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Description

The Paris Opera Ballet is one of the world's great ballet companies. LA DANSE shows how a ballet company functions from administration, technical support, and classes, to the rehearsal and/or performance of seven ballets— Paquita by Pierre Lacotte, The Nutcracker by Rudolf Nureyev, Genus by Wayne McGregor, Medea by Angelin Preljocaj, The House of Bernarda Alba by Mats Ek, Romeo and Juliet by Sasha Waltz and Orpheus and Eurydyce by Pina Bausch. The film is a profile of all aspects of the ballet company, one of Frances principal cultural institutions. The film immediately draws us into the rehearsals and shows preparations for performances of seven ballets, including The Nutcracker by Rudold Nureyev and Medea by Angelin Preljocaj, widely considered to be the most important contemporary choreographer working in ballet today. It is a testament to both Wisemans love of dance and the respect of the Opera that he was allowed full access to film all facets of this revered institution from the administration offices to the costumers department, illustrating the sometime tensions between a commercial sensibility and creative integrity.