Veronique Doisneau
This past Sunday, I went to the Anthology Film Archives to see Veronique Doisneau, a 32-minute film from 2004 about a Paris Opera Ballet dancer on the eve of retirement. After spending her career dancing in the background as a corps de ballet member, she is for the first time alone on stage in front of a huge audience. In a humorous and sadly earnest mix of spoken word and dance, she takes us through a history of her career, touching on her experiences and dreams. Having no real connection to or knowledge of ballet, I was surprisingly moved by the end of the piece. It’s a stark reminder of the simple beauties in life.
The showing was part of PERFORMA 07, and unfortunately it doesn’t look like there will be another showing in NYC in the near future, but if you happen to be able to catch it anywhere, I really do recommend it.
