Black Swan: My Perspective

People still talk about Black Swan, the 2010 psychological thriller that won Natalie Portman her Academy Award.  In the film critic community, it's still a great film.  In the dance community, it's still controversial.  In this article, I'll give my perspective as a serious dancer and dancewear expert.

Before I delve into things, I feel obligated to say that it is an R-rated movie, I am an adult, and I like scary psychological movies.  I also wasn't dancing in a company at the time that the movie was released, but I am now, and I watch Black Swan probably 1 or 2 times a year.  While I wouldn't necessarily say it's one of my favorite movies, I do like it.  I won't summarize the plot for the sake of spoilers, but I will reference certain scenes (such as the "breaking in the pointe shoes" scene, etc.)

 I am also aware of controversy surrounding how much Natalie Portman actually danced and how much dancing was performed by her dance double, Sarah Lane.  I agree with the general dance-community-consensus that various media sources should have acknowledged Lane's enormous part in making the movie as visually stunning as it is.  However, I also think that Natalie Portman did an amazing job training and forming her body so she looked the part and could pull off some of the ballet basics.  Some people criticize Portman and say she doesn't look like a dancer, but I have to disagree.  Dancer's bodies are more diverse than people think, and my (healthy)ballet body is still quite slim and petite like Portman's in the film.

Natalie Portman's character, Nina, wears a wardrobe of mostly pastel pinks, whites, and greys.  These colors are reminiscent of classical ballet and the childish perceptions of it, which go well with the character's personality.  However, many professional dancers turn to dancewear that is black or brightly colored.  In scenes with the whole company, it seems like everyone is wearing black and white.  In real life, it's more likely to see dancers in red, lime green, hot pink, and bright blue in addition to neutrals.

Beyond the colors, most of what the dancers wear is actually realistic.  Many of the leotards Nina and Mila Kunis's character Lily wear are from Yumiko (I believe both wear the Tamara style, and Nina wears the Wendy style.), which is a favored leotard brand among ballet students and professionals.  Most of the female dancers wear tights in pink and black, which is common.  Nina frequently wears shrug sweaters or tank tops over her leos, and she accessorizes with wrap skirts and legwarmers.  All of this is very common and authentic, though most dancers mix it up with other warm-ups like knit shorts.  Nina often wears jewelry like small dangling earrings and small necklaces while dancing.  This is common in some settings, but some companies have rules against jewelry.

For footwear, most female dancers are portrayed wearing pointe shoes or flat ballet shoes.  For daily class and warm up, dancers can choose what shoes they prefer to wear.  As the movie shows, female dancers wear pointe shoes for rehearsals and performances.  In some scenes, Nina wears pointe shoes while hanging around the studio and in the bathroom.  This is realistic.

In the scene where Nina is getting her pointe shoes ready for class, she is shown breaking the shank by bending it, what appears to be completely removing the inner shank, scoring the sole, and sewing on ribbons and elastics.  Different dancers have different methods of breaking in shoes and customizing them to their preferences.  However, to me it looks like Nina is completely removing the shank form her shoes, which would render them unusable as pointe shoes.  It's a quick scene and I may not be seeing it right, but if she is removing the shank, that's not a common or authentic way to break in a pointe shoe and have it still be usable.  Cutting the shank at mid-foot is more common and appropriate.  Nina's other actions are realistic.  There is a scene later in the movie where Nina and her mom appear to be sewing ribbons and elastics onto pointe shoes while sitting at home in their apartment.  Dancers have different preferences on how and where to do this, but this is realistic too.  (If you're interested in brand, Nina's pointe shoes look like Freeds to me.  I have read articles claiming most dancewear on set was from Mirella, so they could be from that brand as well.)

The movie shows some characters with troubling habits.  Lily smokes and takes drugs, and Nina possibly has an eating disorder.  Unfortunately, both characters' issues are relatively common in professional ballet companies. In an art form where both stress and pressure to look a certain way are high, some people turn to drugs, nicotine, and anorexia/bulimia to lose weight or channel stress.   While some dancers who do this develop chronic issues, many quickly discover that these habits are harmful to dance quality and often lead to an increase in injuries.

As far as depictions of company life go, the movie portrays some things quite differently from how they happen in real life.  First, the company seems to be structured with only Beth as a principal dancer, a group of 10 or so soloists, and a corps de ballet.  In a company that size, it's likely that there would have been as many principals as soloists.  It is fairly common for dancers labeled as soloists to debut principal roles (like swan queen) before actually being promoted. For dressing rooms, having soloists "room together" and the principal dancer(s) separate is fairly accurate (at least for performances), but varies from company to company. 

As shown in the movie, it is realistic for several rehearsals to be happening simultaneously in different rooms at a studio.  Usually rehearsals are held with either all dancers learning the same part (like the dancers cast as Odette from all casts learning the part of Odette together), or all dancers in one scene (like the parents and children in the party scene of Nutcracker all learning separate parts in a community setting).  It's less common for rehearsals to be called for one rank alone, like soloists.  In a scene showing Nina learning her swan queen role, a ballet mistress is teaching Nina her choreography.  This is very accurate; usually different members of staff are responsible for memorizing and teaching the choreography in different ballets.  The artistic director usually won't watch rehearsals until after dancers have learned their parts.

One scene shows Nina visiting a chiropractor in a location that appears to be part of the company facility/theater/studio.  It's common for large professional companies to have all or any combination of a chiropractor, PT, nurse, and massage therapist on staff to meet the dancers' needs.  Another few scenes show Nina and Lily meeting with a costumer and getting measurements taken for swan costumes.  Most companies also have a full time costuming team dedicated to creating and modifying dancers' costumes.  In one such meeting, the costumer remarks that Nina's lost weight.  No matter a dancer's state of health, slight weight loss (and inch loss) leading up to performances is very common, especially for dancers performing stressful and very active roles.

Regarding auditions and casting, most companies that employ dancers full time and rank them as corps, soloist, etc. do not call dancers in for auditions.  Auditions are held for new company members and for children who wish to perform with the company in children's parts.  A company like the one in the film would probably not have a sudden audition where the soloists all go into a studio and show a variation.  More likely, the director would just post a rehearsal schedule and start teaching the variation to the soloists he was considering for the lead.  The cast list that's posted in the movie is more like a list that would be posted for a local dance company or a high school play.  Usually cast lists for large professional ballet companies have multiple casts (different dancers will dance each part on different nights).  It's likely that Nina and at least two or three other girls would have all been cast as swan queen, and there would have been a single understudy for all the casts.

When showing the relationships between different people in the company, I think the movie shows interactions that are possible, but not probable.  Tomas's position as artistic director does give him authority over everything within the company.  The movie shows him giving the dancers a lecture about their upcoming performance season while they are performing combinations in class.  This is really unlikely; a director generally would not disrespect dancers and ballet masters by diverting everyone's attention like that.  The film also shows intense competition among the female soloists.  Most dancers who are up for the same part are competitive, but not to that extent.  Dancers have to work together, and most aren't willing to risk a hostile work environment to make their feelings and opinions known. 

The part of the movie that shows Swan Lake's opening night has always been confusing to me, and not because of the psycho drama.  Nina has a breakdown the night before opening night, and when she wakes up, she isn't sure what time it is (but it's light outside).  She rushes to the theater and arrives just in time to get ready and get on stage.  For all major companies, matinee performances happen, but opening night always consists of an evening show.  Evening performances are usually at 7 or 8pm, and company call is usually 2 hours before that.  Unless Nina slept all day and woke up around 4pm (possible, I guess), she's rushing for no reason.