LAFF 2015: MAIKO - DANCING CHILD

Maiko Nishino-Ekeberg in Maiko: Dancing Child.

Dance by no chance

By Miranda Inganni

Maiko Nishino-Ekeberg knew as a young child that she wanted her life to be about ballet. Even the name her parents gave her, Maiko, meaning "dancing child," was as if it were her destiny. When Nishino-Ekeberg was around 14 years old, her parents sent her to the Royal Ballet in London to ensure she got the best training, having to sell their house and car and move in with Maiko’s grandparents so they could afford to do so. Nishino-Ekeberg felt like this was a debt she could only repay by succeeding as a dancer. When Nishino-Ekeberg finally had her first big breakthrough in her mid-20s, she finally felt like she had said “thank you” to her parents, especially her mother who instilled a fierce resolve in Nishino-Ekeberg.

Now at the height of her career as a dancer with the National Norwegian Ballet, Nishino-Ekeberg wants (and is being pressured by her mother -- still so much control!) to start a family with her husband, Nicolai (who does not say much in the documentary). Nishino-Ekeberg knows full well that if she doesn’t stay in top condition she will lose her place as prima ballerina (there are plenty of other dancers waiting in the wings to take her place). Though she is cautioned by her doctor, dancers and, most sternly, her mother, Nishino-Ekeberg is determined, passionate and even stubborn. She has to be the best; the best ballerina; the best mother. And only dancing the lead role in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake (known as the most physically demanding role in classical ballet) will prove to her that she is still the best.

Making its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival, Ase Svenheim Drivens’ first full length feature, Maiko – Dancing Child could easily be fiction, but it is in fact a documentary. Nishino-Ekeberg is physically stunning and camera-ready: all long lines and flawless features. Her story is one of sheer ambition, determination and discipline. And training. Lots and lots of training! Despite a cheesy, child voiceover (ostensibly reading Maiko’s letters to her mother from when she was a young girl), Maiko chronicles the endurance it takes to stay on top once you have hit your high point(e) in ballet. 

Unfortunately, we get only a brief glimpse at the hurt Nishino-Ekeberg still carries from missing her mother during her childhood and the psychological ramifications are not explored in the film. What Nishino-Ekeberg sees as only love, others might sense as domineering. What we do see is a woman in her mid-thirties reclaim her position of prestige while she pirouettes.


Maiko: Dancing Child screens at LAFF: June 16, 3:30, Regal Cinemas. For more information: Maiko.