I made a list of the recommended movies for myself and decided to check if Last Dance was offered on Netflix for instant streaming. Indeed, it was! Here is the description given at Netflix to describe the film-
"Documentarian Mirra Bank goes behind the scenes to capture a contentious collaboration between the directors of avant-garde dance company Pilobolus and children's author Maurice Sendak, who supplies the building blocks for a dance piece lionizing a holocaust legacy. As the two camps face off over aesthetics, what emerges is a fascinating, revelatory look at the creative process, culminating in a poignant rendering of Sendak's vision."
So I watched it last night and found it intriguing. As you know, Maurice Sendak is one of my FINM. He is featured very prominently in the documentary since it is his vision of the holocaust that is translated into a dance piece for the stage. It gives a very telling insight into his mind. I had no idea that this was part of his personal history and now see why there is darkness in his stories. It's more than understandable that this would effect everything he did. Maurice designed the costumes for the dancers going so far as to sketch directly onto the leotards as the dancers wore them. He also provided an illustration that was enlarged and used as the backdrop for the stage.
The dancers in the company are amazing. They were creative, athletic, skilled, beautiful and brave. Two of the dancers ended up completely nude at the end of the piece and I found it startling and compelling to see how willingly they opened themselves up to be that vulnerable on stage even though the director of the company felt it was the wrong creative choice for the piece. Ultimately, Maurice won this creative battle. Watching the dancers' creative process as they tested their bodies with inventive, physically challenging choreography was fascinating. I will be scouring the internet to see if there are other films about this dance company.
I love that there is at least this one film featuring Maurice Sendak talking and explaining an aspect of his life that I had never known before. I thought my relationship with him was limited to the children's stories that he left for us. Now I will have to see if there is more of him on film somewhere. It's a bit sorrowful to be getting to know him better only now after he is gone.
Thank you for the great suggestion, Lisa - I really enjoyed this film!
