It’s audacious to plunk a stage in a prairie, then film ballet dancers inspired by endangered whooping cranes.
But that’s what Chicago-based filmmaker Tim Whalen did in partnership with the International Crane Foundation in “Mates for Life: Whooping Crane.” The ballet-driven conservation film premiered Tuesday at Facets.
I’m all for the intersection of the arts and nature and the audacity of Whalen and his collaborators. (I’ve never written ballet and conservation in the same sentence before.) It’s the first of “an art-meets-nature film series, ‘Mates for Life.’ ” The film was privately funded and is to benefit the ICF and the Joffrey Ballet.
I’m out of my natural environment with ballet. But, I’ve watched hundreds of thousands of cranes (sandhills and whoopers) and the dancers matched the majestic movements of cranes in the wild.
Anne Lacy, ICF’s director of the eastern flyway programs for North America, said in Q&A, “It was exquisite, spot on, especially in Act 2 in the grasses.”
Then, like cranes in the wild, Joffrey dancers Olivia Duryea and Dylan Gutierrez bobbed in and out of view through the prairie vegetation. Xavier Núñez choreographed the dancers to show the elegance and power of whoopers as they meet and form a lifetime bond. Whalen filmed it at distance similar to the nature films of which many of us are familiar.
In the 1940s, whooping cranes were down to 20. Now there are more than 800 in North America. The ICF (savingcranes.org), founded in the 1973 to protect all 15 crane species around the world, is headquartered in Baraboo, Wisconsin, near the Wisconsin Dells. It’s a must-see if nearby. We toured it when the kids were young.
Whalen describes “ ‘Mates for Life’ [as] a performing arts film series inspired by bird species that form lifelong bonds.”
Lacy suggested, from her biologist’s background, the overall project might be better named, “Mates for Now.” (It’s OK to laugh.)
Next up is barn owl. Whalen showed a small preview Tuesday.
View the whooping crane film and learn about “Mates for Life” at matesforlife.co/.
