This documentary film is filmed about a ballerina Ella. It is directed by Douglas Watkin will docuemt a Dubbo-born ballerina’s early career and meet different people, like her mother, teachers, family and friends, who shaped her identity in dance. ‘’ – All of Your support is everything. Just say thanks mum, friends, ballet teacher are not enough’’. ‘Ella’ is a literal story regarding Ella Havelka who is a dancer came from the Wiradjuni people in New South Wales and successfully became the first Indigenous dancer in Australian Ballet Company. This is such an inspiring documentary which is not just an ordinary dancer’s life, but also describing a peek backstage drama. What makes this film more worthwhile to watch is its emphasis on Ella’s feeling on pursuing her career as a ballerina in Melbourne which Australian Ballet Company is generally covered by white performers. Her transformation to different city also demonstrates an ordinary “cultural transformation” story in a ballerina …show more content…
During the movie, Havelka wasn’t performing for specific target audience – it’s an natural expression of inner feeling, which shown in the beginning of the film. In the meantime, the director aimed to utilize ‘dance’ to communicate with audience to show us the true definition of “dance” moments, ‘Ella uses dance to reflect Havelka’s inner feelings of disconnection from both worlds, Wiradjuni people in New South Wales and Australia. Take one plot as an example, when Havelka returns home to visit her mother and feel doubt about her hometown, the film greatly capture her sense of belonging in one city. This emotion is greatly reflected through the dance which including an inner feeling of unstable with both Western and Indigenous dance styles as well as the inner emotion of her own comfort when Havelka successfully finds a combination of these two types of dance