Ballet Macabre - The Chosen One

Ballet Macabre - Duality

Our ballet horror movie mash up podcast, continues withBLACK SWAN (2010) and US (2019).

In this final instalment of Ballet Macabre we're looking at Duality. To start off, host Emma Lister and guests Amber Hunt and Rose Martin give their insights as professional dancers on what is likely the best known film in this mini genre, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. Though the film won its star Natalie Portman an acting Oscar for her role as the dancer trying to master the dual roles of the white and black swan, how accurate is her portrayal? Do all top level ballerinas have disordered eating? Are all directors sexual predators? And what’s up with the 32 fouettés in this movie? (If you don’t know what those are, don’t worry, we’ll explain!)

The final film in our mini series is Jordan Peele’s Us, the most recent film we’re covering. With a story that highlights the privilege a portion of society enjoys at the expense of others, we ponder whether ballet is truly elitist. We also acknowledge the proximity to wealth and glamour being a ballet dancer provides while not necessarily paying above minimum wage. And finish off the mini series by asking a big question: must we split ourselves in two to be a great dancer?

Bonus reel:
Scary Movie 5

References:
Black Swan 32 fouettés
BBC Panorama doc

Sam Kench on Body Horror

Angela Trimbur Dance

Ballet Macabre - Innocence

This one is hot off the presses! Just as I was about to release the final episode in our mini series, Lucile Hadžihalilović 's award winning INNOCENCE (2004) was made available to stream. I had trouble tracking it down in my early research, and when I finally watched it I knew I had to include it. Its oblique plot follows a year at a mysterious all girls school where ballet is one of the few subjects taught. Though not an outright horror movie, it deals with so many themes from our mini series so far: the Chosen One, Pain and several puzzle pieces from our upcoming final instalment. Not only that, but I knew one of its stars...

Dancer Léa Bridarolli was just 11 when she was chosen to play 'Alice' in Hadžihalilović’s haunting coming of age film. She has many memories from filming, including the audition scene that underpins her character's tragic arc, a scene she was able to play by drawing on an early experience as a young dancer. She and Emma also discuss why ballet dancers (mostly women) so often portray children or young teenagers on stage, and why horror movies have a fixation with scary kids!

References
Mark Kermode's Scary Kids blog post

BONUS REEL
Cabin in the Woods

Ballet Macabre - Pain

BALLET MACABRE continues with SUSPIRIA (1977) and AUDITION (1999) as Emma Lister, long time film lover, podcast host and ballet dancer guides us down the dark hallway that is the use of ballet in horror movies. In this, the second episode in our mini series, we have the theme of pain linking our film pairing:

Guests Richard Bermange and Nandita Shankardass join to give their insights on the original Suspiria directed by Dario Argento, which for all its baroque beauty, rocking Goblin score and undeniable influence on the genre leaves something to be desired in terms of accurate portrayals of ballet classes!

Next we explore the theme of pain, both mental and physical, in Takashi Miike's Audition, another influential horror film that arguably opened the door to the extreme depictions of gore and sadism in the 'torture porn' genre. But for our interviewees, more terrifying still is the eponymous audition scene...

Bonus Reel: RED SPARROW (2018)

References:
The Turning - Room of Mirrors

Ballet Macabre - The Chosen One

We start our mini series with THE RED SHOES (1948) and SUSPIRIA (2018) as Emma Lister, long time film lover, podcast host and ballet dancer guides us down the dark hallway that is the use of ballet in horror movies.

Guests Zoe Ashe-Browne and Diarmaid O'Meara join to give their insights as professional dancers and amateur cineasts on perhaps the foundational ballet horror film: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Red Shoes. They marvel at Moira Shearer's technique, discuss the feasibility of the film's stage calls and ponder the selective marathon that is the path to a professional dance career.

Fast forward 70 years and dance and horror has gone expressionist. Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria remake (don't worry we're cover the first one later!) is a bat-sh*t crazy mash up of choreographers Mary Wigman, Pina Bausch and Martha Graham's work, with some highly meme-able red string costumes to boot. Overflowing with ideas the film opens a discussion on the ultimate chosen one in The Rite of Spring and instances when the dancer/choreographer relationship can turn vampiric.

Bonus reel: Josephine Decker’s MADELINE'S MADELINE (2018)

Roopa Mahadevan | Vocalist/Composer

Hailed a “stirring voice” by the New York Times, Roopa Mahadevan is a leading second-generation Indian classical and crossover vocalist in the American diaspora known for her collaborative spirit. She leads the crossover ensemble Roopa in Flux, where she works with musicians in jazz, soul/R&B, and various global traditions, directs the innovative choir Navatman Music Collective, and sings for leading Bharathanatyam and modern dancers around the world. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, MET Museum, Kennedy Millenium Stage and is a soloist on Christopher Tin’s Grammy Award-winning Calling All Dawns.

She and Emma discuss how to find your ‘flow’ in improv, the influence of her gurus and why Bulgarian choir is the perfect match with classical Indian music!

Roopa's website
Roopa's Album, Roopa in Six Yards

The three questions:

Was there a piece of art that changed everything for you?
A class by artist and activist Daniel Valdez college

Is there a piece of art that you respect, but don't like necessarily?
"Confessional art"

Give us a recommendation!
Maria Popova's The Marginalia website/newsletter (formerly known as Brain Pickings)