DVD Videos

Exactly 20 years separate Jirí Kylián’s solo Silent Cries and his black-and-white film, Car Men, made in 2006 in collaboration with the Dutch filmmaker, Boris Paval Cone. What unites the two works is the sheer expressiveness of the dance on the one hand, and the distinctive facial gestures and body language of the dancer Sabine Kupferberg on the other. Kupferberg is the one who pulls the strings in Car Men, victim and plotter in equal measure, prepared at all times to stand up to life’s problems – as well as to her three co-actors Escamillo, Don José and Micaëla – with humour and enigmatic wit. And so at the end of Kylián’s unusual, slapstick-like tragicomedy, she simply abandons her three colleagues, self-assured and incorrigible – just like her role model Carmen.

Violette Verdy, best remembered for her years as one of George Balanchine’s prima ballerinas at the New York City Ballet, has, in her retirement from the stage, been deeply involved in the training of young dancers. In this fascinating film, Ms. Verdy is shown coaching principal and guest artists at the Paris Opera Ballet in works of Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Her deep respect for the material and her supportive work with her dancers define the qualities of a great teacher. Among the stars appearing in the program are Elisabeth Maurin, Isabelle Guerin, Elisabeth Platel, Margaret Illmann, and Vladimir Malakhov. Also with the participation of Roland Petit. Color, approx. 75 min., All regions. In French and English only.

Program:

• Violette coaches Elisabeth Maurin in Emeralds (1967; Balanchine / Fauré)

• Violette coaches Isabelle Guerin in Dances at a Gathering (1969; Robbins / Chopin)

• Violette coaches Lucia Lacarra & Cyril Pierre in Liebeslieder Walzer (1960; Balanchine / Brahms)

• Violette coaches Elisabeth Platel & Nicolas Le Riche in In the Night (1970; Robbins / Chopin)

• Violette coaches Margaret Illmann & Vladimir Malakhov in Tchaikovsky Pas de deux (1960; Balanchine / Tchaikovsky)

With the permission of The George Balanchine Trust. “Tchaikovsky Pas de deux 1960”, “Liebeslieder Walzer 1960” and “Emeralds 1967” are presented by arrangement with the Balanchine Trust and have been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style and Balanchine Technique service standards established and provided by the Trust.

With the permission of The Robbins Rights Trust (Mr. Christopher Pennington) and the authorizations of Mrs. Marilyn Wayne, Mr. Peter Martins, the NYCB, Mrs. Anne Parsons

and Mr. Jean-Pierre Frohlich.

Violette and Mr B, 2001

© Dominique Delouche-Les Films du Prieuré

Dominique Delouche, Director

Ekaterina Maximova is one of the few ballerinas, who, in their artistic maturity, can capture the ebullience of a thirteen-year-old. Her Juliet is an astonishing accomplishment, magnificently danced and emotionally heartrending. Her Romeo is the superb Vladimir Vasiliev, one of the greatest male dancers produced by Russia, who looks the part and acts and dances it to perfection. The other soloists and the Bolshoi corps de ballet make this a performance to treasure.

Live, 1974. Color, 152 minutes, all regions.

This 1976 performance stars the legendary Maya Plisetskaya, with Alexander Bogatirev as Basil. With the Bolshoi Ballet Company and Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre conducted by Algis Zhuraitis. Production Design by Simon Virsaladze. This is the only available video record of Plisetskaya in a complete performance of the ballet, live from the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre. It is not to be confused with an earlier film version also starring Plisetskaya which eliminated several sections of the ballet. Color, approx. 140 min., All regions.

Swan Lake boasts one of Tchaikovsky’s most popular scores, a story line filled with mystery and fantasy and a dual role for the ballerina requiring a prodigious technique and keen dramatic instincts — demands so effectively met by Nina Ananiashvili in this 1992 performance by the Tchaikovsky Perm State Ballet, widely recognized as one of the most prestigious companies in the world. With Ananiashvili’s frequent partner, Alexei Fadeyechev, as Prince Siegfried.

Color, stereo, 131 minutes. All regions.

Don Quixote retains its foothold in the standard repertoire through its colorful dances, a whimsical story and its brilliantly virtuosic last act pas de deux. Virtuosity is very much on display in this 1992 performance by the Tchaikovsky Perm State Ballet during the company’s Japanese tour. Nina Ananiashvili’s Kitri displays her astonishing technical gifts, her natural charm and a flair for comedy. Her long-time partner, Alexei Fadeyechev as Basil, is her perfect foil in all these respects. This video is the only record of Ananiashvili in one of her signature roles.

Color, stereo, 120 mins, all regions.

Subtitled “A Portrait in Dance,” this 1990 documentary about Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev features extensive performance footage, including excerpts from Romeo & Juliet (both the Prokofiev as well as a production conceived for them by Béjart), Anyuta, Spartacus, etc. They are also seen coaching younger dancers, including Eric Vu An, Assaf Messerer, Elisabeth Maurin, and Richard Wilk. DVD includes a bonus segment of Katia & Volodia in the Balcony Scene from Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet, taken from a 1974 film of the complete ballet. Color, 58 minutes, all regions.

In 1974, Roland Petit, probably the greatest and certainly one of the most prolific of 20th century French choreographers he was the first person to create a work based on Proust's novel, A la recherche du temps perdu, completed in 1922, the year of his death.The book, better known to Anglo-Saxon readers as In Search of Lost Time, in which the author's homosexuality is latent, was written over the last 14 years of his life. Marcel Proust mingles childhood souvenirs with adolescent memories and is full of nostalgia for places once visited and exhibitions he'd seen. He dwells lengthily on love, passion, and jealousy and inevitably questions one's reason for living.

Proust ou les intermittences du coeur has now happily entered into the repertoire of the Paris Opéra Ballet.It consists of 13 vignettes inspired by the seven lengthy tomes which complete the unabridged work, Petit has chosen to convey the spirit of the novel via a succession of impressionistic tableaux which reflect the changing moods of the writer as he oscillated between periods of intense happiness and deep depression. And although the choreographer paints a merciless portrait of the aristocracy and bourgeoisie during the Belle Epoque, the highlights of the work lie in the series of poetical pas de deux, which at times might have seemed a little disconnected, but at which the French choreographer is past master.

Choreography & stage direction Roland Petit; Designer Luisa Spinatelli; Sets Bernard Michel; Lighting Jean-Michel Désire Palais Garnier, March 2007

The Royal Ballet presents a stellar cast in Kenneth MacMillan's daring and powerful ballet, filmed in 1994, with John Lanchbery's sumptuous scoring of music by Franz Liszt. The dramatic soundscape is matched by MacMillan’s penetrating interpretation of the events surrounding the double suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary and his young mistress, Mary Vetsera, at Mayerling in January 1889.