movie.
I'm just wandering
through this place.
And I meet Andy and he says,
"She looks like an
angel." [laughs]
And, um...
So I waited there, and he asked
me to put my hands like this,
and he mumbled
and he walked all around me,
and he took pictures
from all angles,
and he disappeared.
And that was it.
I just hated it.
I just was like, "Oh,
all that glitter, ugh!"
You know? Like... [laughs]
[inspirational music]
ROBERT (INT): Karen Kain
is one of the biggest
international ballet stars ever,
like up there with
Rudolf Nureyev
and Margot Fonteyn.
SEIKA (INT): She is
completely a legend.
ROBERT (INT): When I
go work in Russia,
still the only ballet
name they know is.
[Russian accent] "Karen Kain."
She's beloved.
She's like the Princess
Diana of Canada.
PAULA (INT): Everything that
woman touches turns to gold,
whether it's performing
or being an artistic director.
KAREN (INT): This year was
a culmination of so many things,
for me personally and for
the National Ballet of Canada.
But 50 years with the company,
in my capacity as a dancer
and then artistic director,
it's really time
for me to retire.
We needed a new Swan Lake,
and I thought,
"I want to try to find
the courage to do this."
KAREN: That, some fan gave me
and I don't like it.
But I didn't know what to do
with it, so I stuck it up there.
KAREN (INT): I am directing
for the first time.
I admit that I
have no experience,
but I guess I felt that
at this point in my career,
if I felt this strongly
about this ballet,
this would be the
only time I would ever
have a chance to do it.
I have to feel just so
brave, going forward to do this.
I-I...
It has to be a success.
It has to be.
[phone ringing in distance]
KAREN: [voicemail]
Thank you for calling
the National Ballet.
This is Karen Kain.
Our offices are now closed.
Please listen carefully, as
some of our voicemail options
have recently changed...
[exhales]
JURGITA (INT): So,
every ballet company,
we have a hierarchy from
apprentices, or junior company,
to corps de ballet,
to Demi-soloist, to a soloist,
to a first soloist, and
principal ballerina,
and then so-called toile,
or internationally
acclaimed dancer
that travels around the world
as a guest ballerina.
So, um, I think I've been
fortunate in my career
to be the... the
the principal ballerina
and internationally acclaimed
ballerina worldwide.
This will be my tenth different
production of Swan Lake.
Swan Lake is the ballet
I have performed the most
around the world.
Swan Lake has definitely been
always somehow my ballet,
so, um, I do expect to dance
as Swan Queen.
[speaking Lithuanian]
Oh.
See?
You can't hold the horse back.
- What did he tell you?
- [laughs]
- What did you tell them?
- Just say "yes."
[laughter]
[speaking Lithuanian]
[laughs]
In general, in
the Western world,
I mean especially here,
in everything is so many
activities for kids, right?
I didn't grow up with that.
I grew up with just, like,
if you do something,
you do it seriously,
not as a hobby.
JURGITA (INT): I had to fight
for everything.
From the first day of even
getting the ballet school,
I had to even fight for that.
When I look back how I started,
I just could never even imagine
that this is the life
I would be living.
[exhales]
Oh, that was hard!
I love Swan Lake.
I mean, it's just a
classic, you know?
The only thing I
want in my whole life
is to be a principal dancer.
But I'm not, like,
at that level,
yet, so
I will be the nice, like,
30-second duck in the
back of the stage.
Okay, Google, how's the weather?
GOOGLE: Currently in Toronto,
it's 62 degrees
and mostly sunny.
[Shaelynn yawns]
There's Cheez-Its in here
if you guys want any
morning Cheez-Its.
Okay, Google, what
does it all mean?
Just kidding. It can't tell me.
GOOGLE: According
to Google Books,
should the hard questions
of philosophy matter
to ordinary people?
In this down-to-earth,
non-historical guide.
SHAELYNN (INT): I was born
in Nacogdoches, Texas.
Very Bible Belt.
Maybe not white
trash, but eggshell!
INTERVIEWER: You were
an Army brat, right?
Yeah!
Still am.
My whole wall in my
bedroom was, like,
plastered with ballet pictures,
just, like, from top to bottom.
I didn't, like, give
myself another option.
I was just like, "I'm going
to be a ballet dancer."
I will always be hoping that
somebody is gonna see
something good in me, you know?
Um, but it's
not really that simple.
KAREN (INT): It's been
more than two years
that we've been talking
about Swan Lake, and
I think in my mind, just to
make it easier for myself,
I just kind of let
it go, thinking,
"It's not gonna happen."
KAREN: I can't believe we're
finally getting to do this.
The stop-and-start,
the excitement and
the disappointment.
The first thing is to
take off the cat sneakers
and put on the dance sneakers.
[chuckles]
There are Swan Lakes
all over the world
and they're danced beautifully,
but I'm tired of
looking at things
that are academic exercises.
I want to be moved.
It's theatre...
You know? I want to cry.
The music starts, it's the key
for me to everything.
I hear the music
my body can remember everything.
I can feel the
coordination inside,
and can remember
every step on every note
that you haven't even thought
about for so many years.
But it's still there,
in some part of your brain.
It's still there.
Ayano?
How're you doing?
Good. What do you want to do?
Yeah, yeah. No,
we should go slow.
How's your foot?
ROBERT: Good, good.
How's it feeling?
Yeah?
ROBERT: So, we will
do Leighlynn[?] 16,
Monika 17, Shae 18,
Jackie 19, Maya...
[someone hits the piano]
[laughs]
Maya 20, uh,
Jeannine 21, Jenna 22,
Tene 23, and Kate 24.
All good?
JURGITA: Come on!
ROBERT (INT): The first
meeting we had,
Karen just sat me down and said,
"Okay, I need your help.
"I need you to make sure
that young people
"aren't gonna think
this is stupid." [laughs]
Which is at once,
like, a very simple
and very difficult
brief to be given.
KAREN (INT): I've never
considered myself
a choreographer.
I knew that I needed someone
who could actually choreograph
the new sections.
Robert Binet is a wonderful
young choreographer,
and I think he can do
some amazing formations
with the swans, making it
a little more of today.
ROBERT: Five,
a-six, other one...
One-a-two, three-and-a-four,
five-a-six, seven, eight.
Now we're crossing
to get to two lines.
Five, six, seven, eight...
Go one-a-two, three-a-four,
five-a-six, seven-a-eight.
One, two...
TENE (INT): Any time
you go and see the ballet,
so, for example, Swan Lake,
and you see all
the swans on stage,
that's the corps.
It means the body
of the company.
I don't think you really
can have a beautiful ballet
without the corps.
ROBERT: One-a-two, three-a-four
go, Jeannine...
five-a-six, seven-a
that's gonna look better.
SELENE (INT): Being part
of the corps de ballet
means that you are just
full-throttle all the time.
You are in every single show.
ROBERT: Arielle,
move forwards a little bit.
[dancers breathing heavily]
ARIELLE (INT): I was
just, like, dying.
Like, my arm felt like
it was gonna fall off.
They think you're doing it,
and then they're
like, "No, uh, hmm,"
and then they start
picking it apart.
ROBERT: Space for your head,
Erin[?], and your elbow.
ARIELLE (INT): The arm
extension, the hand...
There's so many details that
go into, like, just to stand.
[piano playing and
feet pattering]
ROBERT: Good, that's
rhythm, ladies!
Good!
SHAELYNN (INT): Like, and corps
work is not always about, like,
pulling your dick out and doing
12 pirouettes, you know?
It's literally like, "Oh,"
like, "Can you please stand
"on that mark that we
told you 17 times?"
[piano playing]
ROBERT: Keep the arms moving...
Better!
Up!
Down!
Up!
SEIKA (INT): That unison,
the duration, the stillness...
So many things that are
so difficult about ballet,
that make ballet so beautiful
to watch, are in that ballet.
And if I go to see Swan Lake,
it's for the corps.
PAULA (INT): Every damn hand
of the corps de ballet
better be exactly where
everyone else's damn hand is
in the corps de ballet.
If they're not together,
I get really cranky.
ROBERT: So, and one,
and two, and a-three,
and a-four, and a-five.
- It wasn't together at all.
- It was just visual before.
ROBERT (INT): Working
on Swan Lake, you know,
all the formations
have to be perfect,
and they have to
resolve perfectly
with the tallest
people in the back
and the shortest
people in the front.
You know, it doesn't matter how
good the principal dancer is.
If the corps de ballet around
them is a mess, the show's bad.
And that's something Karen
is really adamant about,
that, like, the corps de ballet
level has to be so high.
ROBERT: Let's try that
same section again.
Thank you, ladies.
[piano playing]
[indistinct conversation]
ROBERT: So, in terms of casting,
well, we've got
first cast Jurgita,
Harrison with Jurgita,
and then Brendan with Heather,
and then we've got Guillaume,
Naoya, Donald, Chris.
And then understudying
with have both Ben and Siphe.
KAREN (INT): The
principal dancer
who dances Odette and Odile,
the White Swan and
the Black Swan,
has to have a huge
number of qualities
because they demand
completely different things.
This kind of dichotomy
of this beautiful, gentle,
spiritual White Swan,
and then this cunning
and seductive Black Swan,
it's a very demanding role.
That's why people really want
to test themselves against it.
Well, and if I could
work with Jurgita on, like,
incidental Odette stuff,
it would be great to have time,
'cause she's our
first cast, to, like,
experiment and
play with the mime
and how she's gonna do
the whole crown, and...
Yeah, and she's got so many
other versions in her head.
- Yeah, she'll have ideas.
- But I don't
I don't want to do
those other versions.
- No.
- I might!
I might. She might convince me.
- ROBERT: Yeah.
- KAREN: She's very convincing.
- This was okay, I think.
- Mm-hm.
And pendulum up and down,
and this one's down.
Down, down, down.
REX: I think just step...
step is not enough,
but I think you
might need a little,
"Dee, dee, dah,
dah, dah," run, run.
Because you used to
do this right away,
"dee, dah, dah, dah"...
We didn't have the temps levs,
and I think that...
[piano playing]
REX: Now you go.
That's it.
KAREN (INT): Well, the impact
of the first cast matters,
because it's, you know,
the moment where
where the production's unveiled.
Um...
Everything. [Laughs]
Jurgita, you know when you...
before you start
to come to him for the first
time, don't run so far.
- Okay.
- You know?
JURGITA: I'm trying
to get to the centre,
so the girls are
around and I see them
being in this position.
KAREN: Oh, okay, well,
then I'll see with everyone.
JURGITA (INT): Me and Karen,
we're very different ballerinas.
It's definitely going to be
interesting, of... of
what she wants to see,
and how can I make it mine.
Are you... are you saying
that I insisted on that?
No, no, no, this is
the right what we agreed.
This is what we did.
REX: It's lovely.
Let's leave it.
KAREN: Okay, alright.
REX: We're not gonna change it.
Go back.
KAREN: Okay. [Laughter]
KAREN (INT): I know
what it's like.
Once you've got it figured out,
and it works for you,
and you've been successful
a certain way,
you... you wanna do that.
And I wanted it a
little different.
It wasn't a lot different,
but it was a little different.
KAREN: Jurgita...
Why don't you
bravely try doubles?
Well, rond a little more.
Just rond a little...
relax your knee.
Are you?
It looks like a
really good single.
Okay, just think, "In, in, up!"
No, it can't be on the floor.
Nobody... nobody in the world
does them on the floor.
- REX: Up, up...
- KAREN: Brush, in, in, up.
In, in, up.
[sighs] One second.
KAREN: It's just doing them
quick enough
that you don't
knock yourself over.
If you do them slow,
it takes too much time.
[piano playing]
REX: And one, that's it!
And one...
One...
[piano playing]
- KAREN: This is what I like.
- REX: Yeah.
Yeah, this is
this is exactly right,
what they're doing.
I don't know what everybody is
doing, but that's exactly...
This is what I like.
KAREN: This is what I like too.
REX: Want to do your solo?
You have four minutes.
I just wanna do the beginning.
REX & KAREN: Okay.
REX: Okay, yeah.
And...
[piano playing]
[orchestra playing]
ANNOUNCER: Jurgita Dronina...
KAREN (INT): She's
kind of extraordinary.
Well, she's a pretty
major ballerina.
She's an animal!
Like, she eats the stage.
TENE (INT): People all over
the world know who she is.
When she's on the stage, like,
you can fucking, like, feel.
ROBERT (INT): She used to
do a performance
of Sugar Plum Fairy
in the Nutcracker here,
go to the airport, get on
a night flight to London...
In the makeup still...
Get off the plane,
go to the theatre...
- Warm up...
- Do the show there...
Run straight to the airport,
take the flight overnight,
sleep on the flight,
and the next day perform.
Never heard of anyone
else doing that!
[applause]
JURGITA (INT): I was born
in Saratov in Russia.
Our relatives in Lithuania
said that the Soviet Union
was going to collapse.
[crowd chanting]
JURGITA: And we better
get back to Lithuania, ASAP.
She packed the bags.
Soviet Union
collapsed... war, tanks.
That was the
beginning of the end.
[crowd chanting]
REPORTER: [TV] By this evening,
the demonstrators outside
the Lubyanka were
beginning to claim Moscow
as their own.
[crowd chanting]
JURGITA: When my father
arrived to Lithuania,
he did not fit in.
Our life changed
from being a normal family
to a very violent
and abusive family.
We lost literally everything.
We lost all the documents;
we lost housing.
We lost everything,
he burned everything.
We were on the street.
And we literally sent
my father away by train,
and we said, "Please
never come back."
"Please promise to
never, ever be back."
And that's when the story came
that I was given a chance
to go to ballet school
and live in the dorm instead.
And have food!
Have electricity, and have
a chance to create a life.
SERGUEI (INT): That childhood
has formed her as a mother,
as a wife, and
definitely as a dancer.
You can't hide who you are
when you're on stage,
because she's seen stuff that,
as kids, not many have.
JURGITA: It was not just doing
a pink tutu and ribbons dance.
I saw it as a way of living.
[cheering and applause]
[speaking Russian]
[piano playing]
WOMAN: We're talking weeks now
before we'd have to start,
you know, distributing tights.
And why can't we
just have bare legs?
ALL: We can.
I mean, maybe I won't like it,
but I-I watch it in
contemporary works
and I think it looks fantastic.
CHRISTOPHER: I'm only
concerned that we get there
and a week beforehand,
you just think,
"I would love to
see something else,"
and that we didn't
prepare for that.
If you're ready, that's fine.
- It's just that I wanted...
- I wanted it to look like skin.
I didn't want it to
look like tights.
CHRISTOPHER: No, Karen,
I want exactly what you want.
I only worry for you.
I just got worried
about the idea...
KAREN (INT): In 2020,
we had conversations
with the dancers in the company,
and I had no idea that this
was an issue for them,
but I found out
that wearing tights
that weren't their skin colour
bothered them.
It just never occurred to me.
And then I started thinking,
for Swan Lake,
when they're in the
corps de ballet,
they don't have to
all have pink legs.
That's always been
tradition with Swan Lake.
SEIKA (INT): After the murder
of George Floyd in 2020,
if I had to use one word about
what happened within the world
of ballet, it would be fear.
And that was the fear
of being looked at
very, very, very closely.
The world of ballet is having
a very slow reckoning
with its deep, long
problem of racism.
ROBERT (INT): I think Karen
was called on to address
some biases, especially when
it comes to casting and hiring.
Swan Lake, for hundreds
and hundreds of years,
has been all these women
in pink or white tights,
white tutus, looking identical
and, back in Karen's
day, painted white.
KAREN (INT): Well, certainly,
I've been on a journey, too.
I mean, I was brought up
on the stereotypes
of how dancers are cast.
TENE (INT): We have
dancers that are Black,
we have people of colour.
So when you wear, like,
white tights or pink tights
and pink shoes, it's
not one long line,
which was the intention.
And it's frustrating
'cause it's like
a sense of impostor syndrome
that you didn't create.
KAREN: I really want to try it.
I really want to
seriously try it.
Like, even if we go to
the rough dress and do it.
ROBERT: No, but I think
this is a good plan,
and I think we have
to be very clear,
like us with the dancers,
you with the dancers,
that Karen will
make this decision.
Like, nobody gets to say,
"I want to wear tights,"
"I don't want to wear tights."
Like, when we're saying
there's two options,
they are Karen's options;
they are not
everybody's options.
WOMAN: Yeah.
[orchestra playing
in background]
Hey, Mom. Do you have a minute?
I'm doing Odile. Odette/Odile.
I know!
Like, it's official.
I'm learning it with Chris.
I know!
Oh my God!
I... Oh my gosh.
I know, I can't...
It still hasn't processed yet.
KAREN (INT): Genevieve's the new
one on the block, as they say!
Each cast needs to
rest between shows,
because it's so demanding.
Otherwise they'll get injured.
So you need at least four casts
to even get through one week.
STACY: And then
that sort of sits
I mean, I was thrown into
Swan Lake when I was 19.
Woo, woop! Caught it.
- That's okay.
- [laughs]
CARRIE: Have fun!
GENEVIEVE: I will.
[laughter and
indistinct conversation]
GENEVIEVE (INT): This is a big
opportunity for me at my age.
SIPHE: Yes, village girl!
GENEVIEVE (INT): I don't think
most people can say
they started their
career with Swan Lake.
WOMAN: Are you from Bridgerton?
Bridgerton, yeah, yeah!
Guys, it's a mermaid!
[Genevieve laughs]
KAREN (INT): Whenever you
go up the ranks really quickly,
there's resentment.
And even though they're
all good people,
it's just human nature.
[lighter clicks]
Why, are you trying
to make me a villain?
I actually have to,
like, fight my jealousy
because I know it's not, like,
useful to anyone, you know?
And I am really happy for her
and I know she's
gonna be really good.
But of course, I'm
like so jealous,
and every time I'm like, "Ugh!"
But I know I, like,
could not do it so
yeah.
Hopefully I'll get to,
like, I don't know,
use some of this 'big sad'
one day on stage.
That's all I can hope for.
And work for.
I should also say I don't really
actually, like, know how to
um, make anything.
I just, like
mess around with all of
my stuff all the time.
SHAELYNN (INT): I
was homeschooled,
um.
With a heavy
emphasis on the home,
less of an emphasis
on the schooling.
They were, like,
did not want me or my siblings
to be learning from
a place that, like,
taught or believed in evolution.
They were, like, "The Devil's
work is done in public schools!"
[laughs]
It says, "Socialist, Marxist,
Libertarian, Slut."
That's me!
Hi, Bubba! [Laughter]
Caroline's in Germany.
- How's it going?
- It's good. Look.
[laughter]
- Cheers!
- Cheers!
- Happy Easter!
- Happy Easter.
[laughter]
SHAELYNN (INT): My mom worked
as, like, the receptionist
at my ballet studio.
My brother and I used
to clean the studios
because we couldn't
afford classes.
I mean, of course
some half-Mexican kid
that's cleaning the studios,
you're gonna be picked on.
I just wanted to fit
into the pink box so bad
when I was little.
I would, like, check the box
with like a cross for Jesus.
I would pray so much just to,
like, not be queer, to, like,
not be sad, to have,
like, my mom be happy.
I would, like,
pray all the time.
CAROLINE (INT): For Shae
to make it this far
is kind of crazy,
considering what she had
to put herself through
to show up and, like,
take a ballet class every day.
SHAELYNN (INT): I had to,
like, find sponsors
so I could get pointe shoes.
Like, I had to,
like, do fundraising;
I had to work in
my ballet schools.
CAROLINE (INT): She is gonna be
a principal dancer
somewhere, sometime, for sure.
There's, like, nothing stopping
her, except, like, herself.
ROBERT (INT): She's
incredibly talented,
and she's incredibly
hard on herself,
which is a tough combination.
SHAELYNN (INT): Being in a room
where I don't belong,
that's been, like, the thing,
since I was a kid.
It's hard, like, to have
a personality that isn't, like
it's in direct
conflict with, like,
the thing you love most
in the world, you know?
[emotional music]
[Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake,
Act 4, Finale playing]
KAREN (INT): Rothbart represents
the evil quality of men.
You know, you live long enough
and you see the evil
that men are capable of.
It happens in the real world
and it also happens
in this fairy tale.
[loud tapping]
ROBERT (INT): The resistance
of the corps de ballet
to Rothbart is something unique
to this production,
and it's not totally clear yet.
I need to make it clear
and I'm not totally sure how.
ROBERT (INT): The idea has been
that Rothbart can control
not just the women
but the weather,
and he creates these huge storms
that get more and
more wild and violent,
and we see those
in the shape of the women
because they are
sucked into the storm
and essentially become
the storm unwillingly.
KAREN (INT): What I really
want to do is make sure
that we can understand
that the swans
are women who have
been abducted,
and they are trapped women,
they're not birds.
They've been forced
to dress a certain way
that appeals to
this very sick man.
ROSS: Rothbart...
He's abducted these women.
He has abducted them
and he has forced
them to wear...
Yes.
Swan costumes in order
to satisfy his craziness?
Wow, I didn't hear this before.
He's ordered them to
dress a certain way
- because it gets him off.
- Wow.
Oh, I haven't told
you about this!
- No, you haven't! - Yeah,
that's how I'm seeing it.
[piano playing]
ROBERT: Okay, I want to
do that whole section
one more time, and
then we'll go on.
[indistinct conversation]
ROBERT (INT): You know,
every time she comes
to see a section I've
made, I'm nervous,
because, you know, all these big
group numbers are a ton of work
to get them looking
like something.
[piano playing]
ROBERT (INT): She's been
a mentor to me my whole career
and has really, like,
guided my development
as a choreographer,
so her liking it is
really special to me.
[Robert claps]
ROBERT: Um...
Shanae[?], you're
just a half-beat late there.
I think let's do
that one more time,
'cause it's getting
better every time.
And one-two-three,
two-two-three, three-two-three,
four-two-three, five-two-three,
six-two-three, seven-two-three,
eight-two-three, five-two-three,
two-two-three, three-two-three,
four-two-three,
five-two-three, six-two...
Good. [Claps]
Uh, was that in front
of Monika that time,
or behind Monika?
Okay. And...
One-two-three, two-two-three,
three-two-three, four-two-three,
five-two-three, six-two-three,
one-two-three, two-two-three,
three-two-three, four-two-three,
five-two-three, six-two-three,
seven-two-three...
SHAELYNN: Shit,
sorry, sorry, sorry.
ROBERT: You just have
to turn around sooner.
Okay, one more time.
ROBERT: I'm just trying to
show them as really human,
right before the end.
We're going far,
and we may have to pull it back,
but it's like they try to
they try to rebel
against Rothbart
and he knocks them
all to the floor,
and they have this moment
where they're trying to recover,
and then he turns them
back into birds at the end.
- Okay.
- So we're just playing.
Okay, okay.
ROBERT: Okay...
[piano playing]
ROBERT: So, five,
six, seven, eight...
And one, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight...
One, two, three, four...
[piano playing]
ROBERT: [claps] Good. Thank you!
What do you think?
KAREN: It's interesting, yeah.
- It's interesting?
- [laughter]
It's the first time to see it.
ROBERT: Let's try it one more
time with that shift, please.
ROBERT (INT): This was always
gonna be a tricky moment
because Karen's way is always
that she needs to see things
and then make decisions.
But, like, it's such
a gentle evolution.
And so I'm saying,
like, "You see it now."
"What do you want?"
And she's still like, "Well,
I don't really see it yet."
And I'm like, "I know it's not
perfect, but it's there",
"and we need to
start making calls."
ROBERT: [claps] Thank you.
Okay, I need to sleep on it.
Do you have any thoughts?
KAREN: No.
[chuckles] No.
I-I'm just absorbing.
Yeah, same.
ROBERT: Endings are tough.
KAREN (INT): I did an audition.
Like, I did a proper audition
for the National Ballet at 18.
But then, a year later,
suddenly the ballerinas
were injured,
and we were going on tour,
and I had to learn it.
The whole thing, Swan Lake,
on tour, all over the US.
Not long after that,
Rudolf Nureyev came
to the tour with us,
and from the moment
Rudolf laid his eyes on me,
he decided that I was
going to be his protg
and he was going to help me.
RUDOLF: Reach down, hand.
- Reach down.
- Okay, that'll slow it down.
KAREN (INT): Rudolf had just
filled my sails with air
and I lived on that
for a number of years.
And then I didn't have it,
and that was hard.
I did not do well.
I quit dancing for a while,
and the love of dance
could not overpower the anxiety
and the feeling that I wasn't
worthy of all of this attention.
REPORTER: Do you overwork?
I felt that I have,
during the last year.
I've just pushed myself almost
to the point of going too far,
and I think this is something
I have to be very careful of.
Something eventually gives out.
If it's... if it's not an ankle
or a knee or a back,
it's your morale that
just drops very low.
KAREN (INT): When I took over
as artistic director,
we were deeply in debt.
MAN: Please join me in welcoming
the new artistic
director, Karen Kain.
[applause]
KAREN (INT): We
were losing support.
I tried my best to help
keep the company afloat.
I felt desperate to do that
because this organization
has been my life from
the time I was 18 years old,
and it's given me everything.
[tearfully] Sorry.
And, um, I felt it was
going into bankruptcy,
basically, at that point.
There were some very dark days
in my early years as
artistic director.
I was completely terrified.
I would have heart palpitations,
like really bad,
but that was my nature.
I was like that as a child.
You know, it just was who I was.
So I still have
anxiety with Swan Lake,
just with my heart
rate and everything.
The responsibility is enormous.
I was thinking again today
that we thought
we were gonna do
this two years ago.
We would have been more rushed,
but I would have been younger
and would've had
a lot more energy.
[laughs]
Hey!
STACY: Hello!
It's so exciting!
It's so pretty!
TENE: We're just testing out
to see whether or not
bare legs is gonna
feel comfortable
while we're dancing
and if there's any adjustments
we need to make, or what
we can do so everyone feels
like their best selves.
I hate this.
Oh, no!
Oh my God, cut!
[laughter]
I... no.
DANCER: No, no, the bare legs.
CARRIE: Oh, I see.
DANCER: It's very uncomfortable.
CARRIE: Well...
TENE: One by one, here we go
I can't see, like, my toes,
to like, go down.
TENE (INT): When
I was auditioning
for the Australian
ballet school,
my mom, I was old enough
for her to sort of talk to me
about being a Black woman, like,
in society and all of that,
and she said, you know,
"It is going to
be harder for you"
"regardless of what
career you are in;"
"it's just going to be harder,"
"so as long as you're
prepared to do the work,"
"that's all that matters."
SELENE: Oh, that looks amazing.
Bare legs.
Cut?
Yeah. [Laughter]
KAREN (INT): The whole idea was
that they're these trapped women
and they all have
different skin colours,
so the discussion is around,
"If we just wear our skin,
my shoes won't match," or...
"What if I'm sweating?"
and, "What if this?"
and, "What if that?"
I know, right?
ROBERT: So, we decided
we'd start Tirion on centre.
And then, I mean, if we can get
all the way to Brenna on centre,
that would be ideal 'cause
then we go back the other way.
And...
[piano playing]
TENE (INT): It's definitely
been hard to see,
like, the lack of
enthusiasm, I think,
from peers and colleagues.
We're like, "This is
a huge thing for us",
"to finally get to be
ourselves on stage,"
and it looks better
on... in my opinion,
I think it looks
better on everybody.
With ballet,
everyone wants to be
like, you want to
honour the tradition.
But racism isn't
a good tradition.
[piano stops]
KAREN: I think they
look beautiful.
- ROBERT: Yeah?
- Yeah.
ROBERT: You happy
with the bare legs?
- I am.
- Great.
We'll do it.
So, bare legs means
that everybody
has to pancake their shoes.
Cool.
Okay, so let's go...
Is it okay to let the ladies
get out of costume now?
KAREN: Yeah, yeah.
ROBERT: Okay, so ladies who are
in costume, you can get out.
We're gonna go to the top of
Act 4 and just start putting...
[ambient city sound]
- SHAELYNN: Hey.
- ROBERT: Hey.
SHAELYNN: Can we
go in the hallway?
- Is that okay?
- Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
SHAELYNN: Sorry.
So, for the costumes,
y'all have like fully decided,
like, no one's
wearing tights, right?
That's what Karen wants.
Okay, 'cause, like,
you know my whole, like,
thing that happened in December?
No.
Where I was, like,
in the hospital.
Oh, I don't have
details, but I mean...
Well, basically I just like,
really, like, I went crazy
and, like, cut my legs
and had to get 75 stitches.
Oh my God.
And it was almost
like to the muscle, so
I just have like really, really,
like bad scars
- that are still, like, purple.
- Ah, okay.
- Okay.
- And, like, really raised.
Like, I tried to
like cover them,
- but it doesn't do anything.
- Yeah.
- I can, like, take a picture...
- I mean, I believe you.
You don't need to
prove it to me.
Um
I'll just need to
brainstorm with Stacy.
- Okay, yeah.
- We'll come up with a solution.
Okay, just checking,
'cause I was like
I don't want it to
be, like, distracting.
No, I mean, I... um...
It's also gonna be about
like, is it important to you
that they're covered,
or are you worried about us?
- Well, it's like...
- I'm worried about you guys.
SHAELYNN: Okay, cool.
Thank you so much.
- Sorry, Rob.
- No, don't apologize.
SHAELYNN (INT): I had
a really bad, um,
depressive episode
and I went a little crazy
and slipped back into, um,
some bad habits I had
when I was younger.
[soft, emotional music]
SHAELYNN (INT): We had done
the last show and, like,
I was hanging out with people,
and I got so in my head.
I thought, like,
everyone hated me.
I...
When in reality, I
just hate myself!
Ballet is the only
thing that, like,
helps me, like...
It's like my...
It's like my angel, you know?
But it's also, like,
my fucking demon.
CAROLINE (INT): It's, like,
amazing how much she, like,
bounces back, like,
every time something happens.
Like... [laughs]
She just loves
ballet so much, like,
even though it destroys her.
SHAELYNN (INT): It's
like I'm in, like,
an unrequited love
situation. [Laughs]
Like, I love ballet,
and sometimes it feels like
it doesn't love
me back, you know?
Approved?
I have two bad options, so
the best out of the bad
is to get injection.
Okay, okay...
[voice fades]
JURGITA (INT): I don't
talk about this injury.
I don't think
even my colleagues really know.
I just don't talk about it.
I just deal with it,
every single day.
I've had this nerve injury
for about eight years.
When the nerve starts hurting,
it causes spasms.
[groans in pain]
JURGITA (INT): The pain is,
I can't even tell you
the strength of the actual pain.
You scream.
Like day and night,
I would go up the stairs
and I would just
scream from pain.
Sometimes therapy is enough
to release the nerve,
and sometimes it's not,
and then I have to
get an injection.
Sorry, sorry. Come back down.
JURGITA (INT): This
injection carries a risk.
It's a trigger point...
you hit one, everything goes.
And Swan Lake is in
two and a half weeks.
Any other person probably would
have stopped a long time ago.
But I refuse because
it's part of me, it's who I am,
it's my identity.
And where I feel human.
What ballet means to me
is so much that, again,
I just refuse to accept this.
[upbeat music]
[saw buzzing]
KELLY (INT): It's
a massive show,
and it's an important
production, because,
well, there's
Karen's retirement.
Like, there's a lot
of people's life goals
that revolve around
these moments.
BARNEY (INT): We don't really
know how it's going until
we start to put it together
in the theatre next week,
and even then, when we start
to see it under lights,
we won't know till
we try it with the dancers
and with the scenery.
KELLY (INT):
Gabriela's the designer
for this Swan Lake production.
She designs all the
costumes, all the set.
KAREN (INT): Gabriela has
worked for major shows,
and she's used to having
an unlimited budget.
That's why
Andrew Lloyd Webber loves her!
[laughs] Yeah.
She certainly has a flair,
from what I've seen.
And, you know, it's
lavish, it's big.
Mm-hm.
Have you been waiting for long?
Yeah?
It's been a hell of a time.
GABRIELA: First time
I flew over to Canada,
I flew from Australia to meet
with Karen, and we got on.
We really connected,
and I sort of
I think I kind of got to
what Karen wanted to
say with the show.
It wasn't just, you know,
"This is Swan Lake"
"and we're gonna
have white swans."
The themes were much deeper,
and she was really interested
to explore the darkness
of somebody actually possessing
somebody else's life.
CARRIE (INT): So, today
is a costume run-through.
Um, it's really a chance
for the costume designer
to see everything together,
and it's a good chance for us,
too, to practice putting them
on and seeing how they fit.
HARRISON: That's a snug fit.
CARRIE (INT): I was asked about
this show in my interview
in August 2019,
and it's all I've thought about
until this moment,
so I'm so excited
that it's finally happening.
[laughs]
And I'm just like, "How am I
gonna get through Swan Lake?"
"It's so massive."
[indistinct conversations]
[indistinct conversations]
[laughter]
SHAELYNN: We need
to ask for that.
- Yeah, I can't...
- GENEVIEVE: 'Cause it's like...
ARIELLE: This is
as high as I go.
GABRIELA: Karen, I'm just
warning you, it might be
because I haven't seen
them all together,
if some of them
jump out too much,
we can always knock them down.
[laughter]
ROBERT: Okay, welcome back.
You look amazing.
We're gonna go from
the top of Act 3.
This is gonna be a
bit more stop-start
'cause we're integrating
some supers into this,
and we re-choreographed
the waltz yesterday.
So, could I have
everyone in place
for the top of the act, please?
ROBERT (INT): It'll be
the first time it goes from,
like, a series of dances
to a story, is the hope.
And making sure
the story comes through
is the most important thing.
[piano playing]
[piano playing continues]
[tambourine jingles]
ROBERT: Let's do
the circle again.
Ladies, we need to do it faster
if the music's faster.
Go back the other way, supers!
SHAELYNN (INT): It
is chaos right now.
We didn't have space
to do our dance,
and then our costumes
fuck us over so much.
[piano playing]
KAREN (INT): You
see the frustration
for the performers, too,
because it just feels like
it's so much harder,
or the costume's in the way.
It just feels different.
[dancers gasp]
[dancers applaud]
ROBERT: Okay,
we're going to keep going.
We're gonna give
you your five now,
and then some time
to get into costume.
I'm gonna throw up! [Laughs]
- Take care.
- Uh-huh.
KAREN: And I've decided
to let them all have
their natural colour skin...
Yeah.
Like, not make them,
even as swans, wear white.
- Yeah, I think Stacy told me.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- So I think this is...
Yeah, and I've heard
there's possible issues
with some girls because...
Yeah, well, we'll see,
but I think it's more
contemporary to do that.
Mm-hm.
I mean, if you're going
to have certain skin colour...
Then why are you putting tights?
Why would you have white tights?
- Yeah, true.
- So...
Yeah.
[laughter]
[piano playing]
KAREN: She's caught.
[piano playing]
JURGITA: They do a lot.
They dance a lot.
Corps de ballet works like...
they work like dogs.
[piano playing]
ROBERT (INT): I do
feel every day like
we're balancing on, like,
the tip of a razor blade,
because it's this thing
where you have to push
hard enough to get there,
but not so hard people get hurt.
Oh...
ROBERT (INT): But
it's also like,
Karen's looking at me like,
"This is a mess."
And I'm like, "I know.
Can't address that now."
[piano playing]
KAREN (INT): It's just still
a lot of question marks for me,
you know, at this moment in it,
and I'm really anxious.
[piano playing]
[piano stops]
[dancers murmuring]
[applause]
ROBERT: Dancers,
you're all excused!
Thank you very much!
[indistinct conversations]
KAREN: Oof!
- A lot of work to do.
- Yep.
The fourth act...
[voice fades into
surrounding voices]
[indistinct conversations]
Ti! Get it together!
You're gonna flood this place!
SHAELYNN (INT): This part
makes me nervous,
more than, like,
the actual shows.
[breathing deeply]
[ethereal, meditative music]
SHAELYNN (INT): We're just,
like, doing more, and, like,
bodies are more tired, and
brains are not
working. [Chuckles]
'Cause everything just
starts hurting more.
[thunder rumbles]
[truck beeping]
[upbeat music]
KAREN (INT): The move
into theatre is always
an adjustment for everyone.
It's like a different life there
than the life here
in the studio.
ROBERT: Two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight.
Okay, let's go back to...
KAREN (INT): The lights
are coming at you
from different sides,
and the set is in a place
you didn't expect.
You've got a different hurdle.
SHAELYNN: Punk rock.
Yeah! [Laughs]
KAREN (INT): Like, there's
just so many things to adapt to
before they go in front
of thousands of people
and do really hard things.
ROBERT: And then [inaudible]...
Coming right down, yes.
Okay, that'll work. Thank you.
We're gonna go back
to after the coda...
ROBERT (INT): The stage is
really revealing for corps work
because you suddenly pick up
on these differences
and inconsistencies
that you didn't in the studio.
ROBERT: Two, three, four...
ROBERT (INT): And
it's also like,
the corps is what
makes Swan Lake.
To me, they're the
star of the show.
TENE: I need to, like,
get into the circle.
ROBERT: Over by Tene and Jenna,
can you open the circle.
JENNA: I go directly
into the wing.
ROBERT: Yes?
TENE: We were just thinking they
might be going into the wing.
SHAELYNN: There's a spike there.
TENE (INT): Everyone
wants the best.
But it's hard when there's
so many different voices.
CHRISTOPHER: I walked
all the way over there
and I could see her...
[overlapping voices]
[indistinct conversations]
KAREN: Nan... Nan?
Is it possible...
[overlapping voices]
It's bumpy, but
today I have to
push really hard.
I know that if I can get to
a place where everyone knows
where they're supposed to be,
at least they can
focus on their dancing
and not wonder
what the fuck is going on.
ROBERT: Just keep hiding,
get behind that centre line
no, no.
Stay behind them. That's it.
Stay hidden.
JURGITA: Just criss-cross.
And it's quite heavy, this one.
So it better be attached well.
[laughs]
JURGITA (INT): It's one
of the hardest days
because you're just
in the theatre all day
from morning till evening,
and not knowing
when you're gonna go on.
So you just wait for your
entrance while they stop and go,
stop and go, it doesn't work,
changes, entrances...
Just embody what Karen
believes that Swan Lake is.
ROBERT: One, two, three,
four, five, six, seven, eight.
One, two, three, four...
JURGITA: It's gonna
be painfully slow.
[laughs]
- I'm prepared.
- Are you?
ROBERT: I need to see all
my courtier supers on stage.
We're going to place you...
DANCER: Okay, courtiers,
let's go to where we think
- we're supposed to be.
- DANCER: Good lord...
ROBERT: So, peacock
is furthest that way.
So we need to go
butterfly and peacock.
Then mermaid.
Then swan.
And musicians.
Then gingerbread, unicorn,
Queen of Hearts, [inaudible].
[piano playing]
KAREN: I think that
looks too far on.
I think it looks
too far on, too.
Rob, I think it's too far on.
ROBERT: Vanessa, you need to get
the up faster to conceal her.
Yes, Jurgita?
ROBERT: Do you want to
try the whole entrance again?
ROBERT: Okay, we'll go from
the same place again.
[piano playing]
[piano playing]
[piano stops]
I have no space.
KAREN (INT): I've always been at
the side of the choreographers
who came to work with us.
I've never been fully
responsible for it before.
[laughs] That's the difference.
And boy, it's a big difference.
JURGITA: Um, they have to come
in earlier for the fouetts,
because I'm standing there,
it's my music to go,
I've barely made it,
and I have to start going.
- Yeah.
- It's ridiculous.
We'll fix it, we'll fix it.
We'll fix it, don't
worry! We'll fix it.
- Um, yeah, thank you.
- Okay.
[indistinct conversations]
[single pair of
footsteps on stage]
[piano playing]
KAREN (INT): Mostly I see
what isn't working,
as opposed to what is,
and then I try to tell myself
to look at what is working.
[laughs] And snap out of it!
I was so happy to see
Genevieve this afternoon,
even though it's her first time
on the stage
in the lights and all that.
[piano playing]
KAREN (INT): If
the worst happened
and Jurgita couldn't perform,
I would sit down with Rob
and the artistic staff
and I would listen to
all of their advice,
and then I would
make up my own mind
about who I would
give that opportunity to.
[sighs] I
I would like to.
[piano playing]
JURGITA (INT): I'm probably
getting an injection.
[exhales]
JURGITA (INT): If the injection
has the outcome
that I don't want it to have
and I don't do the shows,
then I'm done.
THERAPIST: Okay?
It's not fair.
- Not wearing a vest, no.
- Muscley...
No, not wearing a vest.
A muscley guy with a dog.
I feel like you would
date like a, like...
"Hmm, I wear a
watch all the time."
I feel like you would
definitely date a guy
who wears, like, a big watch.
Absolutely!
You're like, "Money, money,
money, money, money!"
No, not about the money,
but it's just, like,
a watch is important!
This is what it looks like
to actively be overcoming
your eating disorders.
High five.
I think we're all capable of it.
- Yeah, definitely.
- That's the thing.
So it's just like we have to
save ourselves so that we can
- make it to opening night.
- Yeah.
And I feel like it's
especially hard for, like,
people our age to save
ourselves because, like...
Well, yeah, you're just
trying to prove yourself
- all the time, yeah.
- There's, like, pressure
to prove yourself and do
everything always 100% full-out.
- Yeah.
- And you're like
"I'm gonna fucking break
my foot again," you know?
Mm-hm.
Yeah, it's finding
the balance of, like,
saving yourself but also
doing your best every time.
SHAELYNN: Yeah.
ARIELLE: And every show.
NAN: [inaudible]
[piano playing]
[feet pattering on stage]
NAN: Bourres, fast
bourres, ladies.
NAN: Good. Energy
in the back leg!
Better, good!
NAN: Mind the arms
on those piqu turns!
DANCER: What fucking arms?
NAN: And up on jet
will help the landing.
I'm gonna fucking
sprain my ankle doing this.
NAN: Nice clean lines.
I was like...
[piano playing]
[piano playing]
KAREN (INT): It's
really demanding,
really demanding,
both technically and physically.
But the corps' been quite rough.
[dancers breathing heavily]
[piano playing in background]
WOMAN: That was much better.
TENE: Yeah? Pssht.
Good, 'cause it
doesn't feel better.
[piano playing]
[feet pattering on stage]
[piano playing]
SELENE (INT): Tene
wore her Apple watch
during the fourth act
and realized that,
uh, she ran 5K.
Then we had to do it again
for every principal.
So something like that,
it's pretty brutal on your body.
[piano playing]
[piano stops]
ROBERT: Uh, Maya in the back,
you were just a bit...
Somehow this diagonal...
JURGITA: This is not right.
Death. Slow death. [Laughs]
INTERVIEWER: Tene told us
that she had a pedometer on,
and during Act 4 they run 5K.
Wow.
[laughs]
I think that's where, when you
sign on the dotted line,
that's what you were in for!
[ethereal electronic
voice singing]
[thunder rumbles]
INTERVIEWER: How's it going?
It's going.
I guess.
It's kind of like a
shit show right now.
It's, like, crazy and chaotic,
and I'm like so anxious
and all of the girls are like...
[sighs]
They're just like...
[sighs deeply]
It feels like we're just
working and working and working
our bodies and not
actually fixing anything.
And, like
there's, like, a
disconnect somewhere,
between, like, the staff
and us, it feels like.
So it's, like, stressful and
I don't know.
All of us are just, like,
crumbling, you know?
KAREN (INT): There have been
a couple of nights
that I just went home
and Ross was like,
"How's it going?" you know?
And I'm like...
"Not well!" [laughs]
Um, and then, of course,
I can't sleep, so, um
I just...
Just a million thoughts
going through my head about
what we can do, how we can route
and other things, going,
"I think that should work,
but it's not working."
They did it right
yesterday afternoon,
one of them, and I thought,
"Okay, we're getting closer
to this moment."
[indistinct conversation]
KAREN (INT): There's one
that I love already
I always wait for it...
it's when all the women,
they're all huddled together
across the back,
and they're
consoling each other.
Those moments for
me are so important.
They hit you in a
way, if you see them,
they hit you in a way
that nothing else can.
I also think I've never seen
that done in any Swan Lake.
It's just always
perfect swans and lines,
and everybody dances well.
But here, there are moments
when they stop just being
incredible dancers
and they become human beings.
- [buzzing]
- [winces]
- [buzzing]
- [winces]
DOCTOR: So, last time I used
a slightly thicker needle,
so I'm purposefully using
a thinner needle today,
just so you know, because...
As long as it does the same job.
Yeah. [Chuckles] "Just fix it!"
[in a whisper] Just fix it!
- [buzzing]
- There we are.
JURGITA (INT): So, when I
went to get injection,
the doctor suggested to
do only partial injection,
to just relieve the nerve enough
but not deactivate the muscle.
The next day,
I knew that I'm gonna be fine.
That's much better.
JURGITA (INT): Just wish I would
have had that answer before.
So I'm just grateful
that events aligned itself
that I can dance today.
Incredibly thankful that I
did not do the full injection
'cause I wouldn't
be able to dance.
SERGUEI: Enjoy. Okay?
You enjoy.
- I will.
- Good, I hope so.
If not, you'll tell me.
[birds chirping]
[indistinct voices]
[bottles clinking]
Fun games that we play.
I don't think this is something
we should be super proud of,
- but it's our Advil tally!
- You could duct tape it.
Oh yeah, maybe I'll just
tape it to the door.
It has to be taken
in this building,
and then depending on how much
you're taking you get, like,
1 point, 2 points,
or 2.5 points.
It's starting today
because of opening night.
ROBERT (INT): Opening night
is always weird for me
because it's the
first time that, like,
I don't have a
microphone! [Laughs]
I can't say anything.
Like, if something's
wrong, I can't fix it.
So it's really, like
a big, for me, like
just handing over
all my trust to the dancers.
[indistinct conversations]
ROBERT (INT): I'm
really reckoning with,
like, how hard I push them,
but I hope that they know
that I am asking
all this of them
because I see, like,
limitless potential
in what they do as a group.
And I think that
ultimately, like,
it is the most powerful
force on stage.
But all of these
women want so much,
which is also why it's so good
and why they push
themselves so hard.
Okay, I gotta... I
gotta go and warm up,
but I'll chat to you soon.
Alright, love you. Bye.
ROBERT (INT): But yeah,
this question of, like,
"What's worth it,
and what's too much?"
is kind of like one of
the endless challenges
in ballet.
And it's like, "Okay, yeah,
they all agreed to it."
That doesn't necessarily
make it right.
[knock on door]
ROBERT: Toi, toi, ladies.
Um.
It was not a good rehearsal.
ROSS: You know what
they always say, that...
KAREN: Mmm, we hope!
Tough dress rehearsal,
great opening night.
So we're really hoping
for the best for tonight.
It's sold incredibly well.
It's probably also that people
are just really anxious
to see dance again.
But this is the best sales
we've had in a long time.
Well...
Well, I think Swan Lake
is a pretty compelling...
ROSS: Take some credit
for once, woman!
[laughs]
KAREN (INT): We've waited
two and a half years to do this,
so there's a lot riding
on this emotionally.
And the artists, you know,
they have to rise to that level.
It's now in their hands.
There's nothing I can do.
[upbeat music]
[indistinct chatter]
[Austra vocalizing]
[orchestra warming up]
ANNOUNCER: Thank
you for joining us
for the world premiere of our
new production of Swan Lake.
[applause]
[orchestra tuning]
[orchestra tuning]
[applause]
[orchestra playing Swan Lake,
Act 2, no. 10]
[nervous whispering]
[orchestral music continues]
DANCER: Yes!
[dancers breathing heavily]
[musical section ends]
[applause]
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct conversation]
[indistinct chatter]
[orchestra playing Swan Lake,
Act 3, no. 24]
DANCER: Just for the next one.
It's fine, it's okay.
[indistinct conversation]
[musical section ends]
[heavy breathing]
[ethereal music]
[heavy breathing]
[indistinct murmuring]
[heavy breathing]
[feet pattering on stage]
[orchestra playing Swan Lake,
Act 4, no. 29, Finale]
[music fades to silence]
[music swells back in
for dramatic finale]
Let's save her!
Let's help her!
[feet pattering on stage]
[music swells]
[finale music becomes softer]
[indistinct murmuring]
[music swells poignantly]
[thunderous applause]
[applause continues]
[applause and cheering]
[applause and cheering]
[applause and cheering]
[applause continues]
[applause and cheering]
[applause and cheering]
[applause and cheering]
KAREN: You were so good.
- Thank you.
- Muah!
Thank you.
[applause]
[applause and cheering]
[peaceful, ethereal music]
JURGITA (INT): When
I started ballet,
I just could never even imagine
that this is the life
I would be living.
I made it from zero.
Those memories of stepping
on stage when I was nine
to what I do now,
it makes sense.
I let go, I risk
I'm a soul on stage.
[applause and cheering]
[dancers applauding
and cheering]
And, you know, every second,
I believed every
second of what you did.
- Thank you.
- Every second.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- I poured my heart.
- You sure did.
You were amazing, all of you!
All of you, thank you so much!
All your hard work.
Just so beautiful.
It came so far.
Thank you so much, ladies.
I hope you enjoyed
it a little bit.
- [laughter]
- A lot?
Muah!
Really fantastic
corps de ballet.
Thank you all.
TENE (INT): I loved it.
I think everyone looks
amazing without the tights.
I even had friends that watched
that thought it was beautiful
and were shocked that this
wasn't just the normal thing
that we do.
And I was like, "No,
guys, this is the first"
"classical ballet that
is not requiring us to"
"change half of ourselves
or be anything else."
Like, we are actually just us.
One, two, three...
[laughter]
- ROBERT: Are you okay?
- Yes! [Laughs]
ROBERT: Don't you fuckin'
dare hurt yourself!
[laughter]
Thank you so much, Rob.
ROBERT: Thank you.
You guys were amazing.
- You had fun?
- Yes.
ROBERT: Good. Act 4 was like.
SHAELYNN: I feel like we all
were like... [inaudible]
Hello, sweetheart! [Giggles]
- Did you have a good time?
- The best time.
- It was beautiful, wasn't it?
- It was fantastic.
SHAELYNN: Congrats on
your first Swan Lake.
DANCER: Thank you.
[indistinct conversation]
Do I look cranky?
I mean pretty.
[inaudible]
I'm the ugly ducking.
[water running]
SHAELYNN (INT): I just want
to, like, bow by myself.
One day I'm gonna fucking do it.
I just need to figure out how to
not hold myself back, I think.
And I need to just be like,
try and believe people when they
say nice stuff to me, you know?
Ballet is punk rock as fuck.
Nobody wants to admit
it, but it's true.
JURGITA (INT): It's
a one-in-a-lifetime experience,
to be part of something so big
and be trusted with the choices
I make artistically on stage.
I know that I did my best
in trying to make
her vision alive.
Long lift?
JURGITA (INT): For now,
I have still another
eight to ten years
to dance, hopefully.
It will be time to
transition from dance.
But not yet.
GABRIELA: Congratulations.
KAREN: Oh!
KAREN: Fantastic.
They were fantastic, yeah.
GABRIELA: It just
went another level.
I mean, finally, it all...
No, no, it just
takes time, yeah.
Well, thank God it was tonight
that it gelled...
Yeah, I know!
I was thinking maybe next week
it'll gel, after yesterday.
ROBERT: Remember
when you said, "Show ten"?
"Show ten, it's gonna be great!"
ROBERT: We got show one!
But, you know,
I came expecting to, you know,
have to accept that some things
were gonna be a little bit iffy.
- Yeah, and it was...
- And nothing was iffy.
- Yeah, yeah.
- That's a miracle.
Agreed, agreed!
ROBERT: That's hard work.
GABRIELA: It's hard work!
KAREN (INT): I'm ecstatic.
I mean, they all danced
their little hearts out.
It was just...
Yeah, I was, like...
I could barely move, I was
[indistinct conversation
in background.
They pulled me in to the drama.
Just the way I wanted! [Laughs]
I am so happy and I haven't
even had a drink yet!
Oh, the "Story About Me"?
This is my book,
"A Story About Me"
by Karen Kain! [Laughs]
"When I grow up,
I'm going to be a ballerina."
"I could go out every
night and dance."
Only I said "dace."
"I will be in 'Giselle.'"
"It will be so much
fun being a ballerina."
[laughs]
"Dancing is never really fun."
[laughs]
Oh, dear!
INTERVIEWER: Did you say that?
KAREN: I guess I did.
[reading] "Sometimes afterwards,
you can say",
'That was a really
good experience
'and I really
enjoyed it.' [laughs]
"But you're concentrating
so hard on what you're doing"
"that the only time
it's ever really fun"
"is when you're feeling no pain"
"and things seem
to be going well."
So
I was 27.
I'd forgotten all this stuff.
Oh my God, well...
Oh, this is when we were
filming Giselle, I think.
Oh, this is Frank and I.
Oh my God, we're so young.
Yeah, this is like the final
the final moments in Swan Lake.
The last... the last Swan Lake.
[Swan Lake, end
of Finale playing]
[music swells]
[music ends]
[applause]
[piano music playing]