legendary dance partnership
In the 1950s, Oleg Briansky was a legend as “the most sought after male dancer in the
world,” 1 established as principal with leading companies in Europe and the USA 2
and partnering top ballerinas such as Margot Fonteyn, Maria Tallchief, Violette Verdy,
and Alicia Markova. He was a personal friend of Princess Grace of Monaco, and at
one stage was planning, with her help, to set up a ballet school in Monte Carlo. His
future wife, Mireille Briane, was, by the age of 16, a principal dancer in Bordeaux 3
and was performing in Paris and London 4. In 1963, Briansky’s meteoric performance
career was tragically cut short by injuries and the onset of arthritis.
Undeterred by such a devastating blow, Briansky turned to teaching, and soon
afterwards, he and his wife, Briane, moved to the USA establishing the Briansky
Saratoga Ballet Center in New York 5, which became one of the most distinguished
summer ballet academies in the world.
The 46-minute warm-hearted documentary, “Happy To Be So” chronicles their
amazing 50-year partnership from their performance days until their supposed
retirement in 2006, something which, in the event, never happened as they started up
again in 2009. Produced and directed by Yelena Demikovsky 6 of New York-based
Red Palette Pictures 7, the film won a Merit Award at the 2009 Indie Fest, was
Official Selection at the Cinedance in Amsterdam in 2010, and is slated to be
screened at Cannes on 18 May.
The film depicts the Brianskys as performers and narrators of their own life story,
highlighted by rare footage from the ‘50s and ‘60s. Piano music from ballet classes
weaves throughout the film echoing their lives. It was in the early 1980s that Briansky
and Princess Grace, together with the famous Russian-born choreographer, George
Balanchine, wanted to start a ballet school in Monte Carlo. The very day the papers
were due to be signed in 1982, Princess Grace tragically died in a car accident. This
was a double blow for Briansky, and, with Balanchine’s death a few months later, he
plunged into a heavy depression.
“The documentary honors these two people whose personalities have complemented
each other — a couple that continues to work and is still vibrant with creativity,
curiosity and humor,” says Demikovsky. “Thousands of young dancers throughout
America and other countries have passed through their classes over the years and been
inspired by them.”
“There is a sense in which this screening at Cannes brings the story, which started out
in France in the early years of the last century, full circle,” added the film’s executive
producer, Brian Singh. “We felt the Cannes Film Festival an appropriate occasion to
mark the fantastic contribution their partnership has made to dance.”
As a late dance critic put it, the documentary is "an affectionate and often funny
portrait celebrating 50 years of a wonderful yin and yang partnership in classic ballet
and married life."
Notes for Editors
1. Dance News, New York, 1952
2. Ballet des Champs-Élysées, Ballet de Paris, London Festival Ballet, and New York
Metropolitan Opera Ballet.
3. Principal Dancer, Grand Theatre, Bordeaux, France.
4. Ballet de Paris, London Festival Ballet.
5. www.briansky.org
6. Yelena Demikovsky is founder of Red Palette Pictures. Born in Russia, she has lived in the
United States for more than 18 years. She is a documentary and narrative filmmaker with a
broad theatre background in the United States and Russia. Demikovsky has directed awardwinning
documentaries such as Unity, The Story of Fenist, Vera: An Intimate Sketch, and
narrative shorts Shell, and Through the Door. She is in post-production of the documentary
Then Comes the Glory, about famed ballet star Rudolf Nureyev, and Black Russian. In
addition, she has written five short scripts, two feature scripts and a two-act play. Demikovsky
has produced two symposia about Rudolf Nureyev - one in New York (1997), the other in St.
Petersburg, Russia (1998). She also contributed interviews and translations to four authors of
Nureyev biographies. She was guest director of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and directed
for Soho Rep in New York City. Demikovsky has two masters degrees, one in theatre
(Moscow, Russia), and another in video (Boston, USA) and had taught theatre directing in
Moscow.
7. www.redpalettepictures.com
No comments:
Post a Comment