While the new Prime series “Étoile” is, at its core, a workplace comedy, the world of professional ballet is not just a backdrop. Creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino told IndieWire their goal was to capture the elite level of artistry performed at institutions like the New York City Ballet, and not just in tiny five-second snippets. There is a tremendous amount of dance in Season 1. In total, according to Amazon, there are 29 different ballets performed in the first eight episodes (a full list is at the bottom of this article), with staged performances lasting upwards of three minutes on screen.
The 29 ballets staged for Season 1 are a mix of the classics — similar to what is regularly performed at institutions like Lincoln Center — and original pieces, most of which are the work of fictional choreographer Tobias Bell (Gideon Glick) and were created by “Étoile” choreographer Marguerite Derricks.
Derricks, producer Dhana Gilbert, production designer Bill Groom, and Sherman-Palladino took IndieWire inside the process of restaging the classics and creating Tobias’ cutting-edge originals.
Restaging the Classics
The Palladinos are avid ballet-goers, and when writing “Étoile” they picked classic ballets based on the needs of their story. For example, in Episode 1, when introducing the character of Cheyenne Toussaint (Lou de Laâge), billed as the world’s most celebrated dancer, choreographer Kenneth MacMillan’s Royal Ballet production of Sergei Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” was their one and only choice.
“That is how Cheyenne the character would dance — that sort of free and powerful, and always in motion and never stopping,” said Sherman-Palladino of the selection of “Romeo and Juliet” for Episode 1. “The first time we really see her dance, that’s how we needed it to look. So, there’s only one piece like that. It’s brilliant.”
But as producer Dhana Gilbert explained to IndieWire, every established ballet, such as MacMillan’s “Romeo and Juliet,” had to be licensed.
“I had to go to MacMillan’s widow and bend the knee,” joked Sherman-Palladino. “There’s a lot of legacy, you have to do it right. They’re protecting art.”
Licensing the classic ballets was only step one, as “protecting the art” came with multiple hoops for the “Étoile” team to jump through.
“When we used an actual established ballet, like ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ we had to go through the process of getting a dance master to come in and work with our company. [Our dancers] would have to learn the dance under the tutelage of the dance master who’s in charge of ‘Romeo and Juliet,’” said Gilbert. “We would then have to fly in their production designer to actually oversee the build [of the set] and then we also have to bring in lighting designers to light the show the way that it would normally be done.”
Derricks said each classic ballet required a deep historical dive, and in some cases, because the original choreographer had long since passed away, the Amazon series could have gotten away with recreating its own version without restrictions. But the ”Étoile” choreographer preferred to rely on the contribution of each ballet’s dance master.
“There was so much for me to choreograph in Season I, when I looked at the originals, I was like, ‘Let’s let these classics stand,” said Derricks. “There’s so much dance in the show, and there’s such a nice variety that I wanted the classics to be shown the way they were originally choreographed.”
While Gilbert indicated there was an extra layer of coordination (and time) required to balance the original ballet’s legacy keepers with each department head’s need to ensure the series’ look, production designer Bill Groom, like Derricks, embraced leaning into the established classic productions.
“Early on I thought, ‘Well, if I can use existing ballet productions [sets] that would make sense just from a production and practical point of view,” said Groom. “‘La Bayadere’ was the first one that I was trying to figure out how to solve that problem, and I just sat down one day on the computer and typed in ‘La Bayadere production for rent’ and something popped up. It was in Tokyo, so we negotiated to rent that production, all of the backdrops, the side wings, and have it flown to Paris. It turns out it was a production from the Ukraine that had been sent to a ballet company in Tokyo for safekeeping during the war. It felt like an honor to be able to use that production.”
‘Sylvia’ and ‘Bound To’
While most of the established ballets were well-known classics written into the script by the Palladinos, and left untouched by Derricks, there were exceptions. For Mishi’s (Taïs Vinolo) dance solo in Episode 7, in which she holds a bow and arrow, Derricks recommended they adapt “Sylvia.”
“The girls have been bullying Mishi for so long and when the curtain comes down, she gets this standing ovation, and she’s like, ‘In your face,’” said Derricks. “She finally has this moment to come out and I found this ballet, ‘Sylvia.’ It’s not danced as often as ‘Giselle’ and ‘Swan Lake,’ and it was the only [established] piece in our show that I did my version of it, wanting to make it right for the story.”
Beyond the fictional Tobias, the other modern choreographer who makes an appearence in “Étoile” is the very real Christopher Wheeldon, who plays himself when the fictional company stages his “Bound To,” which captures the rekindling of Cheyenne’s relationship with Gael (David Alvarez), who she hand picks to be her new dance partner upon arriving in New York.
“We’re huge fans of Christopher Wheeldon, so we used his ‘Bound To’ because it felt like the thing [Cheyenne] would pick Gael (David Alvarez) to be her partner,” said Sherman-Palladino. “It’s a whole partner piece, it’s a lot of trust, it’s a lot of lifts, a lot of close movements. It’s something that you need a partner that you really gel with to [execute], and that was the storyline that we were doing.”
‘Piece 1’ and the Tobias Bell Originals
“The hardest to create is what Tobias’s style would be, and that was something that Marguerite was working on very, very early on,” said Sherman-Palladino. “She’s been our secret weapon for a while — imaginative, smart and understands story, camera, and the whole process, and so this was a chance for her to create a whole style for a character, which would be key for the story.”
Tobias’ dance is an expression of his character, and so much of the Season 1 plot — including why anyone tolerates his unorthodox ways and process — was predicated on him being an exciting new voice in choreography. It was a challenge Derricks embraced, but she also felt a deep connection with the character.
“Reading the scripts, he’s such a quirky dude, but so many of his quirks I embody,” said Derricks. “His having to have a certain pillow, I auditioned eight pillows in New York before I settled on one, so when I read that I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m the female Tobias.’” Derricks also spent a great deal of time with comedian Gideon Glick, who plays Bell and followed the “Étoile” choreographer around while she created dances and ran rehearsals. “I think Gideon got a kick outta me, I get a kick outta him, and we, together, have become Tobias.”
From reading the script, Derricks saw Tobias’ choreography as edgier, at times weird, but also sexy. She wanted it to have a distinct jazz influence, the choreographer referring to Tobias’ work as “jazzerina.” Derricks also had spent two years steeped in the new generation of choreographers pushing ballet forward. While most articles about “Étoile” draw the direct parallel between Tobias and choreographer Justin Peck, an influence Derricks doesn’t deny, Peck is part of a larger movement she was trying to tap into with Tobias.
“Justin Peck is kind of the young, hot choreographer at New York City Ballet, but there’s some also European guys — just amazing, creative, out-the-box choreography out there,” said Derricks. “So, if I didn’t push the envelope with Tobias, I think I would be making a big mistake.”
Locked In her Paris apartment for an extended Easter weekend break, Derricks listened to the same piece of music on repeat to dream up the choreography of what become Tobias’ “Piece One.” The image Derricks kept playing in her head was of how American dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp once had her dancers sliding on their toes and knew she wanted to build ‘Piece One’ around that.
“‘Piece One’ is just Incredible,” said Sherman-Palladino, indicating it was the moment the series started to come together. “It really says everything you need to know about Tobias and it allowed us to then, in scenes, talk about him as this sort of boy genius, and sort of this annoying person that everyone put up with because of what he can create and where he’s going.”
Original dances choreographed by Derricks for Tobias Bell:
“Piece 1”
“Taiko”
“Growing Pressure”
“Piece 2”
“Whatever This Is”
Other Original work choreographed by Derricks:
“Tobias Crossing Street”
“Tarantella”
“Big In Japan”
“Finale”
“Motivation”
Nicholas’ 1989 Ballet
Classical Ballets recreated for Season 1:
“Romeo and Juliet”
“Don Quixote”
“Sleeping Beauty” (two different pieces)
“Coppelia”
“Giselle”
“Swan Lake” (both “White Swan” and “Black Swan”)
“Le Corsaire”
“La Bayadere”
“The Nutcracker” (three different pieces)
“Raymonda”
“Sylvia”
“Bound To”