I am making a cosplay costume for Black Swan. During this research, I have watched this movie several times. Out of the numerous times I have watched this movie, I never noticed how the Black Swan coda turns have been reversed. Sarah Lane does not perform her pique and foutee turns to the [...]

Recently, I started thinking about making my own Black Swan costume from the movie Black Swan for cosplay.  If I went with a traditional ballet tutu, I wouldn’t be able to put it on myself.  The reason being is, much like a corset, a tutu has a series of hooks and bars on the back [...]

The Internet Movie Database says the following:
There are 139 dance shots in the film. Out of the 139, 111 are untouched shots of Natalie Portman and the remaining 28 are her dance double, Sarah Lane. Of the shots in which Lane is featured, 26 of the 28 are wide shots and rarely appear on screen [...]

How much dancing was in Black Swan?

Around 18 minutes in 16 scenes

How much of total dance time in the film did Natalie Portman dance en pointe?

18% — not “en pointe” but anytime Portman was wearing pointe shoes

How much of the film’s dancing did Natalie Portman dance in?

72.1%

How much of Black Swan’s dancing only featured [...]

It is my goal to look at every dance scene from Black Swan to determine who is doing what, how much, and of what quality. Did Natalie really do 90% of the dancing? If so, what type of dancing was it–filmed from the top up only, did she do pointe work? I open this blog entry up tonight with the opening scene. I will let you know as I get to additional scenes.