Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq (2013)

Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq (2013)

  • 7.0
  • 91 mins
  • Documentary

Storyline

Of all the great ballerinas, Tanaquil Le Clercq may have been the most transcendent. With a body unlike any before hers, she mesmerized viewers and choreographers alike - her elongated, race-horse physique became the new prototype for the great George Balanchine. Her unique style, humor and authenticity redefined ballet for all dancers who followed. Amazingly, she was the muse to not one great artist but two; both George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins loved her as a dancer and a woman. Balanchine married her and Robbins created his famous version of Afternoon of a Faun for Tanny. Tanaquil Le Clercq was the foremost dancer of her day until it suddenly all stopped. On a tour of Europe, she was struck down by polio and paralyzed. She never danced again.—Director, Nancy Buirski


Plot Keywords

ballet, f rated, paralysis, epidemic


Short Review

It is the mythic resonance of her story that makes it a worthy subject a documentary. But it is the down-to-earth human touches that make "Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq" worth watching.


Trailer