2 weeks Ago
Studio Epinay in Paris, France is so hidden that I am shocked when my Uber drops me off in front of the giant gates that are hiding various studios behind it. Inside is a mix of New York and Paris as the two ballet capitals of the world come together in Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino's new series, . Throughout the two days that I'm on set, I see French and American crews and actors come together to bring the ballet centered series to life, also bridging tradition and modernism in a new and exciting way.
It is, of course, not the creators first foray in the ballet world (more on that later), but it is their biggest and most grand step yet. It would still be a year until the rest of the world would see the series as I walk around the sets and see re-creations of some of the iconic dance studios in the world. In one of the rooms, professional dancers stretch and get ready for a long day ahead that includes multiple dances, rehearsal, and even some lines for the lucky few that are playing versions of themselves in this fake professional dance world.
Throughout my time there, I get a special glimpse behind the new Prime Video series on Amazon that premieres today, April 24. The series follows two rival dance companies who are struggling to fill seats. As they try to save their respective companies by switching their top talent and giving audiences a new reason to come to the ballet.
So grab your tutu and don't forget your pointe shoes, because we're giving you the ultimate look behind this complex dance that have you on your feet and giving it a standing ovation. From Hello to Bonjour! Ballet, like most things that have stood the test of time, has seen a rise and fall as audiences fall out and later re-discover the love for the art form over the years. It is similar in some ways to , Amy's first show, that has now become a phenomenon after its cancellation in 2007 and also got a second life via a Netflix spin-off series.
"For Amy, this has been a lifelong passion. It really has been. I mean, she's been dancing her whole life," executive producer Dhana Gilbert told me on set.
"She felt like she could find a way to make dance more accessible and to bring in people of all audiences." is another chance for the creator to share a love of the dance after the heartbreaking cancelation of . But while was honest about the realities of the dance world before you made it big, this one is not shying away from the tother.
"They're all people who have made sacrifices. For the most part this show is about people that either have an affection or a talent for ballet. In this professional world, it's their whole orbit.
It's the glue that keeps them together," star Luke Kirby, who plays Jack McMillan, one of the leaders at the Metropolitan Ballet Theater, says. Despite his character being based in NYC, his office set was built over in Paris to help with filming. Like many projects that were in production in early 2024, the series was previously halted by the 2023 Writers Strike.
Luke took that time to get a membership at the New York City Ballet and Jacob's Pillow up in the Berkshires "just seeing dance, absorbing dance." After spending years working with the Palladinos on where he played famed comedian Lenny Bruce, getting to play Jack in allowed him to find inspirations in other ways. This is definitely a different, different approach.
You look for landmarks and you look for certain people and certain inspirations. I definitely explored the histories, especially with the New York City Ballet more than any of them, and found some figures in there that kind of parallel Jack in a way." Jack works alongside the head of Le Ballet National Geneviève Lavigne, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, on a special swap to bring audiences back to each of their respective companies.
Lou de Laâge's star ballerina Cheyenne Toussant heads back to New York while Gideon Glick's genius but misunderstood choreographer Tobias Bell swaps out Lincoln Center for the Paris Opera House. "Tobias is sort of the cutting edge avant garde, young American choreographer in the ballet world," Gideon said in between takes. "Tobias is pretty eccentric.
He sort of speaks his own language, so coupled with the fact that now he's in a foreign country where everyone speaks a different language, it makes it even more complicated." Gideon, who has long been on the stage and also played Alfie on is also taking on a new kind of role in this series: story editor and writer. " I don't know if they've ever had an actor in the room before, so I think it's a new experience for them as well.
There's a implicit trust, obviously. It was nice to be able to contribute to the creation of the character and also to the creation of the show," he added. "What's interesting is when I'm on set as an actor, I'm really just an actor.
I don't feel like I'm a writer. I just feel like I'm showing up as as a player and not as part of the room." Reunion on Set You've probably guessed by now that the set of , though bustling with newcomers including me who is crashing for 48 hours, is filled with familiar faces.
Aside from Luke, Gideon, and Dhana, dozens among dozens of other people both in front and the back of the camera picked up their stuff and moved over to Paris to continue to work with Amy and Dan on this new series. Some of them came from , while others have actually worked together much longer than that. "This crew and I have been working together for 15 years," Dhana revealed.
"We all started together on . We've stayed together because we want to be part of something that we feel is special. They're so talented.
They can do a . We did together. We went from onto this.
They have the talent and expertise to be able to adapt." Another familiar face that fans will get to see is Yanic Truesdale, who first came into the Palladino world via as Michel Gerard. "They told me they were doing a show shot in Paris.
And then I was like, " the Canadian actor from Montreal, who originally started acting in French Canadian series, said. "And then they brought it up, and then I said, She said I call Amy, 'Mom.' That's a running gag, because I told her that she gave birth to my American career, and she says, " Yanic pointed out that, "Once you're in with them, you're in," a rarity for many actors in this business.
However, the mix of a French and American crew does create some surprises. Smoke breaks, despite the rain and the cold, are fairly common. Meanwhile the French crew members often keep to themselves while the American crews, "get friendly and close very quickly.
It's just the way we operate culturally." Luke says that being among familiar company, especially so soon after , presents a new obstacle as he figures out his character. "Since it's a lot of the crew and family, I just want to go back to the other guy, you know? Because it's so fun and familiar.
It wasn't that long ago. It's still in there in the body," he said. "So it's reckoning with all those same faces and the same bosses and just shifting gears into a very different story that's kind of a challenge.
I'm still sort of feel like I'm finding my feet with it." Bringing a Ballet Company to Life If you've ever seen the behind-the-scenes videos of the New York City Ballet, you know that their costume and point shoe rooms can get kind of wild. With so many different productions throughout the year and dozens of dancers on and off stage, things can get chaotic fairly quickly.
So imagine doing that for two different fake dance companies, plus the various characters who star in the show, and even more extras and guest stars. "I come from originally a dance background. I love when these two things meet: art and dance.
So the research was fantastic for me," said Donna Zakowska, the Costume Department Head. The cultural differences, even steeped in ballet, do call for various kinds of mood boards and themes. For the Paris ballet, it was more about "keeping the color palette a lot more subdued and a little bit more classical.
" While New York calls for "introducing more color and athletic wear." "The thing about dance is you think you know what it is, but actually trying to figure out all of the small distinctions and the details is something that is just beginning to grow." Donna looks both at classical pieces as well as modern iconic moments like Sarah Jessica Parker's classic tutu skirt in .
It helps that the characters also have their unique styles. For Cheyenne, "she goes beyond the brand. She really is a little bit of Greta Thunberg who meets ballet.
" She also asked the dancers to bring in their own clothes to see what each individual had. Donna was surprised by all the differences, even up to the leg warmers. David Alverez, who plays Gael, prefers not to use them at all and told Donna that he actually just wears sweatpants and a hoodie when warming up.
There was also another pattern she started to notice. "I began to realize that the more someone becomes a star in ballet, the less of those things you'll find them with. They have some things they absolutely cling to, but it's very individual.
" To start, Donna also acquired 30 pairs of shoes for each dancing cast member, more if they were on set often. At one point, she needed more than 250 yards of tulle just for veils for a -inspired dance that involved 23 dancers. Since tutus often take weeks to make, there's only so much they can have in stock.
"It isn't something you can instantly have, but it's something that I'm building as we're going along." Shall We Dance? It's normal to be on set for many hours with little to no downtime. As I settle between various dressing rooms doing interviews and going between the two stages that shield the sets from the weather, there was one part that absolutely blew my mind: the dance rooms.
"I don't know what I'm gonna do when I leave Paris, because where am I gonna get this again? It's such a great creative space. It's very inspiring, but it feels feels like home. The first time I walked in it was so big and now it just feels cozy," choreographer Marguerite Derricks tells me as we walk into a room that looks like was built in the 1800s and not just a few weeks prior.
Several dancers even told the choreographer that they were stunned by how the smallest details are the same to the ones at the Paris Opera Ballet. While ballet is usually traditional, one advantage that Marguerite has comes from the fictional Tobias. "He's the hottest New York choreographer at the moment.
He's just bringing something so different." It allows her to also mix different genres together to create something original. She uses her experience on as a key reference point, especially when it comes to showcasing the different dancers throughout the series whether it's in group shots or even hallway scenes.
For many of the dancers, this is their first TV acting gig, bridging a world they've known all their lives with something new and unexpected. " We give them class here every day, just to keep their muscles moving and everything. They're athletes.
They need that." And I witness just that. In between staging for background placements, the dancers are stretching, practicing, and rehearsing for future dance scenes.
Moments like these can be seen at the end of every episode of the series, giving us a special look behind-the-scenes at these dancers who, like in a real dance company, have come from all over the world. David Alvarez originally trained under the American Ballet Theatre, one of the most prestigious companies. He notes that the show, "is kind of going back full circle to where I started off.
" Even after so many years with a huge company, he is still excited to learn from his co-stars as he plays Gael. "If you go to Paris Opera, it's a different style in the Royal Ballet or American Ballet Theatre. It's a beautiful thing for me, because I get to see what everyone is doing," he tells me.
"It's a very small world. I am surprised of how many mutual friends I have with all the dancers here, from ABT to the Royal Ballet. We all kind of know each other, because we all grew up dancing different ballet schools and now we're all here.
" There was an extra amount of prep that David needed to do to get in shape. "When they told me, I hadn't danced in years. I got back into dancing and working out so I could do all the lifts I had to do for this show.
" Casting the dancers also presented a unique challenge, especially when it came to finding dancers of high caliber who can take on this kind of rigorous work. "There's a short span of time where they're in their prime and able to continue with their contracts. Amy had to have conversations with ABT artistic director Susan Jaffe and other artistic directors of these ballet schools.
They were like, 'Don't poach all our dancers,'" Dhana said. "That has been the hardest thing. Trying to find these athletes and working with their contracts and their schedules.
Nobody wants to hurt them career-wise, it's just not that easy for them to hit the pause button." Manifesting this since she was younger, the choreographer who has been working with the Palladinos for 12 years noted that, "I've done Broadway, I've done TV and film and commercials and rock concerts, but I never did a ballet company. That's been on my list for years.
" Places, Please! It's a rare thing to get to visit a set for multiple days, but I soon realized why it was necessary. One second, I'm sitting by Jack's office, seeing Cheyenne and Jack face off about her sleeping on his couch. Soon after, I'm being taken outside the Paris ballet training room, where I finally get to witness an iconic fast walk-and-talk, a staple of a Palladino series.
"Amy has always said that people don't talk like this in real life, which always bugs her when she's watching a TV series and she feels like it's slowly done. People talk fast, so that's why she keeps that rhythm," Dhana explains. But despite what feels like a lot going on at once, Yanic says that it's a lot calmer than his days.
"When we did the show, we were all kids. I was 28-29, Amy was like 31 and we're all in our 50s now. So you're a different you.
It's you, but calmer, wiser, smarter, more efficient and also more secure with yourself and the work you do. It was a tough show with really long hours and we had a tight budget," he said. "This is easy! They have the budget.
They have the experience. It's almost like a reward to be working together so much later in life and having figured out so much." With so much happening at once, it's no surprise to hear from Luke that while he might be playing the head a dance company, he is most excited to see the dances when he finally watches the series.
"I'm not present for a lot and I know that they're putting a lot of work into it. I know that they'll do something really compelling." And then there's still hope for the future of the series.
With so much passion behind-the-scenes, there's no doubt that everyone would be excited to be able to tell more of this story. "Along the way, we're constantly seeing ways that we can improve for next year. Ways that we can be more efficient, learning more about the dancers, how much they can handle.
Those are the kinds of things we're learning day-to-day are unique in this show." But, for now, the curtain officially rises on this brand-new series and who knows, maybe it'll even inspire you to finally go see a ballet. That's certainly what Amy and Dad would want and who can argue with them? Étoile.
