Sam Asaert’s Ballet Spiral
In the quiet chaos of backstage, a dancer meticulously laces her pointe shoes while another leans over in fatigue; nearby, a couple rehearses their choreography. These seemingly mundane moments often go unnoticed, yet for Belgian filmmaker Sam Asaert, they reveal a compelling contrast between the polished personas dancers present onstage and their more vulnerable selves behind the curtain. He captures this duality in his film Ballet Spiral, where time stands still as the camera glides through the crowded wings, eventually emerging onto the stage to circle an ensemble of dancers frozen in a tableau, as if traversing a living photograph that “capture[s] the millisecond in which a balletic movement reaches its peak,” says Asaert.
Instead of relying on sophisticated computer-generated imagery, Asaert primarily employed practical techniques. Recognizing dancers’ ability to strike and maintain poses, he instructed them to remain still as the camera floated past. For the mid-air grand jeté, Asaert utilized wirework reminiscent of classic Hong Kong action cinema, harnessing the dancers with a cable-and-pulley system to achieve the lift. Postproduction focused on blending the several takes into one another to create one seamless movement. Wires and harnesses were removed and ethereal water droplets were added, as well as tiny specks of dust as a subtle way to convey the idea of time standing still.
Ballet Spiral was created in collaboration with the Royal Ballet of Flanders.
