Jody Lee Lipes’ documentary isn’t so much about a dance as about the process of making one. We follow choreographer Justin Peck from rehearsals to meetings and back again, watching him as he watches his dancers, scribbles in a notebook, listens to the score, and talks with the myriad collaborators who are all a part of the project. It’s like a job-shadowing assignment. By the end of the film, we know much more about Peck’s life as an up-and-coming dancemaker than we do about the ballet we’ve seen him make.
Paz de La Jolla is Peck’s third work for New York City Ballet, but it’s the company’s 422nd new commission—hence the film’s title. More than any company working today, NYCB is organized to create and present new ballets. And as Lipes’ camera threads its way through the warren of hallways at Lincoln Center, we see the legion of artists and technicians required to run that institution. Costume and lighting designers, rehearsal assistants, musicians and conductors, physical therapists and makeup artists—all have an integral part to play, and Peck calls on them all. Between those logistical meetings we see bits and piece of the ballet as it comes together.
Lipes has made a doc in the tradition of Frederick Wiseman: Rather than utilizing interviews and explanatory narrative, we are left to sort out the various locations and situations for ourselves. This uninflected style fits Peck’s calm demeanor. He’s making a complex ballet, full of virtuosic dancing, but he seems to keep any emotional outbursts in check. As time counts down to opening night, he only gets more serious.
If anything is missing from Ballet 422, it’s an extended look at the dance itself. We see phrases in rehearsal, and the inevitable tweaking of details, but we don’t really view the ballet in a full run-through. Even during its premiere, we still watch Peck watching his dance. The camera is focused on the choreographer, dancers reflected in his glasses.
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BALLET 422 Opens Fri., March 13 at Sundance Cinemas. Not rated. 75 minutes.
