On a blazing hot day last summer, the environment inside the New Jersey Performing Arts Center was cool and hushed. A who’s who of U.S. ballet dancers entered from the wings, launching themselves across the stage in pointe shoes and unitards, while attentive audience members in suits and cocktail dresses looked on from their seats.
Then director Amy Sherman-Palladino yelled, “Cut!” The camera operators stepped away from their equipment, the extras making up the audience checked their phones, and the dancers gathered center stage with Sherman-Palladino and choreographer Marguerite Derricks to go over notes. Because this wasn’t a ballet gala: It was the set of “Étoile,” the new television series created by Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino.
The Palladinos have a long history of celebrating dance in their work. “Gilmore Girls” included an eccentric ballet teacher, “Bunheads” went inside a small-town dance school, and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” featured flashy musical numbers. But “Étoile,” out from Amazon MGM Studios on April 24, takes things a step further. The eight-episode series (which had a two-season order from the start) is about two elite ballet companies—one in New York City, one in Paris—who swap their top stars and creatives in an attempt to revitalize dwindling ticket sales and save their institutions. As Derricks puts it, “all kinds of craziness” ensues, in drolly funny Palladino fashion.
“I was a dancer. My entire world growing up was in a dance studio,” says Sherman-Palladino of the inspiration for “Étoile.” “It’s something that if you love it, you never don’t love it.” With “Étoile,” the Palladinos are aiming to paint a realistic picture of the ballet world—without the overdramatized, glass-in-the-pointe-shoes tropes so many films and TV shows fall into. “There wasn’t that wide-range representation of what the dance world is,” says Sherman-Palladino. “And it’s a very weird world. There’s a lot of comedy in it.”
Choreographer Marguerite Derricks (right) on the set of “Étoile.” Photo by Philippe Antonello, Courtesy Prime Video.
The Palladinos’ first step toward championing real ballet was hiring real ballet dancers. Together with Derricks (who’s also a producer), they pulled from top European and American troupes to create two fictional companies of about 20 dancers each. And the dance casting didn’t stop there. “This is a show about dancers, so every dancer who’s walking down a hallway or sitting on a bench, those are professionals,” says Sherman-Palladino.
Many of the dancers cast have speaking roles, offering them a foray into acting. New York City Ballet principal Unity Phelan had done some movie work before, but when she was asked to read lines at a callback for “Étoile,” she was initially uncertain. “I had never spoken on film,” says Phelan, who plays Julie, one of the principals in the show’s New York City–based company. “I was very worried. But it was really fun to get to use that side of my brain where you’re actually communicating with words and not just with your body.”
Phelan’s dance partner in the show—a principal named Larry—is played by her former NYCB colleague Robbie Fairchild. “It was wild to be back in a ballet company,” says Fairchild. His decision to leave NYCB seven years ago to pursue an acting career was partly a response to watching A-list actors with little music or dance training take on singing and dancing roles on film—an experience he likens to how doctors must feel watching “Grey’s Anatomy.” “It felt really therapeutic to come back to the ballet world in a different headspace,” says Fairchild. “This is why I left the ballet, so that I could do opportunities like these.”
From left: Gideon Glick as Tobias, Luke Kirby as Jack, Unity Phelan as Julie, and Robbie Fairchild as Larry. Photo by Philippe Antonello, Courtesy Prime Video.
For dancers new to film, being on set required a different mode of working. Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Kamala Saara, who plays a member of the New York City company’s corps, says that sometimes the dancers would be called early in the morning, only to sit in their costumes for hours waiting for their turn in front of the camera. “I learned stamina and patience,” says Saara. But the long days of filming allowed the dancers to get to know each other, creating a sense of intimacy they hope will show up onscreen. “We’d talk or do workouts or barre together,” remembers Saara. “There was a lot of laughter.”
That sense of familiarity was key to Derricks’ experience as well. This is the fourth series that she’s worked on with the Palladinos. “Amy and I could say two words to each other, and get the whole thing,” she says. “I’m always creating with what Amy and Dan have in mind for the camera movement. For a choreographer to know where that camera is going to be, it’s the next best thing to just shooting it ourselves.”
Derricks crafted all of the original dances made by the “Étoile” character Tobias—a quirky up-and-coming choreographer played by Gideon Glick—imbuing them with her own creative voice. “Gideon and I became Tobias together,” she says. Derricks also curated the classics that the fictional companies perform, making choices to juxtapose American and French ballet. She worked with Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s estate to set a scene from Romeo and Juliet and The George Balanchine Foundation to set “Rubies.” And balletomanes can look forward to excerpts from Giselle, Swan Lake, and Sylvia—all chosen specifically to introduce characters or develop the plot. “We were always looking for the humor, too,” adds Derricks. “So our Swan Lake is not like any Swan Lake you’ve seen before. There’s the Palladino humor that comes in.”
Comedy is at the core of every Palladino show. And with “Étoile,” the duo is hoping to shine a spotlight on the comedy inherent to ballet, rather than put dancers in sensationalized scenarios. They hope that dancers see themselves represented in the show, and nondancers gain an appreciation for the art form. “Dance can feel a little impenetrable,” says Sherman-Palladino. “I hope people see that there’s so much fun and energy there.”
Fairchild agrees. “When the ballet world is shown through a lens that isn’t trying to Hollywood-ize it, there’s a great story there,” he says. “It’s like turning a jewel and seeing a different facet of it—marveling at it in a different, wittier way.”
Scenes from “Étoile.” Photo by Philippe Antonello, Courtesy Prime Video.
Double Take
While the “Étoile” cast is mostly real-life ballet professionals, the two actors who play the series’ eponymous étoiles—Ivan du Pontavice as Gabin and Lou de Laâge as Cheyenne—aren’t dancers. And though they both spent a year taking daily ballet classes and Pilates to prepare, they still required dance doubles.
“We talked about giving the doubles a golden ticket,” explains choreographer Marguerite Derricks. “A, we’re not hiding it—they’re going to be completely credited for their work. And B, they are in the show, and they get to talk.” So the two doubles—dancers Arcadian Broad and Constance Devernay—both play additional named characters with lines. They were also the only dancers who got to film in both New York City and Paris, working closely with Derricks on creating movement for the series.
For “Étoile” creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, this approach to doubles felt obvious. “To say to a person ‘We’re going to hide you, and don’t ever tell anyone that you’re doing this’ doesn’t make any sense,” says Sherman-Palladino. “These are artists. You’re using what is beautiful and special about them to tell a story.”
The Palladinos hope that the rest of the film industry starts to rethink the usual covert approach to dance doubles. “All of TV and film is make-believe anyhow,” says Sherman-Palladino. “And we wanted the dance community to feel ownership of this piece. We want to come to this world and celebrate it for what it is.”
Scenes from “Étoile.” Photo by Philippe Antonello, Courtesy Prime Video.
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