#TIFF23: “SWAN SONG” REVIEW

By George Kozera

After a 50-year career with the National Ballet of Canada (first as a dancer then as the company’s Artistic Director), Prima Ballerina Karen Kain chose Swan Lake as her retirement project. Under the skillful eye of Director Chelsea McMullan, SWAN SONG is an intimate and fascinating Documentary that takes the viewer into the world of Ballet; an artform that gets the cinematic short shrift when compared to other entertainment-based industries. Actress Neve Campbell has signed on as Executive Producer.

Karen Kain has been in the public eye since she received worldwide acclaimed for her performance in Swan Lake in 1971. Her ease and demeanour in front of the camera is impeccable, engaging the audience with the minutiae of choreographing and directing a classic piece. There also is an acknowledgment of the racial diversity within the ballerinas, and a decision for them not to wear the traditional pink tights but show their skin colours. I particularly loved Kain’s story of how Rudolf Nureyev whisked her off to a party where she was overwhelmed with being in the centre of celebrities and bowls of cocaine then taken aside by Andy Warhol who made her pose a certain way, snap a Polaroid and ultimately making her the first Canadian to be immortalized on canvas by the Artist.  

Kain is not the only focal point of SWAN SONG. Many young ballerinas talk about their dreams, insecurities, triumphs while we watch their gruelling rehearsals and preparations. The insight provided the Principal Ballerina for this production of the Ballet, Jurgita Dronina, is invaluable as it graphically shows us the toll dancing takes on the body.

I was transfixed throughout SWAN SONG and will admit to shedding a few tears of awe and wonderment.

SWAN SONG screens at TIFF ’23:

Saturday, September 9 at Roy Thomson Hall, 2PM

Monday, September 11 at TIFF Bell Lightbox, 8:30PM

Friday, September 15 at Scotiabank, 1PM