Dying swans and madmen : ballet the body and narrative cinema Introduction : ballet in tin cans A channel for progress : theatrical dance popular culture and (the) American Ballet Gender genre and the ballet film through 1947 : part 1 the life of a ballerina is indeed tough Gender genre and the ballet film through 1947 : part 2 the man was mad but a genius! If you can disregard the plot : the red shoes in an American context The second act will be quite different : cinema culture and ballet in the 1950s Turning points : Ballet and its bodies in the post studio era