Editorial Product Review:Item Description:Even after the death of the great choreographer and ballet master George Balanchine, the legacy of his beautiful ballets and the striving for perfection which he instilled in his dancers live on.
This documentary celebrates six of Balanchine's ballerinas, Mary Ellen Moylan, Maria Tallchief, Melissa Hayden, Allegra Kent, Merrill Ashley and Darci Kistler, and shows them keeping alive the ballets and the inspiration they learned from him. For all of them, Balanchine was the single most powerful influence in their lives.
These ballerinas, along with Suzanne Farrell, Tanaquil le Clerq and Diana Adams, are seen in a feast of excerpts of Balanchine ballets, including Concerto Barocco, Serenade, Symphony in C, Firebird, Stars and Stripes, Ballo Della Regina, Chaconne, Agon, Four Temperaments, Apollo and Scotch Symphony.
This film creates a composite portrait of being a dancer, of being a Balanchine dancer, and shows how the lives of Balanchine and these six ballerinas touched each other in indelible ways during a unique period. He nurtured and made each of them, and many others, more beautiful as dancers than they would have imagined possible, and they in turn inspired him in many different ways to create his remarkable range of superb ballets.
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Buyer Reviews
Average Buyer Rating:
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5 stars
This is a must see for anyone interested in dance, theater, or classical music, not just ballet. It's beautiful - the music, the pictures, the dancing, the memories, the eloquent dancers telling their stories and recalling humorous or painful memories as ballerinas in the greatest ballet comany in the world, the NYC Ballet, all of which shape our understanding and appreciation of George Balanchine, the famous Russian choreographer and its founder - and of ballet itself. It was touching - the awe, affection and excitment theses dancers still have for Balanchine even after all these years have gone by since they've danced and since Mr. B's death (with the exception of Darci Kistler who was not yet retired during this documentary.) Mary Ellen Moylan, the first great Balanchine dancer, recalls emotionally, "I shall never forget Balanchine. To this day he is present in my life. I even dream about him at night. And I carry with me the feelings of the things he gave us." All these dancers are very interesting people, not just great dancers. They are captivating to listen to. The dance footage in this documentary is extensive and wonderful, and very rare. I would have loved to see some of his even more prominent ballerinas featured though, the one's who had been trained by him since their childhoods, especially my favorites, Heather Watts or Marjorie Sphon. But overall it was a very moving documentary that I can imagine would have a profond affect on someone who knows nothing about ballet -that's how powerful it is.
Customer Rating: -
FASCINATING DOCUMENTARY WORTH SEEING AGAIN
I first saw this on PBS - an anthology of interviews with six of the premiere Balachine ballerinas spanning a period of time from the late 40s up until Balachine's retirement and death. Each lady relates their experiences dancing "for Mr. B", with Maria Tallchief's interview being particularly illuminating as she was for a time his wife. The women have praise and admiration (and very little criticism) for their mentor and choreographer, and their work to keep his choreography alive for future generations. Sadly Melissa Hayden has passed on since this was made. Far more than the six represented here could have been part of this documentary (LeClerq, Kirkland, Watts, Farrell, McBride) and it would have been interesting to hear the male dancer's opinion (Martins, Mitchell, d'Amboise, Villella) but that would have required a series.
