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Which one? The "Diana and Acteon" which is cobbled together from music from Esmeralda? That one was televised with Nureyev and Beriosova during the grand days of the Bell Telephone Hour, or the actual grand pas de deux from the original? Of the former, a tape does exist, but whether it's in circulation, I don't know. Of the latter, I don't know at all.

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Actually I meant the one by drigo....not the Diane and Acteon I have that one in a few versions as well, but the Pas de Deux by Drigo....Petipa threw it in the ballet when he did one of his many revivals of the work....Ive never seen it and always wanted to.

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I have 3 selections from ESMERALDA listed in my book’s videography, BALLET 101. All, however, refer to the famous Pas de Six, where La Esmeralda is asked to dance at the wedding of her beloved, Phoebus, while she is partnered by the poet Gringoire. The credit I believe I got from the tapes lists Pugni or Drigo as composer.

Here are a few others in the NYPLibrary for the Perf. Arts at Lincoln Center. I’m not sure if they remain available commercially, nor if they would offer you what you are looking for. (FYI: American Ballet Theatre recently performed Ben Stevenson’s pastiche pas de deux called ESMERALDA on a gala with Nina Ananiashvili and Jose Manuel Carreno, but this was not released on video. I suppose there is chance that on one of the 3 [or is it 4?] cassettes released as “Nina Anaiasvili and International Stars” there might be a performance of ESMERALDA, but I don’t have time right now to check my tapes of this series.)

So here are a few leads:

The Romantic Era (1980): Pas de deux from Esmeralda: reconstructed and choreographed by John Gilpin; music by Cesare Pugni, danced by Evdokimova and Schaufuss.

The Ballerinas (1985) Esmeralda: two variations and coda, perf. by Fracci, Jeffries.

World’s Young Ballet (1969): Nina Sorokina and Yuri Vladimirov in Peace and war (chor: Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Lubovich Vasil'ev) and Esmeralda.

Holiday For Ballet (1981): Esmeralda: pas de deux / performed by Natalia Arkhipova and partner.

Moment of Light: Evelyn Hart docu. (1992) [this was shown I think on canadian tv and there are copies around but I don’t think it’s been commercially released]: Back in Winnipeg, she performs Agrippina Vaganova's La Esmeralda with Manuel Legris, a guest artist from the Paris Opéra Ballet.

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Your book rocks! Ive read it bunch of times.....I actually use the video section as a guide. Your writing is very entertaining and funny at times. You should share your apparent knowledge of the old works you didnt go through in the ballet videos chapter in the detail that you went through in ANOTHER BOOK.....LIKE A 2ND VOLUME OR SOMETHING. BTW.....Do you know if the Kirov is gonna release thier Bayadere or Sleeping Beauty onto video and CD???? Thanks alot and WRITE ANOTHER BOOK!!!!!!!!

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thanks for the vote of confidence regarding further book(s). i think after doing one, most authors say 'never again!' but then one learns to never say never. time will tell.

re: bayadere and beauty on cd and dvd, when i asked him myself at a public interview session in nyc this past summer, makharbek vaziev said, yes, both would be recorded: audio and video, but gave NO specifics as to time, label, etc. so all one can do is hope.

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I'll add to rg's amazing list.

A one-hour version of the complete Petipa/Pugni 'Esmeralda', as performed by St. Petersburg's Maly-Moussorgsky Ballet (the 2nd ballet troupe of the city) is commercially available in Russia. Maly principal Elvira Khabibulina stars in the title role. The live production is a delight and this video includes all of the highlights from each act.

Alas, the 'Drigo pas de deux' for Esmeralda and Phoebus does not exist in this production, which the Maly's artistic director, Nikolai Boyarchikov, staged based on Peter Gusev's 1950s staging which, in turn, was based on Petipa's original 1880s production at the Mariinsky, for Virginia Zucchi. The Drigo pas de deux was added by Petipa for an 1890s revival for Mathilde Kchessinskaya; thus, it is not a part of the revival of the 1880s version.

Sorry, I'm away from my library & cannot give exact dates for all of this. I'm working from rusty-and-overloaded memory!

As far as I know, there is no commercially-available video of the complete pas de deux that you seek, solor. The complete music of that pdd can be heard on the 'Romantic Ballericas' tape cited by rg (with Evdokimova as Esmeralda) but the costuming and choreography are not authentic; it's an anachronism -- 1890s music danced in an 1850s pastiche manner.

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