Thursday, October 3, 2013

A very few words on Afternoon of the Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq (2013) New York Film Festival 2013


This years documentary from the American Masters series is subtitled Tanaquil Le Clercq, however the film is much more focused on her teacher, director, and husband George Balanchine  than it is on the woman herself.

Nominally the story of dancerTanaquil Le Clercq, aka Tanny, who was tall thin and unique. She grew up with a ballet mother who pushed her into dancing. She met her future husband Balanchine when she was 14 and had been kicked out of her dance class. She formed a close friendship with Jerome Robbins. Eventually she married Balanchine, danced around the world, developed polio, was taken care of by her husband until they divorced, she then became a dance instructor.

I can't tell you more than that or why we should care about her, or what the deal was with her and Robbins other than they could be very close except when they weren't. Mostly I learned about Balanchine's love life and his direction and choreography in a superficial way by people who gushed on their subject with out really saying anything.

That's about all I really can say about the film except if this were cut down by half  this would be a much better film since it would force it to be more focused.

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