‘Ballet 422’ Director Jody Lee Lipes Talks Finding Inspiration in Ballet

Sandra Miska

Ballet dancers have fascinated Hollywood for years.  From the light, teen melodrama “Center Stage” to the dark, Oscar-winning “Black Swan,” for years films have been treating audiences to glimpses into what goes on behind the scenes at prestigious ballet companies, at least fictional ones.  However, is the reality that much different?  Viewers now have a chance to see for themselves, as “Ballet 422,” a documentary about the making of the New York City Ballet’s 422nd repertory ballet, from first rehearsal to opening night, is currently playing in Los Angeles.

The main subject of “Ballet 422” is choreographer Justin Peck. Peck, who was 25 years old during filming in 2013, was also a member of the corps de ballet, but has since been promoted to soloist. His ballet “Paz de la Jolla” was inspired by his childhood in San Diego.

The man on the other side of the camera during this process was director and cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes. Lipes has also directed and photographed episodes of the New York-based television series “Girls,” as well as another ballet film, “NY Export: Opus Jazz.”

Entertainment Voice recently had the opportunity to talk to Lipes about “Ballet 422.”

What attracted you to ballet?  Do you have a dance background?

No, I was hired to make a dance film about five years ago called “NY Export: Opus Jazz” and that was really just a job to me that I was hired to do, and it was this scripted adaptation of a Jerome Robbins’ ballet from the fifties.  I was hired to write that script and co-direct it and shoot it.  In the process of doing that I had to go to the ballet a lot and I had to learn about Jerome Robbins’ work.  He’s the guy who created “West Side Story,” “The King And I” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”  I think what I started to be really interested in was him as a subject, rather than the ballet as a whole, and that’s what I latched onto in the project.  But that was a scripted narrative film that played as a narrative feature in film festivals, and it was on PBS and BBC4.  It was a very stylized and visual, epic film of people performing ballet on the streets of New York.  And then I ended up marrying the producer of that film, Ellen Bar. She was a dancer at the New York City Ballet for about 13 years and she retired to be the Director of Media Projects at New York City Ballet three and a half years ago.   She was moderating a discussion with Justin Peck at the Guggenheim Museum about his second ballet with New York City Ballet, “Year of the Rabbit.”  This was about, I guess, two and a half years ago or so, and I was really interested in what he had to say about his work.  I was really interested in watching him work with a dancer, which was part of that presentation, and then when I saw the work being performed at New York City Ballet at the premiere, I was really entertained by it, and I’m not easily entertained by a ballet.  It’s not my art form of choice.  I’m into movies.  I respect ballet a lot, but it’s not the thing that entertains me the most.  But I was really entertained by Justin’s work and it also seemed like people who really knew a lot about the history of ballet, and who are really huge ballet fans were also into his work too.  He has a pretty broad audience.  I liked the idea of making a film about him and not ballet specifically.  He could be doing any kind of art form and I would still want to follow him and learn about how he does (some) thing and try to get better at what I do by learning his process.  So, I would say I’m not specifically interested in ballet.  It’s more like the people behind it who interest me.  So that’s how I got into this project.

In “Ballet 422,” we never see the subjects speak directly to the camera.  Was there any reason why you choose the fly on the wall approach as opposed to conducting interviews?

I don’t know what that’s considered something that you have to do or are supposed to do.  There’s a lot of great documentaries that don’t do that.  I don’t know if that’s required or if it’s the standard, but it seems to be based on people’s reactions to this [laughing].  I think my favorite documentaries are vérité films, and those are the films that I like watching the most, and I just wanted to make a film like that.  I think particularly with an art form like ballet, it’s just so physical and visual it lends itself to telling a story that way because you get to see people physically doing what they do.  You don’t need to hear them talking about it.  And also, with this film in particular, there’s a timeline built in.  There’s a ticking clock built in as we approach the premiere, which also helps with the narrative.  The narrative helps to tell the film in a vérité way, rather than having people explain what’s happening.

There are so many great players in “Ballet 422.”  Besides Justin there’s the dancers, the costume designers, and the man in charge of the lights.  Who was your favorite person to film?

Justin.  He’s the person who made me want to tell this story and he’s the person who’s at the center of this whole project.  And he’s the person who seems to be the most focused and the most determined and the most carried by doing the work, and he’s the person I liked shooting the most.  And I think that’s why this film is about him.

Would you ever make a documentary in Los Angeles?

Yeah, sure, if the right person or thing happened here.

In the film it was made really apparent that the ballet dancers were focused and dedicated.  Did they ever find the camera intrusive?

No, I don’t think so.  You’d have to ask them, but it seemed like they were pretty comfortable.  Because I had done “Opus Jazz” with some of those dancers before, and a lot of them had seen it, even if they weren’t in it, because a lot of them were in the company at that time.  I think I had a little bit of trust from them, and that’s something that I think takes a long time to earn when you’re doing a vérité film, so I had a leg up in that way.  I got to work a little faster because that trust was already there.  And also Ellen Bar, the producer of the film, has been making 20-30 short documentaries a year, promotional films with the company.  They’re really comfortable with her too and they’re used to being filmed…  I think they were comfortable for those two reasons.  And there wasn’t any time that they asked us to turn the camera off or anything like that.

Would you have any advice for someone who’s interested in making a documentary film?

I think it’s all about finding what you’re really interested in, something you’re going to stay interested in for a long time.  It’s a long process.  Just work really, really hard.  And that’s one of the things I admire about Justin, how hard he works and when he’s done with something it’s just on to the next.

Would you ever make another film with Justin?

I don’t know.  Maybe down the road a bit, when he’s older and the circumstances have changed a lot.  Yeah, I would consider doing that.   I really like how the Maysles Brothers made a series of films about Jeanne-Claude and Christo the artists, and how that’s something that really developed over time.  I think it’s interesting to tell stories that way.

“Ballet 422” is currently playing at Sundance Cinemas West Hollywood, Landmark Theatres Westside Pavilion, and Laemmle Playhouse 7 in Pasadena.