Ballet Performance on DVD

Ballet Performance:
Don Quixote. Baryshnikov, Harvey, American Ballet Theatre DVD
Mikhail Baryshnikov's sparkling full-length production of Don Quixote captures all the excitement, Spanish color, and humor of Cervantes' original masterpiece. It is one of the most popular and joyful ballets surviving from the imperial Russian ballet's repertory. The famous virtuosic pas de deux is danced in this performance by Baryshnikov "like a dream," according to the New York Post, "a madcap bravado which combined with his pure classicism gives his dancing an edge of genius." His partner, Cynthia Harvey, who takes the part of Kitri, was reviewed in the New York press as possessing "a clear line and splendid grace that grow more wonderful on each viewing."

Ballet Performance:
Romeo and Juliet. Royal Ballet. Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn DVD
It's not a stretch to call Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn the most sublime of all dance partners and Sergei Prokofiev the most gifted 20th-century ballet composer. And so it goes without saying that the 1966 film version of the Royal Ballet production of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet featuring Nureyev and Fonteyn as the star-crossed lovers is an absolute must-have for anyone who cares a whit about the art. Director Paul Czinner has made all the right moves, alternating between full shots of the performers with long shots that accentuate how Kenneth MacMillan's fastidious choreography is inexorably linked to the characters, their story, the elaborate sets, and the viewer. Nicholas Georgiadis's costumes are sumptuous without being overdone, the supporting dancers and ensemble are as exquisite as the leads, and John Lanchbery conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House with just the right mixture of joviality and tragedy that Prokofiev's classic score needs but doesn't always receive.

Ballet Performance:
Jiri Kylian's Black & White Ballets DVD
The ballets represented in the "Black and White" series are arresting examples of Jiri Kylian's style and fully justify his reputation as one of the most inventive and daring choreographers on today's dance scene. The vitality of his work in underpinned by a musically so innate from the same impulse. Dances: "Sarabande" with music by Bach, "Petite Mort" with music by Mozart, "Sweet Dreams" with music by Webern, "No More Play" with music by Webern, "Falling Angels" with music by Reich, "Six Dances" with music by Mozart.

Ballet Performance:

A Midsummer Night's Dream DVD
A Midsummer Night's Dream is George Balanchine's story-ballet masterpiece based on Shakespeare's play. With music by Felix Mendelssohn, the Pacific Northwest Ballet's full-length production was performed and videotaped before a live audience in February 1999 at London's Sadler's Wells Theatre. The critics lavishly praised this outstanding presentation. PNB artistic directors Francia Russell and Kent Stowell have trained and coached their dancers to a very high level of artistic excellence.

Stravinsky. The Firebird and Les Noces. Royal Ballet DVD

Tchaikovsky. Swan Lake. Makarova, Dowell, Royal Ballet Covent Garden DVD

Bizet, Shchedrin. Carmen. Cullberg Ballet DVD

Tchaikovsky. The Sleeping Beauty. Durante, Solymosi, Dowell. Royal Ballet DVD

Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf. Royal Ballet School DVD

American Ballet Theatre at the Met - Mixed Bill DVD

Le Corsaire. American Ballet Theatre DVD

Tchaikovsky. The Sleeping Beauty. Kirov Ballet DVD

Adam. Giselle, La Scala DVD

Lar Lubovitch's Othello. San Francisco Ballet DVD

Tchaikovsky. Swan Lake. Mezentseva, Zaklinsky, Kirov Ballet DVD

Prokofiev. Cinderella. Sibley, Dowell. Royal Ballet DVD

Kirov Classics DVD

Ravel. L'Enfant et les Sortilèges. Netherlands Dance Theater DVD

The Parsons Dance Company DVD

Kenneth MacMillan's Mayerling. Mukhamedov, Durante, Collier. Royal Ballet DVD

Nureyev's Don Quixote. Lanchbery, Nureyev, Helpmann, Aldous. Australian Ballet DVD

The Swan Lake DVD

Essential Ballet Stars of Russian Ballet DVD

An Evening with the Royal Ballet. Nureyev, Fonteyn DVD

Tchaikovsky. The Nutcracker. Maximova, Vasiliev, Bolshoi DVD
Live from the Bolshoi Theatre. This 1978 remake is a truly spellbinding version of this Christmas classic. Tchaikovsky's beloved melodies combine with superb dancing to create pure delight. Starring Yekaterina Maximova, Vladimir Vasiliev, Victor Levashev, and Sergei Radchenko.

Return of the Firebird DVD
Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov. Firebird. Petrushka. Scheherazade.

Suzanne Farrell - Elusive Muse DVD
Romantic triangles. Unconsummated passion. Jealousy. Revenge. Just another day offstage at the New York City Ballet for ballerina Suzanne Farrell and her mentor, legendary choreographer George Balanchine. Elusive Muse traces the development of Farrell into an extraordinary performer while trying to define her passionate professional and personal relationship with "Mr. B." (Farrell says dancing with Balanchine was "more passionate, more loving" than a sexual relationship would have been.) Relying heavily on interviews with Farrell and her longtime dance partner, Jacques d'Amboise

Prokofiev. Romeo and Juliet. Nagano. Lyon Opera Ballet DVD
Angelin Preljocaj's startling new choreography of Shakespeare's tragic star-crossed lovers, set to Sergei Prokofiev's powerful score, is performed by the Lyon Opera Ballet, widely acclaimed for their stylish and innovative productions. Preljocaj sees the story as a class struggle between Romeo and Juliet with love as the power that can overthrow the established order's oppression. Reflecting the director's vision, designer Enki Bilal has magnificently created a stage world reflecting a communist sterility. The contrast between the ballet's cold environment and the lovers' heated encounters is beautifully realized in supple and imaginative duets danced by Pascale Doye and Nicolas Dufloux.