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Ballet Performances Videos and DVDs 3

Ballet videos - Children of Theatre Street, Cinderella, Coppelia and Denishawn.

See Ballet Videos 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13

The Children of Theatre Street Video

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.

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.