THE HEART DANCES

This elegant new film from director Rebecca Tansley (Crossing Rachmaninoff) takes us backstage at the Royal New Zealand Ballet as a brilliantly theatrical European interpretation of a New Zealand classic film re-enters the culture that inspired it.

Czech choreographer Jiří Bubeníček and his twin brother and designer, Otto are stars in the European dance world, creators of vital, innovative contemporary ballets. Director Rebecca Tansley follows them from Prague to Aotearoa as they take up an invitation from the Royal New Zealand Ballet to expand their adaptation, made in Germany in 2015, of Jane Campion’s film. Tansley’s documentary feasts on the sheer beauty of the Bubeníčeks’ work – the music, the theatricality, the costumes, the suite of achingly expressive pas de deux at the heart of the piece.

Tansley observes the enormous reserves of skill and discipline required of classical performers, all the more to savour the thrill when everything takes flight. Intercutting rehearsal and performance, The Heart Dances weaves a seductive, elegant celebration of a vital, centuries-old art.

Aeroplane Music was proud to be Music Supervisors of this production, licensing classical pieces from Michael Nyman, Charles Ives, Bedřich Smetana, Chopin, Debussy, Brahms, Flavio Villani, Shostakovich, Alfred Schnittke plus more contemporary artists Minuit, James Webster, Moss Te Ururangi Patterson, Bic Runga and Aldous Harding to name a few.

For more music details head to the film’s website.