AllMovie

One of America's most respected documentary filmmakers, Frederick Wiseman, presents a glimpse into the inner workings of a respected ballet company in 2009's La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet. Wiseman and his camera crew traveled to France and watched from the sidelines as the company's choreographers and dancers (among them Emilie Cosette, Aurélie Dupont, Marie-Agnès Gillot, Benjamin Pech, Laëtitia Pujol, and Wilfried Romoli) worked out the details of the major pieces for their 2008 program. In addition to the dancers honing their craft, Wiseman trains his eye on the people backstage who help make the ballet a reality, from the artistic directors and financiers who raise the funds to pay for the production to the stage crew who build the sets and the cleaning crew who sweep up after the show. La Danse was Wiseman's second film about classical dance, after 1995's Ballet (which documented a year in the life of the American Ballet Theater); it received its North American premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.