Ballet Videos and DVDs Performances 3

Ballet videos - Giselle - Kirov, Creole Giselle, Great Pas de Deux, Grupo Corpo Brazilian, Glyndebourne, Kirov, La Bayadere and La Fille Mal Gardee.

See Ballet Videos 1, Ballet Videos 2, Ballet Videos 4, Ballet Videos 5, Ballet Videos 6.

Giselle - The Kirov Ballet DVD

Giselle The Kirov Ballet DVD - $29.99

Starring: Galina Mezentseva, Konstantin Zaklinsky, Angelina Kabarova. Conductor: Viktor Fedotov. Choreographer: Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot. Composer: Adolphe Adam.

The romantic ballet, Giselle, first seen in 1841, was the finest of the ballets staged in Paris during the age of Romanticism. Over the years Giselle disappeared from the repertory outside Russia, and has only survived through the recognition of its quality and the preservation of its traditions by the Kirov Ballet. The role of Giselle has been compared to that of Hamlet. She is a simple peasant girl, driven from joy to madness and death through an unhappy love. She is transformed into a ghost and ordered to help destroy the man who betrayed her, while still seeking to sustain him because of her undying love.

108 mins. (2006)
DVD - Region 1 (Canada, United States; U.S. territories; Bermuda)

Creole Giselle DVD

Creole Giselle DVD - $29.99

Now, for the first time on home video, the Dance Theatre of Harlem is presented in Creole Giselle, their acclaimed interpretation of the ballet classic.

Making only minor changes in the story, music and traditional choreography of the repertory staple, DTH founder Arthur Mitchell has set the ballet in 1841 Louisiana. It was a time when social status among freed blacks was measured by how far removed one’s family was from slavery: the community’s “aristocrats” looked down on those whose immediate family had been enslaved. Thus, in the DTH version, Giselle faces the same social obstacles and heart-breaking rejection by Albert and his family as their classical counterparts.

Giselle is danced by Virginia Johnson, hailed as “strong and yet delicate … very moving … remarkable.” Eddie J. Shellman co-stars, and was praised as “an attractive and unusually brash Albert, his solos securely dispatched.” See for your self why Creole Giselle is one of the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s most popular works.

88 mins. (2005)
DVD - All Region

Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About (PBS American Masters Production) DVD

In a life that inspired controversy, no one disputes the place that Jerome Robbins holds as the preeminent director/choreographer of American musical theatre. He transformed Broadway with shows like West Side Story, Gypsy and Fiddler on the Roof, and he forged a career in ballet, first at American Ballet Theatre, then at New York City Ballet.

This two-hour film, produced and directed by Judy Kinberg and written by best-selling Robbins' biographer Amanda Vaill, features excerpts from Robbins' work, never-before-seen rehearsal footage, and interviews with many of his colleagues from ballet and Broadway, including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Suzanne Farrell, Jacques d'Amboise, Arthur Laurents, Chita Rivera, and Stephen Sondheim.

130 mins. (2009)
DVD - All Region

Kirov Classics DVD

Kirov Classics DVD - $29.99

This production of Les Sylphides is from Agrippina Vaganova’s 1928 restaging under its original name. The dancers include soloists Altynai Asylmuratova and Konstantin Zaklinsky (Mazurka and Valse), Yelena Pankova (second Valse) and Anna Polikarpove (Prelude).

Like many spectacular Soviet ballets, Oleg Vinogradov’s Petrushka is a glorious feast of vigorous steps, danced with inexhaustible energy by a large cast. However, it is far removed from Fokine’s original Petrushka about the sad puppet who could not win the love of a heartless ballerina. Instead, this innovative ballet concerns itself with the politics of today and shows a populace intoxicated by propaganda. Barber’s Adagio, set to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, is an example of Vinogradov’s more lyrical choreography, and is beautifully danced by Yelena Yevteeva and Eldar Aliev.

In contrast, the pas de deux from Le Corsaire is a showpiece danced with dazzling virtuosity by Lyubov Kunakova and Faroukh Ruzimatov. The Fairy Doll, staged by Nicolai and Sergei Legat in 1903, is a pantomimic divertissement, charmingly danced by Larissa Lezhnina, Dmitry Gruzdev and Yaroslav Fadayev, and Arthur Saint-Leon’s Markitenka to a lively score by Cesare Pugni is a pas de six of exuberant dancing.

Originally a two-act ballet, the Pacquita we know today is essentially the ballet’s glittering core, the Grand Pas, which was choreographed by Petipa in 1881. Inspired by the flamboyance of Ludwig Minkus’ music, Petipa created a stylistic showpiece, flavored with a delectable Spanish air.

147 mins. (1991)
DVD - Region 1 (Canada, United States; U.S. territories; Bermuda)