Joni Mitchell-inspired ballet caught on film

by Bob Clark
Calgary Herald
September 29, 2007

If you missed out on Alberta Ballet's stunning premiere of the work earlier this year, take heart.

You can still experience all the richness and excitement of the Joni Mitchell-inspired ballet The Fiddle and The Drum -- but on film, just as a select crowd at the film's New York premiere on Tuesday did.

"It was extraordinary -- everybody was in the theatre," says Alberta Ballet artistic director Jean Grand-Maitre, who found himself sitting in New York's Sunshine Cinema just in front of television personality Rosie O'Donnell, next to jazz legend Herbie Hancock, surrounded by musical luminaries and broadcasting heavyweights from around the globe.

All were eager to witness Canadian pop culture icon Mitchell's unique collaboration, first with the world of ballet, and now, film.

"People called it a 'triumph,'" Grand-Maitre said. "A lot of Joni Mitchell experts who were there loved the ballet and said it made them appreciate her music even more, just watching the film.

"When it was over, they applauded for about seven minutes."

A similar response greeted the original presentation of the ballet itself -- commonly referred to at the time as Dancing Joni -- last February in Calgary.

Choreographed by Grand-Maitre, The Fiddle and The Drum brought nine Mitchell songs -- including two new songs (and a re-mix of "Big Yellow Taxi") featured on her just-released CD Shine -- into close harmony not only with the expressive potential of contemporary ballet but also with the projections of some of the singer-songwriter's politically edged art work.

The Dancing Joni production was filmed during dress rehearsal as well as on opening night, with the final version borrowing the best from both performances.

The film is making its Canadian premiere at the Calgary Film Festival.

Prior to the film's New York screening, Mitchell described her collaboration on the ballet-musical and the creation of the film that followed as the "happiest" project of her life, Grand-Maitre said.

"An Alberta production from beginning to end, the film is extraordinary in what it says about what we do in Alberta," said Joe Novak, the film's executive producer. "Whether you're into ballet or not makes no difference, because the film is visually so rich, so captivating, that you can't take your eye off the screen."

Novak recalls the first phone conversation he had with Mitchell about the film portion of The Fiddle and The Drum project.

"It was about an hour long and Joni was explaining what she wanted to do -- and I think I was understanding it," Novak says, laughing. "But at the end of it, I said: 'Look, Joni, what we want to do here is help you realize your dream and your vision, along with Jean's.'

"And that's exactly what we did."

The film shoots were carried out under the watchful eye of Mario Rouleau, an award-winning independent Montreal television and film director who specializes in capturing such big-ticket entertainment events as the annual Governor General's Awards galas, Cirque du Soleil and dance performances featuring Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, among others.

"When they told me I would be doing a show with Joni, I was really excited," Rouleau said. "Joni Mitchell is one of the best artists I've ever known, musically speaking, since I was very young.

"I felt like it was some kind of a privilege. They sent me the music and I listened to it many times in my car or on my iPod so that it was already in my head (when we started to film)."

Because he had to film twice in one day, Rouleau said he didn't have the luxury of a run-through to determine the best setup for his seven cameras.

"We just had to be ready to do it the first time, and try to get it better on the second time."

The finished 48-minute film is based mostly on the opening night performance, "because the energy of the dancers was better," Rouleau said.

"When we don't have three weeks of rehearsal, or even two days, it's mostly crazy -- but sometimes something magical happens."

In the actual filming, Mitchell's nine songs were his guide for what amounted to a live edit, Rouleau recalled. "The music was really inspiring -- and the dancers were inspired, too. So I put the sound loud and tried to 'live' the music."

Did Mitchell, an exacting presence in the recording studio, make any specific demands before or after shooting was completed?

"She didn't talk about the kind of framing she needed," Rouleau said. "She talked about the energy and the feeling she wanted."

Mitchell spent about six weeks of 10-hour days tweaking details in Rouleau's live edit of The Fiddle and The Drum to come up with the final version.

"Sometimes when we work with big artists like that, it's not an exchange," Rouleau said. "It's more: 'You have to do that.' With Joni it was a matter of exchanging -- and it was really fun and easy."