How Much Dancing Did Natalie Portman Really Do in 'Black Swan'?
Critics and fans cheered as Natalie Portman danced her way to a best actress win in the movie "Black Swan" at this year's Academy Awards. Now Wendy Perron, Editor in Chief of Dance Magazine, is questioning whether enough credit has been given to Sarah Lane, who performed some of the actress' dance moves in the movie.
"Black Swan" is about a ballerina, played by Portman, who is cast as the lead in "Swan Lake" and gradually succumbs to madness even as she realizes her artistic potential. "Black Swan" was released by Fox Searchlight, which is owned by News Corp., publishers of the Wall Street Journal.
Fox Searchlight sent out this statement on behalf of the "Black Swan" filmmakers: "We stand by Natalie's performance, hard work and dedication to the role."
Lane, a ballerina with the American Ballet Theatre, says she performed some of the most difficult dance sequences in the movie. "I had to do the black swan coda—16 piqué turns following tracking marks on the floor pulling into 16 fouettés onstage at Purchase College," Lane told Dance Magazine in December. In March, Lane said this to Glamour about her role in the film: "The full-body shots, the feet, the turns...that's all me."
"Black Swan" dancer/choreographer Benjamin Millepied, who is expecting a child with Portman, told the Los Angeles Times this week "Honestly, 85% of that movie is Natalie."
Perron says that Portman clearly worked hard, and says that the actress "looks like a dancer from the shoulders up." She says that isn't the case with many actresses who play dancers.
But Perron says she became disturbed when she began to hear from people who wanted to see Portman perform "Swan Lake" on stage. Perron says no actress simply playing a part would have the technical facility and training to do that. "Ballet dancers spent their whole lives to prepare for something like that," says Perron.
"I've been a dancer and a choreographer my whole life," Perron says. "I think dancers should get credited for what they do."
Lane wasn't one of the many people thanked by Portman from the stage on Oscar night.
On IMDB, Lane is credited not as Portman's dance double but as "Lady in the Lane."
Perron wrote on her blog "Do people really believe that it takes only one year to make a ballerina? We know that Natalie Portman studied ballet as a kid and had a year of intensive training for the film, but that doesn't add up to being a ballerina. However, it seems that many people believe that Portman did her own dancing in Black Swan. I think there has been a propaganda of omissions in the media that has reinforced that belief."
Lane reportedly told Perron that a Fox Searchlight producer asked her to stop giving interviews until after the Oscars. "They were trying to create this façade that she [Portman] had become a ballerina in a year and a half," Lane said. "So I knew they didn't want to publicize anything about me."
The use of dance doubles is not uncommon in movies. Marine Jahan served as Jennifer Beals' main dance double in the 1983 hit movie "Flashdance." A male dancer named Crazy Legs performed her breakdancing in the movie. And a shot of Beals diving through the air was done by Sharon Shapiro, a gymnast.
