Medici TV free of charge today

[volcanohunter]

Medici TV is making its entire online catalogue available free of charge for World Music Day, June 21, 2014. It appears they're going by Central European Time, so that means from today at 6 pm Eastern until tomorrow at the same time.

The catalogue of ballet films includes many performances that are available on DVD, but there is also a large selection of documentaries that may not be as readily available. All that's required to watch is to register on the site, which costs nothing.

Here is the catalogue of ballet programs:

http://www.medici.tv/#!/genre-ballet

[vipa]

Thank you so much - I just watched a documentary on Violette and Balanchine, and plan to do more watching before 6 tomorrow.

[Helene]

Thank you so much for the heads up, volcanohunter!

I'm a member, but I missed that some of these docs even existed. I've been watching the "Balanchine in Paris" one, which opens with Ghislaine Thesmar coaching Isabella Ciaravola and Herme Moreau in all the second movement of "Palais de Cristal" except most of the central coda solo for the ballerina. Comparing it to the recent broadcast that's available online (on culturebox), aside from a few arms, it looks identical until the end, where there are a few changes. For example the little lifts after the penche/battement/supported lunges, and now there's no jete lift after the back lifts on the diagonal, just runs.

Thesmar, in the one of the first interview portions, said that she overhead her husband, Pierre Lacotte talking to Balanchine. Lacotte asked why Balanchine didn't revive "Palais de Cristal," and Balanchine told him he'd forgotten it, and didn't have the same kind of dancers with the same technique when he made "Symphony in C," and the interview cleverly segues into a segment where Alicia Markova coaches Myriam Ould-Braham in "Le Chant du Rossignol" through a translator. (Later we find that Delouche continues to use Thesmar's commentary to tie the documentary together.) It's interesting how much motivation and story she's trying to convey. It's fascinating to see the choreography. I don't even thing he used the same vocabulary in the one version of "Firebird" I saw.

Vyroubova coaching Muriel Hallé and in "La Sonnambula is fascinating, and there are some short old film clips of her performing the Sleepwalker. Milorad Miskovitch simultaneously coaches Valéry Colin.

The last segment is Verdy coaching Lucia Lacarra and Cyril Pierre in one of the Part 1 PdD from "Liebeslieder Walzer" that was choreographed for her, followed by the big Part 2 PdD.

Best quote, "You purr!"

I'm pretty sure the Verdy with Lourdieres footage is from one of the other Delouche documentaries, where Verdy coaches "Sonatine."

[meunier fan]

I'm pretty sure the Verdy with Lourdieres footage is from one of the other Delouche documentaries, where Verdy coaches "Sonatine."

It is ... Violette and Mr. B .... and also available to view for free today ;)

[Helene]

I just watched the Bayerisches Staatsoper's live stream of "Afternoon of a Faun" and the little leg flicks the Faun uses when dancing with the Nymph reminded me of the "Nightingale" clips.

[DanielBenton]

Thanks for letting us know about this. I was especially delighted to see the rehearsal of Sonatine.