Episode 591: In The Seats With...Chelsea McMullan, Sean O'Neill and 'Swan Song'

Mounting something beautiful can be an act of all out war...On this very special episode we dive into the art of creation in one of the more hallowed halls of performance art in our fair country.  It's time to mount an iconic ballet coming off of the pandemic, it's time for a 'Swan Song'SWAN SONG immerses viewers inside one of the world’s leading ballet companies as it mounts a legacy-defining new production of Swan Lake, directed by ballet icon Karen Kain on the eve of her retirement.  The verité-driven feature documentary closely follows Kain and a group of young dancers drawn from the National Ballet of Canada’s ranks, weaving Swan Lake’s dramatic creation process with intimate scenes from the subjects’ personal lives as they push toward one of the most significant opening nights in their company’s history. It doesn't only take a village to mount a ballet production, it's actually akin to a war of attrition as director Chelsea McMullan takes us into the thick of the battle, not only following Kain as she prepares for retirement but also in the middle of the company so that we get a sense of how much effort it takes from all involved to make something like this work.We had the pleasure of sitting down with Chelsea and co-writer/producer Sean O'Neill to talk about the challenges of the shoot, the hurdles they had to clear, the magic of dance on screen and how easily this could have turned into something very, VERY different.'Swan Song' is playing at the TIFF Bell Lightbox now and rolling out to various other theatres in the days and weeks to come.