Nancy Dobbs Owen

Article from the
San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, August 29, 2003

LIFE AFTER DANCE: Neve Campbell isn't the only former ballerina behind a movie about a classical dancer's life. Campbell recruited Robert Altman to direct "The Company"; San Francisco's Michelle Lee, admittedly operating at a somewhat different production level, made her 18-minute film, "Pirouette," herself.

The 24-year-old novice director also is handling the promotion and doing an impressive job. She almost filled the Delancey Street theater for the premiere of "Pirouette" -- a delicate film about a ballerina considering life after dance.

"I wanted to address the issue of dancers who get older and what they do when they retire," said Lee, who observed ballerinas in this situation while performing with companies in Hong Kong and Rochester, N.Y.

Lee caught a break when she was given an award that came with an internship under Bay Area director Michael Lehmann ("Heathers," "The Truth About Cats and Dogs," "40 Days and 40 Nights").

"I didn't really need an intern, but I told her to follow me around," said Lehmann, who was front and center at his protege's premiere. His next movie might be about Scrabble, a game Lehmann acknowledged he's not much good at. "I was thrown out of my family's Scrabble game for using the word 'pooher,' meaning a person who poohs."

Chronicle correspondent Hugh Hart contributed to this column. E-mail Ruthe Stein at rstein@sfchronicle.com and Carla Meyer at cmeyer@sfchronicle.com.