A few years ago, there was a scary moment on the Los Angeles airwaves when a KCBS reporter experienced what appeared to many viewers to be a stroke as she was reporting on the Grammy Awards, scrambling for words after suffering some kind of seizure. It turned out to be a massive migraine rather than a heart attack, yet still a cause for concern and although it would be distasteful to describe the fact that it was all caught on camera to be lucky, but being able to see the symptoms as it was happening was something that no doctor could ever reasonably expect and surely could help others dealing with the same issues in the long run when there was now a reference. That memory popped up a lot as I watched “Symphony of Dance” unfold, an extraordinary document of dancer Hayley Erbert’s recovery from cranial hematoma that occurred as she was on tour with her partner on stage and off Derek Hough. Mercifully, footage of her collapse and being rushed to the hospital after losing consciousness isn’t shown, but with cameras already rolling to film the tour, they end up capturing something of more value than could ever be expected.
There’s a slickness to “Symphony of Dance” that should be anticipated and perhaps initially something director Jason Bergh felt he had to overcome, not only when the original intent might’ve been to film a concert, but when its leads are best known from “Dancing with the Stars.” Yet there’s a genuine tension worth exploring when as Hough’s sister Julianne says at one point, “Derek’s always in control and this time he wasn’t,” as his plans to set up a tour built around a show for himself and Hayley that would be an expression of their love for each other immediately after getting married was put on ice halfway through after Hayley’s health scare. Cancelling the tour wasn’t a concern, though contractual obligations lead to a time table for Hayley to get back on the road once she’s medically cleared and she appears more eager than her husband for the opportunity to see what she’s physically capable of, no longer feeling entirely right in her body. The break also shakes Derek, who first found his confidence in dance and is said to have become fearful of returning to the stage after seeing his wife take a fall. (Notably as open as Derek appears throughout the film, it is often Hayley who speaks to any insecurities he may have after the unfortunate event, though the opposite is also true.)
“Symphony of Dance” can’t help but inevitably wend its way around to hitting some of the standard notes of a celebrity biography as Derek describes a rough coming-of-age in Salt Lake City and Hayley had to think Hollywood was so far away from where she grew up in Topeka. (It’s a regrettable decision to introduce her return to her hometown with a clichéd shot of her hand grazing the wheat, particularly when wearing a ginormous wedding ring.) However, Bergh and editors Kevin Barth and Daniel Roman expertly tie in the passion for dance that led both to overcome the odds in terms of their career to apply to their return to performing, as well as insightfully highlighting the nature of their relationship, which was slow to build into something romantic when Hayley first met Derek as a performer in his show and she was reluctant to pursue anything that would be considered unprofessional. Both cite the patience then in serving as the foundation for a particularly strong union now and it hardly seems like a trite sentiment as they incrementally build back trust in themselves to pull off what’s required by the show, which may be even more difficult now when they’re haunted by memories of how easily it came before.
Wisely only a little taste of the titular performance is sprinkled throughout the film for as much time is spent in rehearsals where Bergh is more intent on capturing the process of Hayley easing herself back in, making a finale built around the first show back after five months especially strong. But then it also becomes so much more, as Derek and Hayley realize they’ve come face-to-face with their own mortality – Haley, in a literal sense, while Derek has to wonder how much longer he can keep going professionally as he turns 40 – and it looks as if Bergh has captured a true turning point in their lives where the process of recovery is as impressive as the end result. Gracefully handling a heavy subject with the elegance that you’d expect of the ballroom dancers themselves, “Symphony of Dance” finds real beauty and significance both in front of the camera and behind it in adjusting to when life moves in a different direction.
“The Symphony of Dance” will screen again at Tribeca at the Village East on June 8th at 2:30 pm and June 11th at 5:45 pm.