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‘Ballet 422’ demonstrates the artistic process

Justin Peck in “Ballet 422.”Magnolia Pictures photos/Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

If the great Frederick Wiseman makes a documentary about a cultural institution, does that render any other attempts redundant? The fact that Wiseman made two films about ballet — "Ballet" (1995) and "La Danse" (2009) — suggests that even he didn't think the subject was exhausted.

Jody Lee Lipes closely follows the method of Wiseman in "Ballet 422," a chronology of the 422d production ("Paz de la Jolla") from the New York City Ballet, compiling footage of the seemingly random and mundane steps in the process of creating a ballet, bits and pieces that coalesce in the end into a grand, seamless work of art. That he does so in half the time of Wiseman and with the aid of occasional explanatory text sacrifices a little depth and texture for intensity and momentum.

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In a way, Lipes's documentary resembles Jonathan Demme and David Byrne's "Stop Making Sense" (1984) — in which Byrne goes on stage solo with a beat box and the rest of the Talking Heads gather one by one — as much as it does Wiseman's films.

Here the solo performer is Justin Peck (if a fictional version comes out, he'd be played by B.J. Novak), a 25-year-old member of the lowly corps de ballet who has recently been elevated to the position of choreographer. He has three months to write a ballet based on Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu's 1935 Sinfonietta de la Jolla, and he is alone in a studio with a video camera trying out steps. In one shot he can be seen in the background dancing in front of a mirror. The camera's LCD screen dominates the foreground, its image of the dancing Peck reflected on the shiny surface of the table the camera rests on. Few visual metaphors have captured so well the struggle for an artistic concept to emerge from the mind of its creator.

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From this minimal beginning the ballet gathers personnel and material. Peck instructs the lead dancer Tiler Peck (no relation to Justin; in the fictional version she might be played by Marisa Tomei). He consults with the costume department and chooses a colored swatch of cloth. More dancers are instructed. The lighting director stands in front of a giant blue screen adjusting the various lighting cues. The conductor stands alone thrashing his baton to an orchestra rehearsing out of frame. In fits and starts, the finished work takes shape.

Tiler Peck.Magnolia Pictures

Near the end, a climactic segment of the dance can be seen from a distant balcony seat. It is out of focus, with a silhouette of Peck's head in the foreground, as if the production, once just an idea, has sprung forth from his mind and onto the stage. In a perfect match of form and substance, Lipes's film itself reflects Peck's achievement, assembling pieces of the puzzle and projecting the finished work on the screen.

More coverage:

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Peter Keough can be reached at petervkeough@gmail.com.