Jump to content
This Site Uses Cookies. If You Want to Disable Cookies, Please See Your Browser Documentation. ×

Recommended Posts

I don't know how long it will last, but a number of TDK and Opus Arte DVDs are selling on Amazon.com at a 27% discount. Some of the titles on sale include:

Opus Arte

Coppelia (Royal Ballet)

Sleeping Beauty (Dutch National Ballet)

Nutcracker (Royal Ballet, with Cojocaru, Putrov, Yoshida, Cope et al.)

Swan Lake (Royal Swedish Ballet)

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Pacific Northwest Ballet)

Jewels (Paris Opera Ballet)

Amelia (La La La Human Steps) :) (Sorry, that's my two cents.)

TDK

La Sylphide (POB)

Giselle (La Scala, with Zakharova & Bolle)

Coppelia (POBS)

Excelsior (La Scala)

Don Quichotte (POB)

Swan Lake (La Scala)

Le Jeune Homme et la Mort/Carmen (POB)

Notre-Dame de Paris (POB)

Sylvia (POB)

Appartement (POB)

Les Ballets Trockadero, vols. 1 & 2

The Kirov Celebrates Nijinsky and Martha Graham in Performance are selling at 25% off.

While you're at it, don't forget to support Ballet Talk by using the link at the top of the page!

Link to comment
Are any of these particularly recommended?

I really enjoy AND recommend:

Opus Arte

Nutcracker (Royal Ballet, with Cojocaru, Putrov, Yoshida, Cope et al.) The tempos drive me nuts, but the dancing and the production are quite beautiful

Jewels (Paris Opera Ballet) We've had a long discussion about this DVD on this site, not perfect, but it still has much to offer.

TDK

La Sylphide (POB)

Coppelia (POBS) - I love this DVD because in addition to showcasing some very beautiful young dancers, Mathieu Ganio for starters, the documentary about the school is wonderful.

Don Quichotte (POB) - I love this DVD. Dupont's solo in the "dream sequence" is worth the price. And there are many other terrific moments.

Appartement (POB) - I HIGHLY recommend this DVD. I think I've worn mine out. haha My students continually ask me to show them this DVD.

Link to comment

A great sale, but going online to look at what's available to us always reminds me of how much dance is not available on DVD, or film, or video, "not even for ready money," to quote Oscar Wilde. :speechless-smiley-003:

By comparison, can you imagine if we only had one or two versions of Beethoven's 5th to listen to? Or if a handful of servicable orchestras produced many recordings while the major orchestras produced few or none? Or if we had to go to a special library and get special permission to hear legendary performers?

Link to comment
...can you imagine if we only had one or two versions of Beethoven's 5th to listen to? Or if a handful of servicable orchestras produced many recordings while the major orchestras produced few or none? Or if we had to go to a special library and get special permission to hear legendary performers?

:wallbash: I definitely share your frustration.

It's been discussed often on this forum, but the fact that most Dance in America broadcasts are not available commercially is a crime against the popularization of dance. Isn't it ironic that PNB had to go to London to get itself onto DVD? Not that the majority of BBC dance broadcasts are available either! I'm grateful that the POB has some three broadcasts on French state television each year and that the majority of these are made available on DVD. I'm also glad that the ballet company at La Scala has been using the prestige of its name to get itself onto disc. But there ought to be so much more!

The situation with music is much easier to deal with. Classical music is readily available on radio and, what's more, it can be listened to while a person is at work, performing chores or in transit, which in turn cultivates familiarity. But watching dance requires undivided attention, and where are uninitiated North Americans going to see it? If the public demand for ballet DVDs is small, then I suppose it's up to us to create it. But it's awfully difficult to create a demand when dance gets so little television exposure.

Link to comment
TDK

Coppelia (POBS) - I love this DVD because in addition to showcasing some very beautiful young dancers, Mathieu Ganio for starters, the documentary about the school is wonderful.

I just wanted to mention that this is only PART of the full LES ENFANTS DE LA DANSE and that the full (4ep?) spans 2 dvds. (no, not avail in US)

-goro-

Link to comment
Are any of these particularly recommended?

I'll second Brioche's choices, though I prefer the earlier Royal Ballet film of Peter Wright's Nutcracker, which is available from Kultur, with Lesley Collier as the SPF and Anthony Dowell as her Cavalier. I agree that the slow tempos may drive you batty.

Here are a few more things you may want to mull over. There's very little Balanchine out there, so I'd consider A Midsummer Night's Dream.

I would think that the Dutch National Ballet's Sleeping Beauty would be of great interest to fans of Sofiane Sylve. Ditto for the Royal Ballet's Coppelia for fans of Carlos Acosta.

Even though the documentary that goes with the POBS Coppelia is abridged, there's more than enough there to play a game of "spot the future étoile."

If you enjoyed John Neumeier's Death in Venice, you'll probably like Sylvia. If not, don't bother. Jeune Homme and Carmen are an excellent introduction to Roland Petit if you're looking to expand your familiarity with European choreographers, though I think Clairemarie Osta is miscast as Carmen.

Link to comment
[W]atching dance requires undivided attention, and where are uninitiated North Americans going to see it? If the public demand for ballet DVDs is small, then I suppose it's up to us to create it. But it's awfully difficult to create a demand when dance gets so little television exposure.
Excellent point! You give us a sad reminder that -- when it comes to culture -- the snowball can sometimes role in the opposite direction, and actually lose size and mass as it goes along.

I have enjoyed several of the dvd's on Dale's list. POB's have, I think, the best production values. They are pue and almost crystalline in the way they make dance visible.

The main advantage of dvd, it seems to me, is the ability to stop, repeat, and look a gain at something that caught the eye. The main negative is doing this pretty much in isolation. (Brioche is lucky to be able to view these videos partly through the eyes of groups of students.) Nothing even comes close to sitting in silence, in a darkened theater, surrounded by others, and watching a live performance as it unfolds in real time. I like using video to prep myself for live performances later on.

I assume that the POB's deal with French tv is partly a quid pro quo for the huge subsidies the company receives from the French government. It requires a government that actually values making high culture available to the public. We once had that here in the US. Given a very different political and cultural climate today, what might induce US public television to increase its presentation of high culture, including classical dance? :wallbash:

Link to comment
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...