As most NYCB followers are aware, Ellen Bar and Sean Suozzi are filming Robbins' 1958 jazz-infused ballet using urban locations. As the cast and crew wrap up rehearsals and prepare for the shoot, Adam Hendrickson is tracking the progress on a new blog. Check it out here.

Big news, too, from its FaceBook page:

A film adaptation of Jerome Robbins' 1958 ballet, shot on location in New York City, newly acquired for public television broadcast in 2010 by Thirteen for WNET.org as a "Dance in America" presentation for the "Great Performances" series on PBS.

From the publicist:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE




After a preliminary shoot in June 2007, NY Export: Opus Jazz ( http://www.opusjazz.com ), a ballet by Jerome Robbins, resumed production on August 24th, 2009. The film, conceived and created by Ellen Bar and Sean Suozzi, New York City Ballet soloists, and directed by Henry Joost and Jody Lee Lipes, shoots for four weeks in various New York City locations. The documentary portion of this film is being directed by Matt Wolf and Anna Farrell. The entire film will be broadcast as a Dance in America special on PBS' Great Performances series on THIRTEEN on a to-be-determined airdate in the spring of 2010 (check local listings).

"Sean and I danced Opus Jazz at the New York City Ballet revival in 2005," explains Bar. "We thought the ballet seemed a bit dated in its 1950's trappings, but the themes that came out in the dancing -- the energy and raw emotion of urban youth -- were just as relevant today as they were then." Mr. Suozzi adds that because the ballet is danced in sneakers, instead of toe shoes, it seemed especially ripe to be filmed on location. "We also decided to put our dancers in regular clothes, instead of costumes," says Suozzi. "It makes the dance even more accessible. Ballet doesn't have to be a mysterious art form -- it's our most natural, visceral expression."

Sanctioned by the Robbins Trust through nine unanimous votes, the first NY Export: Opus Jazz shoot in June 2007 was rapidly assembled in just three weeks. "We were able to get permission to film on the High Line, booked the dancers and the crew and made it happen fast," says Bar. The production team started with the pas de deux -- featuring New York City Ballet soloists, Rachel Rutherford and Craig Hall -- in hopes that they'd have something to show people to help raise the money needed for this film.

The preliminary shoot proved the on-location interpretation of the piece to be a thrilling success, and the Opus group has been fundraising ever since. After the production was acquired by Thirteen for WNET.ORG, the group was able to schedule the additional weeks required to finish the project. "We still need to raise a significant amount of money for post-production," admits Suozzi, "but with shooting well underway, we are excited to have the opportunity to make this film."

“Great Performances has been bringing the best in American dance to public television viewers via the Dance in America series since 1976,” says Great Performances Executive Producer David Horn. “WNET was very fortunate to be able to collaborate with Robbins during his lifetime on several landmark productions for television. So we are proud to serve as the broadcast partner for this film, and we are confident the adaptation will make an impact on today's generation, as it has on generations before.”

NY Export: Opus Jazz is a non-profit project, and everything has been funded through foundations and private donors. The cast is made up of current New York City Ballet dancers. This is the first Robbins' dance film since "West Side Story." Both creators and co-executive producers agree -- "it needs to be made."

For the past several weeks, the team has been busy scouting New York City locations. The remaining sequences will be shot in four movements, in four different locations around the city. It was always the intention to film each section in a different place because they all have different moods and atmospheres. As for the start of the film over two year ago,"It was incredible to get to shoot on the High Line at the time, especially because no one else was allowed up there and it was before the construction. It really fits the pas de deux perfectly," says Bar.

The original ballet was 28 minutes long. The new film will include every step of the ballet from first to last, but will also have narrative scenes between each movement where the audience will get to know the characters -- the "back story" that Mr. Robbins was so insistent about with all of his dancers. "There will also be a documentary accompanying the ballet on Great Performances that follows the story of the original ballet up until its adaptation for film," says Suozzi. "It will introduce the audience to both the original 1958 dancers and the present-day New York City ballet dancers as the beautiful, inspirational people that they are." Bar believes that, "it also allows people around the world to meet both the New York City Ballet and to be introduced to Jerome Robbins in a modern context -- he's really a timeless artist."

NY Export: Opus Jazz is a production of Bar/Suozzi Productions in association with Thirteen for WNET.ORG. For more information about the film, please visit http://www.opusjazz.com.

Opus Jazz is also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/NY-Export-Op...78620832?ref=ts.

About WNET.ORG
New York public media company WNET.ORG is a pioneering provider of television and web content. The parent of Thirteen, WLIW21 and Creative News Group, WNET.ORG brings such acclaimed broadcast series and websites as Worldfocus, Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, Charlie Rose, Wide Angle, Secrets of the Dead, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, Visions, Consuelo Mack WealthTrack, Wild Chronicles, Miffy and Friends, and Cyberchase to national and international audiences. Through its wide range of channels and platforms, WNET.ORG serves the entire New York City metro area with unique local productions, broadcasts and innovative educational and cultural projects. In all that it does, WNET.ORG pursues a single, overarching goal - to create media experiences of lasting significance for New York, America and the world. For more information, visit http://www.wnet.org.

I wonder, I wonder.... I was only half-listening/watching MSNBC a few nights ago, when they had an item about a filming that was going on on the High Line, and when they reviewed the dailies, the director went "OH, MY GAWD!!! Look in the background; somebody's getting out of the shower and doesn't have the curtains drawn. Oh my gawd, oh my gawd, somebody get me a Bromo, fast!"

I wonder if it was this shoot?!

A friend who knew Robbins well had a funny thing to say, after watching the first, breathy excerpt shown at the Gala a couple of years back:

My comment: "Robbins would be rolling over in his grave if he saw this."

Friend: "Jerry Rolling over? No. He'd be coming back!"

This is real difficult for me as I fell madly in love with this ballet in the 70s watching the Joffrey. I even got to learn it but knew I would never be right for it. What an honor to work with Wilma Curly!
To me this ballet is perfect in the way it captures its time. But this new interpretation is approved by the Trust so I will certainly hope it is a great success. I definitely have no objections to the wonderful cast!

I'm curious how this will work out, especially for a one-act, plotless ballet. It's always been my experience that interpolated narration that wasn't intended in the original can destroy the flow of a work. For those of you who have been lucky enough to see this ballet in the past, what do you think?

There always seemed to have been some kind of subtext going on between and among the movements, particularly the sequence with the girl being thrown off the roof. It sometimes seemed unmotivated, other times there was a growing sense of menace that built through the dance. But exactly why? That had to be some offstage business.

PS. Come to think of it, that's a reversal of the old dramatic irony, where the audience knows better than the characters what's actually going on, and which Robbins had given a good workout in West Side Story. Putting the shoe on the other foot or standing a concept on its head are time-honored Robbins characteristics!

The revival at NYCB a few years back had little sense of menace. It looked uncomfortably like "The Mickey Mouse Club" at times. The first part of the new film, shown at a NYCB gala - the bi-racial pas de deux - appeared rather trite to say the least: breathy shots from a camera on a boom of Rachel Rutherford and Craig Hall embracing and gazing deeply into each other's eyes on the High Line. I had to believe Robbins intended something much more immediate and visceral.

I recall Beatriz Rodriguez and Paul Sutherland barely looking at each other. To me the pas was all about their feelings boiling over inside and not showing one iota on the outside.



Wilma Curley was the statics girl 24/7. She used to drop her cigarette and put it out with her foot, on the marely dance floor.

Robbins gave us boiling uptempo in West Side. In "Opus Jazz" here he gave us boiling downtempo. A very cool Cool.

We have a broadcast date! Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 8 p.m. EST. (As always, check local listings.)

Thanks to the film's publicist:

Film Version of Jerome Robbins’ NY EXPORT: OPUS JAZZ
Makes Broadcast Premiere on THIRTEEN’s Great Performances on PBS

(New York, NY – Nov. 4, 2009) Shot on location all over present-day New York City, NY Export: Opus Jazz takes Jerome Robbins’ 1958 jazz ballet, of the same name, and recreates it for a new generation. Created, produced, and danced by members of the New York City Ballet, NY Export: Opus Jazz (www.opusjazz.com) will air on THIRTEEN’s Great Performances series on Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 8 p.m. EST (check local listings). Conceived by Ellen Bar and Sean Suozzi, New York City Ballet soloists, and directed by Henry Joost and Jody Lee Lipes, NY Export: Opus Jazz completed shooting in and around New York City at the end of September 2009.

Bar and Suozzi danced in Jerome Robbins' NY Export: Opus Jazz when it was revived by New York City Ballet in 2005. They were struck by the themes that came out in the dancing – the energy and raw emotions of urban youth – which makes the ballet just as relevant today as it was when it was first conceived in the 1950's. With a couple of changes – street clothes instead of costumes and New York City locations instead of a stage – they believed that a film of this ballet would be very accessible to both novices and balletomanes.

After NY Export: Opus Jazz was sanctioned by all nine members of the Robbins' Trust – not only an approval first but an immediate vote of confidence – the pas de deux, "Passage for Two," was shot in June 2007. Filmed at the High Line (pre-renovation), it features New York City Ballet soloists Rachel Rutherford and Craig Hall and was shot in just two days. Bar and Suozzi utilized this preliminary sequence to help raise funds for the entire film.

The film, like the ballet, is divided into five movements and was shot on location at a gymnasium in Carroll Gardens (Brooklyn), the McCarren Park Pool in Williamsburg (Brooklyn), the Imlay building in Red Hook (Brooklyn) and at the Loew's Theater, circa 1929, in Jersey City. "It was always our intention to shoot each section in a different place because each movement has different moods and atmospheres," explains Bar.

"There was a really strong feeling on set that we were making something special and that we had been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and a tremendous responsibility," says Suozzi. "It was very intimidating to be the first to adapt Robbins' work for film since his death, especially because of West Side Story, which is a masterpiece of both dance and cinema." Bar adds that the dancers were surprised, at first, at the thoroughness and the professionalism of the production. "They are used to seeing us just as dancers and not as producers, but seeing how much the directors and crew cared and how much work had gone into the planning of it really inspired them to give it their all, take after take."

The original ballet was 28 minutes long. The film includes every step of the ballet from first to last – danced by New York City Ballet dancers – but also has a narrative scene between each movement where the audience is introduced to the characters. Accompanying the ballet on Great Performances will be a documentary, by Matt Wolf and Anna Farrell, which follows the story of the original ballet up until its adaptation for film.

”Since 1976, Great Performances has been bringing the best in American dance to public television viewers via the Dance in America series,” says executive producer David Horn. “WNET was very fortunate to be able to collaborate with Robbins during his lifetime on several landmark productions for television. So, we are proud to serve as the broadcast partner for this film, and we are confident the adaptation will resonate with today’s generation, just as the original work did with generations past.”

"We wanted to make something that held its own as dance and as serious cinema, and seeing it come together in the editing room, we think we've achieved that,” say Bar and Suozzi. “We feel like it's the kind of dance movie we've been wanting to see for a long time; it has everything: amazing choreography and music, vibrant characters, a bold cinematic style and, of course, the best dancers in the world, New York City Ballet dancers - all set against the backdrop of the real New York City, the city that we love."

For more information about the film, please visit www.opusjazz.com

NY Export: Opus Jazz is also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/NY-Export-Op...78620832?ref=ts

About WNET.ORG

New York public media company WNET.ORG is a pioneering provider of television and web content. The parent of Thirteen, WLIW21 and Creative News Group, WNET.ORG brings such acclaimed broadcast series and websites as Worldfocus, Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, Charlie Rose, Wide Angle, Secrets of the Dead, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, Visions, Consuelo Mack WealthTrack, Wild Chronicles, Miffy and Friends, and Cyberchase to national and international audiences. Through its wide range of channels and platforms, WNET.ORG serves the entire New York City metro area with unique local productions, broadcasts and innovative educational and cultural projects. In all that it does, WNET.ORG pursues a single, overarching goal – to create media experiences of lasting significance for New York, America and the world. For more information, visit www.wnet.org.

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