Casse Noisette Circus - Fonteyne and Nureyev Ballet Videos and DVDs

Shipping Costs
Ordering Information
Video & DVD formats
FAQ

Ballet Performances Videos and DVDs 2

Ballet performances and documentaries - Casse Noisette, Catherine Wheel, Children of Theatre Street, Cinderella, Coppelia, Denishawn, Don Quixote, Dream, Erik Bruhn, Firebird, Fonteyne and Nureyev.

The Children of Theatre Street Video

The Children of Theatre Street DVD Only (D1111) - $19.99
Princess Grace of Monaco is the narrator of this documentary about the Vaganova Choreographic Institute, also known as the Kirov School of Leningrad, where the Soviet Union trains an elite bundle of students who will be the cream of its balletic future.

Each year thousands of children, 8 to 13 in age, apply for admission. Twenty are admitted, based on physical conformation, long legs, well-arched feet, and flexible joints. The rejected cry. Those lucky or unlucky enough to make the grade will find themselves separated from their families, isolated from the daily run of Soviet life, and totally immersed in the art to which they are expected to dedicate their lives.

It’s a rigorous system, but it works. Graduates of the Kirov School include such greats as Nureyev, Baryshnikov, Nijinsky, Pavlova, and Balanchine.

But dance is what “The Children of Theatre Street” is mostly about. The screen pulsates with fresh, supple bodies learning all aspects of their art from the most rudimentary exercise to the finest nuance of a finished performance.

“The Children of Theatre Street” is a revealing view of the way the Russians go about continuing their great rendition of classical ballet. No lover of ballet and children will want to miss it.

“ ‘Theatre Street’ tells an important story and tells it brilliantly … at the Kirov School there will always be another vintage year, and ‘Theatre Street’ tells why.” – Rudolf Nureyev.

“I cried when I saw ‘Theatre Street’ for the first time. It brings back many memories. – Natalia Makarova.

“Anyone interested in ballet should see ‘Theatre Street’.” – Anna Kisselgoff, New York Times.

92 mins. (1978/2004)
DVD - Region 1 (US, Canada)

DVD (D1120) - $19.99
Coppelia is a love story in three acts. This beloved ballet is regarded as dance’s great comedy with music by Delibes. Based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Der Sandmann, the ballet combines the romance between Swanilda and Franz with the story of the doll maker Coppelius, whose greatest desire is to create a doll with a soul. Franz promptly falls in love with Coppelia, whom he thinks alive, but eventually recognizes that she is just a doll and returns to Swanilda, after which the final grand divertissement sees everyone reconciled.

With its touch of East European Folklore, the ballet continues to enjoy undiminished worldwide popularity … and is one of the most delightful and best-known ballets. Fernando Bujones, one of the most acclaimed male dancers of our time, gives an extraordinary performance as Franz, the young lover. Taped live in Puerto Rico with the Ballet de San Juan.

110 mins. (DVD-2006)
VHS - NTSC format only (Canada, USA).
DVD - All Region

Denishawn: The Birth of Modern Dance Video

Denishawn The Birth of Modern Dance DVD Only (D1301) - $19.99
This historic dance documentary tells the story of one of the least publicized, yet most-influential modern dance companies in America.

Founded by Ruth St. Denis and her husband Ted Shawn at the turn of the century, Denishawn has become legendary for its unique approach to contemporary dance. Martha Graham, Jack Cole, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman and countless others have built their companies and their work on the foundation established by St. Denis and Shawn.

Incorporating elements of Far and Middle Eastern dances to create abstract pieces they called “musical visualizations,” the couple rejected the tradition of basing dances on fairy tales: their dancers played human beings, not sugarplums or swans.

Husband-and-wife actors Paul and June Reed portray the Shawns in “interview” segments, and rare film footage of the real St. Denis and Shawn show them at the peak of their creative talents. The current Denishawn Company re-stages some of the founders’ original choreography, which remains as vital and modern today as it was then.

40 mins. (1988/2006)
DVD - All Region

Don Quixote - Kirov Ballet Video

DVD Only (D1217) - $29.99
The tremendous resources of the Kirov Ballet flash and dash through the four acts of joyous Petipa and Gorsky choreography making Don Quixote a thrilling visual treat. This delightful spectacle features the great Soviet dancers Tatyana Terekhova and Farouk Ruzimatov as the lovers Kitri and Basilio. Don Quixote is performed by Kirov star Vladimir Ponomaryov.

The story of Don Quixote tells of the old knight who dreams of chivalry, and his comic squire Sancho Panza. They come to Barcelona where they find Kitri, the daughter of an innkeeper, who is in love with Basilio the local Barber. But her father wishes Kitri to marry the foppish Gamache. How Kitri and Basilio outwit this plan by fleeing from Barcelona, and how Don Quixote tilts at windmills and dreams of fair ladies, and how eventually Kitri and Basilio are united, is the action of this joyous ballet.

Don Quixote is staged in the celebrated designs by Golovin and Korovin. This performance by the Kirov has been hailed as one of the greatest large cast ballet productions ever recorded on film.

120 mins. (1988)
DVD - All Region

Don Quixote Video (1175)

DVD Only - $29.99
Rudolf Nureyev’s film version of Don Quixote which he co-directed with Sir Robert Helpmann, stars famed dancer Nureyev and Lucette Aldous of the Royal Ballet as the young lovers. Their romance flourishes with the assistance of Helpmann, who portrays the title role.

Dancers of the Australian Ballet are featured in this elaborate production which was photographed in lavish color by Academy Award winning cinematographer, Geoffrey Unsworth. The virtuoso pas de deux in the final act of Don Quixote has been until recent years, the only portion of the full length ballet to be seen in this country, a tour de force for major dancers, it is but the tip of the iceberg of a brilliant and colorful production, conceived by the great 19th century choreographer, Marius Petipa. With the filming of Don Quixote, another dimension has been added. New sets and costumes were designed, and advanced camera techniques used to enhance the action in transferring the classic from stage to screen.

DVD - Digitally re-mastered this lavish production stars Rudolf Nureyev, Robert Helpmann, Lucette Aldous and The Australian Ballet. This spectacular program has been hailed as the finest full-length dance film of all-time. DVD includes a special feature documentary on the making of the film.

DVD - 127 minutes.
DVD - Region 1 (US, Canada)

The Dream Video (D2933)

The Dream DVD DVD Only - $29.99
A comical tale of fairies, mismatched lovers, and a mischievous sprite, Sir Frederick Ashton’s enduring one-act ballet, The Dream, has delighted audiences since its premiere in 1964.

Set to the ethereal music of Felix Mendelssohn, the ballet is a charming interpretation of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

“Ashton’s genius soars typically to the heights of poetic metaphor,” boasted The New York Times. “Charm is making a comeback in New York this spring,” enthused The Washington Post. The New York Observer described the ballet as “so fluent, so charged, so natural,” that “you know you’re in the hands of a master.”

To celebrate the centennial of Ashton’s birth, DANCE IN AMERICA presents American Ballet Theatre’s acclaimed staging, starring Ethan Stiefel, Alessandra Ferri, and Herman Cornejo.

54 mins. (2004)
DVD - Region 1 (US, Canada)

Fonteyne and Nureyev: The Perfect Partnership Video

Fonteyne and Nureyev The Perfect Partnership DVD Only (D1151) - $19.99
Margot Fonteyn & Rudolf Nureyev … perhaps the greatest partnership in the history of ballet.

For the first time, their most acclaimed performances, which have long thrilled audiences worldwide, have been captured together on one videocassette.

The program traces their partnership from its glorious inception in 1962 (in “Giselle” at Covent Garden), to its grand finale some 17 years later. It is unique in that it includes rare, behind-the-scenes footage of both dancers.

This special tribute program has now become even more of a treasure due to the passing of both Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. Their legendary partnership was recently hailed by the press as when “… ballet was never more gripping, never more transporting, than when her perfect pose met his ardent theatricality.”

Robert Powell narrates and ballet personalities such as dame Ninette de Valois, founder of The Royal Ballet, provide their thoughts and memories on the lives of Fonteyn, Nureyev and their association. The synergy of their partnership was electrifying, and their impact on the world of ballet remains unmatched.

This collector’s item is an intriguing visual biography of the greatest ballet partnership of all time.

90 mins. (DVD - 2005)
DVD - All Region