BALLET 422
Documentary - 2014 - USA - English - 75 Minutes
Following his success at New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute, Justin Peck became the only current dancer to choreograph for the Company. With just two months to work, he has been commissioned to create the only new ballet in the 2013 winter season. Justin has chosen to set his piece to the 1935 composition, Sinfonietta La Jolla. It will be the 422nd new ballet in the Company's history.
Directed by Jody Lee Lipes
Produced by Ellen Bar, Anna Rose Holmer
World Premiere: Tribeca Film Festival 2014.
Praise:
"Director Jody Lee Lipes delivers an exhilarating third feature with 'Ballet 422'...the documentary moves with the same fluidity that characterizes Peck’s choreography."--
"Jody Lee Lipes’s unassuming documentary watches this young man as he goes about the process of putting the performance together. This isn’t a sensationalistic, watch-everything-go-wrong-as-the-deadline-approaches kind of movie. Rather, it’s a quiet portrait of the amazing amount of work that goes into creating an ineffable piece of art. Peck himself seems to be a quiet man, willing to let the pros around him do their best work, but as Lipes’s camera gets closer and closer to him, we start to see the anxiety and the fear play out on his face. As opening night approaches, we start to feel as nervous as he does."--
"Lipes likes the concentration and focus of the work, and the sound of shorthand and shop talk. Near the end, before the big premiere, there is a fleeting close-up of a dancer’s ravaged feet — a reminder of how taxing this work is, and an apt encapsulation of this absorbing and well-made documentary’s ethos."--
North American Distributor: Magnolia Pictures