Happy to be so..., Yelena Demikovsky's documentary, tells the story of the famous ballet couple, Oleg Briansky and Mireille Briane. The dcoumentary will have its world premiere at the 36th Annual Dance on Camera Film Festival taking place January at the Walter Reade Theatre. The Dance Films Association and Film Society of Lincoln Center are the sponsors of the festival.

Clive Barnes, senior consulting editor at the Dance magazine, chief dance, drama and opera critic at the New York Post stated: "An affectionate and often funny portrait celebrating 50 years of a wonderful yin and yang partnership in classic ballet and married life."

Briansky and Briane met in Paris, descending from Russia, and respectively Paris. A lot of European ballet companies had him as principal dancer and the Ballet magazine referred to him as "the most sought after male dancer of his time". She was a principal dancer in France and "a born teacher." Having suffered some injuries, Briansky's brilliant career came to an abrupt end in 1963. The Briansky Saratoga Ballet School was established soon after their relocation in New York.

They also worked at the Pennsylvania Youth Ballet as Artistic Directors from 1994 to 2006. The couple was chosen to chair the National Honorary Committee for the USA International Ballet Competition in 2006. Briansky is also a famous choreographer, a stager of ballets and a teacher of master classes.

The happy to be so... documentary portrays the '50s and '60s, having the Brianskys in the centre of their story, acting as performers and narrators at the same time. The film is enriched by the lovely piano music from the ballet classes. The documentary honors this couple that continues to produce and creatively work.

The director and producer of this documentary, Yelena Demikovsky, was born in Russia. She has founded the Red Palette Pictures and has lived in the United States for 16 years. Having a vast theater culture, both American and Russian, Demikovsky is an exquisite documentary filmmaker.

Among her most famous documentaries can be mentioned Unity, The Story of Fenist, that has won an award and happy to be so… The Accolade Competition also honored her most recent short narrative film, Shell. “I am Vera “, about the famous Russian poet Vera Pavlova, and “And Then Comes the Glory... “, sharing the story of Rudolf Nureyev, are also in project.


Demikovsky has two masters degrees, one in theatre (Moscow, Russia), and another in video/TV (Boston, USA) and had taught theatre directing in Moscow.

For further information, you can visit www.redpalettepictures.com .