TORONTO — The British Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren makes a peculiar protagonist for a full-length work of dance theater. Mainly, “Frame by Frame” is about McLaren’s work — proceeding from 1937 to 1986, a year before his death, though in a less chronological order than it pretends to do so. We’re shown “Swan Lake” back to front: McLaren, in the audience, is behind the dancers. Dancing around the “Swan Lake” pas de deux, McLaren and Glover move nothing like the ballet characters. (The effect seems modeled on that in Matthew Bourne’s internationally popular 1995 “Swan Lake,” where the tragicomic Prince longs for a lyricism he never fully masters.)

Source: New York Times June 03, 2018 22:07 UTC