One Last Dance
Patrick Swayze dances once again. A well-known actor who has been in plays and in more than two dozen films, including the 1987 classic "Dirty Dancing," Swayze has a role this time dancing for the concert stage in the film "One Last Dance." He co-produced, acts, dances and wrote music for the DVD that Screen Media Films released on August 23, 2005. A principal with the Eliot Feld Ballet, Swayze retired from the company when an old football injury required that he undergo knee surgery and an infection ensued.
Besides being his dance partner, wife and co-producer business associate, Lisa Niemi also wrote and directed "One Last Dance." She, too, has many theater and film credits, and has danced with New York Contemporary Dancers. The couple work as individ-uals and also as a team to capture the heart of experiences in the performing arts world.
The film's story spotlights the fate of a world-renowned dance company, Dance Motives, that loses its brilliant artistic director, Alex McGrath (played by Matthew Walker who has appeared in numerous films), to a massive stroke. Threatened with survival, the company's continued existence depends on the return of three retired members (Swayze as Travis McPhearson, Niemi as Chrissa Lindh, and George de la Peña, ex-principal with American Ballet Theater and experienced actor who portrayed Vaslav Nijinsky in the Herbert Ross film "Nijinsky," as Max Delgado).
To keep the company afloat rather than succumb to many other dance companies' fate of "going under," the new artistic director begs the trio to perform Alex's finest piece for a Memorial Gala. Alex had choreographed the legendary dance especially for them seven years earlier, but it had never been performed.
Battling time and mixed emotions about Alex, the three former prin-cipals must reconcile their differences and reunite to save the company. They had left dancing for personal reasons, mostly involving lack of confidence as well as personal issues. Taking separate paths, one owns several fitness centers, one scrapes by giving public school demonstrations, and one performs in a club with a knife thrower.
The trio secretly hopes to re-connect with the passion and magic they had once felt dancing together, and Travis and Chrissa hope to rekindle the love they once felt for each other. But to do this, they must dance the very piece that destroyed this love and passion in a heartbreaking way. Flashbacks gradually reveal that Alex was abusive and nasty toward the three, and his constant taunts eventually caused Chrissa to have a mental breakdown. In his own world shutting others out, Travis had betrayed Chrissa. At this reunion he learns he had fathered Chrissa's young daughter. Travis was unable to remain with the company after Chrissa left. He is plagued by stiffness and injury, and Max is carrying abandonment issues.
At 40, it's difficult to achieve a principal dancer level of competency. But with sweat and work on the basics, even in a class for "adult beginners," the trio reach a semblance of past excellence. As they work to regain the healing balm of dancing, they dance their hearts out, often alongside brilliant young dancers.
Age may diminish the physical abil-ity to perform pyrotechnics, but not the form and feeling of heart-rendering memorable performance. Real-life ballet teacher, Stefan Wenta, plays Oreste, the old teacher who tells the three they need to "look for the heart" of the dance. There is a difference, he says, between copying movement and having it manifest itself through your own mind and emotion.
A stunning sense of motion moves throughout the film, attributable to the choreographers Alonzo King, Dwight Rhoden, Patsy Swayze and Doug Varone. The company's corps are renowned dancers whose movement dazzles with enthralling panache and gusto.
Desmond Richardson plays Daryl. Rasta Thomas's Timmy is the only corps member with a speaking role. During the filming in 2001, Swayze and de la Peña both told Thomas they wished they could dance like him, which gave Thomas the resolve to join a ballet company, first the Kirov and later the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Other acclaimed dancers in the film company are Tai Jimenez, Bambi Swayze, Jamie Bishton, Stephanie Slater, Heather Thompson, Dwight Rhoden and Yosuke Mino--all of whom have performed with major companies.
The dynamic Brazilian-influenced music from Stacy Widelitz enhances much of the corps dancing. Some beautiful moments of cinematography enhance a bare ballet studio rehearsal hall to create a kind of fantasy.
Ten years in the making, the film was a labor and manifestation of Swayze's and Niemi's personal and professional love and dedication. They had to overcome many hurdles, such as "Hollywood business hell," change in the production company and high costs. The low budget film was shot in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, in 2001, and has appeared in five film festivals.
"One Last Dance" takes place in New York City's concert dance world, the long-time capitol of the dance world. Thousands of dancers annually descend upon NYC to train toward securing a place in one of the handful of dance companies. Usually these dancers have spent years taking classes at least five days a week, with sometimes more than two classes a day, foregoing the usual childhood activities, and possessing an unrelenting commitment and dream. Competition is fierce for the few school and company openings. And even if the dance career is successful, it is limited by wear on the body and age.
The film portrays the challenges, heartbreaks, missed opportunity, leaving dance too soon, and great amount of time and energy spent so that a piece can live for a matter of minutes or hours of theater art dance. Bad bosses, falling in love and misunderstanding between people in whatever area of life are often part of the dance experience.
"Dance is a perfect metaphor for life," Niemi has been quoted as saying, "On the physical side, you're born, you peak, and then your body starts to deteriorate - but our spirits don't. This story is about the courage to find and then live that spirit."
Reviews have commented on how wonderful the film is. Some have said the acting is sometimes overwrought in angst-ridden confessionals and brooding shots of the actors against the New York City skyline, that the script a bit self indulgent and that there's much ado about very little.
But this film, above all, is poignantly engaging. Viewers feel the emotions of dancers who are passionate about what they lovingly do. Dance aficionados will not want to miss this film. "One Last Dance," with its theme about performers who persevere to bring art to fruition, is sure to resonate with former dancers and to inspire current and future dancers.
See, www.onelastdancemovie.com, for further information on "One Last Dance." It is rated PG for brief strong language and discussion of an illegitimate child. The DVD is available for $20.99 on amazon.com.