DVD Videos

Paul Czinner’s acclaimed 1956 filming of the Bolshoi Ballet’s first-ever tour of Great Britain, which preserves two complete programs: a Bolshoi Highlights Program featuring Raissa Struchkova in the Walpurgisnacht from Gounod’s Faust, and Galina Ulanova in The Dying Swan and a thrilling performance of Giselle with Ulanova and Nikolai Fadeyechev

Also included in the Highlights Program is the celebrated Spring Water ballet, set to music by Rachmaninoff and danced with dazzling virtuosity by the outstanding members of the Bolshoi troupe

The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra are under the direction of Gennadi Rozhdestvensky and Yuri Faier

In Dance Magazine, critic Clive Barnes eulogized the artistry documented here: “Everything the Russian critics have written about her is true. The impeccable technique, the expressive body, the intellect, the informed face; yet Ulanova has something criticism could never define, something you might look for in Shakespeare’s sonnets.”

“The greatest performance by an interpretive artist within my experience” – Clive Barnes, Dance Magazine (1998) [on Ulanova’s Giselle as seen documented here]

In 5.1 DTS Surround Sound

First time on DVD

In granting us the rare privilege of entry, the Beijing Opera School offers access to the age-old art form of traditional Chinese opera. Based on a typical day for student and their teachers, the film follows them through dawn-to-dusk activities that include acrobatics, classes in singing, music and dance, makeup sessions, schoolwork, rehearsals and performances.Total immersion in an establishment where discipline is, in many respects, that of a military academy.

This is the story of how the most famous dancer that England has ever produced was deceived and betrayed by those closest to her; of how a little girl called Peggy Hookham, brought up in Shanghai, told her mother she would one day become the greatest dancer in the world; and of how, in spite of being almost unable to walk, she was still performing when she was 67.

It is a story of courage and tenacity, of unbelievable devotion – to her art and to those whom she loved who, in the end, left her penniless and alone, even to the extent that she was buried at first in a pauper’s grave. It is the stuff of fiction – except that it is true.

1973 RAI documentary about La Scala' prima ballerina Carla Fracci with Amodeo Amodio, Paolo Bortoluzzi, Jacqueline De Min, Giuseppe di Stefano, Alice & Ellen Kessler, James Urbain and Franca Valeri. Carla Fracci performs excerpts from The Sleeping Beauty (Tchaikovsky), Cancan (Offenbach), Romeo et Juliette (Prokofiev). Subtitled in English, French, Spanish & Japanese. Color, 57 min. Playable in all regions.

Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty is one of the best loved of classical ballets, combining in a single work all the enchantment and virtuosity that ballet has to offer. The royal court, the panoramic journey of the Prince to the overgrown castle, and the great celebratory dances of the happy ending (in which other famous fairytale figures appear) are all brought to life by the luscious designs of this celebrated production, created in 1946 for the The Royal Ballet. The inspired performances of its revival for the 75th anniversary of the Company in 2006, together with a magnificent High Definition recording, make this a superb tribute to The Royal Ballet’s unique style and visual splendour.

Henry Purcell’s opera Dido & Aeneas, completed in 1689, was the subject of a memorable and breathtaking performance at the Staatsoper Berlin in 2005.

In Dido & Aeneas Sasha Waltz opens up new horizons in music theatre, creating a fusion of dance, singing and music – the choreographic opera. The (extended, revised) libretto, the (reconstructed) music, vocal parts, dance, the stage set – featuring a rousing underwater ballet – combine to form a sublime total choreography and parallel action involving dancers, singers and musicians.

In this choreographic opera, Sasha Waltz demonstrates not only her familiarity with Emile Jaques-Dalcroze and Pina Bausch, but also the confidence she has in her own style. Sensational!

The amazing Bolshoi interpretation of Theophile Gautier’s piece created in 1841 at the Opéra de

Paris : Giselle. One of the great moments of Dance history that saw the main themes of Romanticism expressed.

A love pastoral care that ends tragically, a fantastic world of unearthly creatures and redemption

thanks to the power of love. Giselle is the dream of a poet who gets deliberately lost in a dream world… A young countryside

girl seduced by a Lord, reaches the height of tragedy before falling into a supernatural epilogue. This ballet is a masterpiece of romantic ballets in which movement traduces the soul’s language. In order to write Giselle, Théophile Gautier required the help of Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges. The choregraphy was insured by Jean Coralli : first ballet director of the Opéra de Paris.

Jules Perrot who was in love with the main interpret contributed to the project more than he was expected to. This reunion of talents made this romantic ballet masterpiece exist. Movement

became the soul’s language. The popular Bolshoi Ballet series continues, bringing ballet lovers some of the finest performances by

the worlds most acknowledged dance company.

The famous story of Perrault becomes a wonderful ballet thanks to the genius of Serguei Prokofiev. This DVD offers this major piece interpreted by The Marinsky Theatre in a mind-blowing direction. An abundance of characters and mythical scenes (poetic duet with the Prince, remarkable adagios, languourous waltzs…). A succession of very famous scenes among which, the presentation of the slipper to Cinderella who is either dreamy or nervous but always pure. A moment of grace and emotion lived through the magic of Dance. The popular Bolshoi Ballet series continues, bringing ballet lovers some of the finest performances by the worlds most acknowledged dance company.

Choreographer: Frederick Ashton

Ever since it’s triumphant premiere in January 1960, Frederick Ashton's La fille mal gardée has been esteemed as one of his happiest creations. This is a charming piece, elegantly performed, a village love affair set in the idyllic Constable landscape of Ashton's imagination. Marianela Nuñez and Carlos Acosta would be show-stoppers in almost any suitable role, but as Lise and Colas they are superb. William Tuckett and Jonathan Howells, in the comic roles of Simone and Alain respectively, are every bit as arresting, both displaying a certain genius for knockabout. The luminously colourful Osbert Lancaster designs, together with the vitality of The Royal Ballet’s dancing and vibrant playing from the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House under the baton of Anthony Twiner, serve to augment the harmless good fun at which Ashton excels.