Le Grand Bal
I knew little about this film, just that it was about a week of dancing in France. Could be interesting, I thought. It turns out that Le Grand Bal is a dance and music festival so beloved and jubilant that I was intensely jealous that I was not there, experiencing the joy of the two thousand enthusiasts of traditional folk dance and music from southern France and beyond. And I don’t even like to dance.
For me, this film was a million times more interesting and exciting than most films about dance, especially ‘high art’ forms like ballet, modern dance, ballroom dancing, etc., even though there are fantastic films on all of those disciplines (First Position, Pina, Mad Hot Ballroom). Le Grand Bal feels like a special invitation into an intimate and secret world. This observation of a weeklong country music and dancing festival in central France illuminates both the meditative and ecstatic elements of communal art and expression.
Rarely do you see people doing something they love so much, and having so much fun. Workshops start at 10am to teach particular dances and dancing styles. In the evening the big dances happen, in multiple tents across the edenic rural festival site, where different musical groups perform. When the official dances end, the night owls jam, playing their own music and doing whatever they want. The older people tend to populate the daytime events while a whole new crowd emerges from their tents, hammocks and sleeping bags after dark.
One of the commendable qualities of the film is that it is very much about regular people. Folk dancing does indeed necessitate the existence of ‘the folk’ and here they are, the types of working people who created and evolved these types of dances over hundreds of years. It is an inclusive category, and Le Grand Bal does seem to be a very inclusive event. It is independent and non-corporate. It is about play, not performance. It attracts all ages and families. It is how I imagine a rave would be if it were fuelled by wine and history instead of ecstasy.
Life is not just a bed of roses, however. By filming conversations between various groups of friends and festival-goers, filmmaker Laetitia Carton hones in on less upbeat questions like sexual politics, ageism and issues of consent. A show of hands suggests that many women have been touched in sexual and other inappropriate manners without their consent, and did not know how to respond. Some older men use the dances as an opportunity to be physically close to much younger women. As a consequence, many middle-aged women find it difficult to find partners and are less often asked to dance. Many young women confess to still being too shy to ask a man to dance. Women frequently dance together, and while many are romantically interested in the same sex, others do it for convenience. And then there is the question of leading, still the domain of the man. But many of the men always ask a woman if she would like to lead when they ask her to dance. Some women say they love the opportunity (although sometimes it can be difficult to physically move a much larger man) while others say they’ve come to the dance to give up all control. As in all relationships, even those as fleeting as a dance, some elements are uncomplicated while others are fraught.
Visually the film is enormously immersive, twirling the viewer immediately into the colourful sights and joyous sounds. It is a sensory experience, where you can feel the warm earth, the press of a hand on your back, the taste of wine and imagine being one with the crowd. The free-form nature of the film (meandering from tent to tent, to breakfast, to a gathering in the woods, to a couch where people rest in the wee hours of the morning) is in keeping with the nature of the event. Occasionally the lack of structure gets a little fatiguing or repetitive. Le Grand Bal is very much an artistic achievement, not a document or a study. And it is a love letter to an event where people are having an amazing time.
Plays Sunday, September 30, 2018 at 11:30 AM at International Village 10 and
Wednesday, October 3, 2018 at 9:30 PM at SFU Goldcorp. Watch the trailer.