Staff Recommendations: World Ballet Day
Featuring the favorites of the Library’s resident ballet enthusiast, Khristine.
Sponsored by The Royal Opera House, The Bolshoi Ballet, and The Australian Ballet, World Ballet Day returns for its eighth year, bringing together a host of the world’s leading companies for a packed day of dance. Over the course of the day, rehearsals, discussions and classes will be streamed for free across six continents, offering unique behind-the-scenes glimpses of ballet’s biggest stars and upcoming performers.If you are a true ballet nerd ("balletomane"), you'll really enjoy watching a company class from the likes of The Royal Ballet, live streaming from London. It's interesting to watch the great stars doing barre alongside their humbler colleagues of the corps de ballet. Find it all here: https://worldballetday.com/
For those of you who are not quite so nerdy, here are some interesting quick picks in the way of documentaries or feature films, all available through CLAMS (or with your Provincetown Library Kanopy account).
Ballet Russes, Zeitgeist Films documentary tells the story of the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo, and its influence on everything that came after.
Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance (PBS American Masters) chronicles the work of the magnificent Robert Joffrey and his life-long partnership with Gerald Arpino. Revered for his inspired teaching style, and for welcoming a diverse and eclectic group of dancers, Mr. Joffrey founded a truly American ballet company.
The Red Shoes (1948) watch the beautiful redhead Moira Shearer dance her heart out. She was a renowned ballerina of the Sadler's Wells (now Royal) Ballet in its first years at Covent Garden, and over whom only Margot Fonteyn took precedence. As a result, she was able to popularize ballet at that time more than any of her colleagues.
Polina (French co-production), a probing account of a young dancer's life as she finds her way from the Bolshoi to free-form expression. (Also on Kanopy)
The Turning Point, for high melodrama!
Misty Copeland, A Ballerina's Tale documentary (photo to the left, Misty Copeland as Firebird)
Good Reads:
Jennifer Homans' Apollo's Angels, an award-winning comprehensive history of ballet by a true scholar and former professional dancer.
Gelsey Kirkland Dancing on my Grave, tragic, angry, and gossipy.
DK Publishers sumptuous coffee table book Ballet: The Definitive Illustrated Story. So eye-poppingly gorgeous, you'll have a hard time returning it to the library! But please do anyway....
Great performance videos of "Story Ballets" available through CLAMS :
American Ballet Theatre's gorgeous production of Swan Lake, starring the brilliantly athletic Gillian Murphy and Angel Corella. Herman Cornejo also stars...observe how his leaps hang in the air!
From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, The Royal Ballet's production of Giselle, stars Carlos Acosta and Natalia Osipova. You will not fail to be moved by the poetry of this beautiful ballet performance.
Other videos from CLAMS you may enjoy: Rudolph Nureyev produces and performs in Don Quixote for the Australian Ballet, staged and filmed in an airplane hangar; his staging of Sleeping Beauty for the Paris Opera Ballet, starring the luminous Aurelie Dupont; and the Kirov Ballet's production of La Bayadere.
Ask us for more great "Story Ballet" videos available from the Massachusetts Commonwealth Catalog, or you may order them directly from the site with your CLAMS pin number:
American Ballet Theatre's The Dream, is a one-act ballet based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. "Prima ballerina assoluta" Alessandra Ferri is Titania, Ethan Steifel plays Oberon with wonderful sternness, and Herman Cornejo floats again as Puck.
Since some of these performances feature dancers I revere, you may see them in more than one of my choices here. That's because they are amazing! Don't miss this 1984 production of Romeo and Juliet from the Royal Ballet, starring Alessandra Ferri and Wayne Eagling. Breathtaking choreography by Sir Kenneth Macmillan, and an unforgettable emotionally dark score by the great Sergei Prokofiev. Alessandra Ferri first danced this role at the age of twenty-one, and daringly and successfully reprised it in 2016 at the age of 53!
Although Macmillan choreographed Romeo and Juliet for his two favorite dancers of the Royal Ballet, nevertheless Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev were chosen for the premier at Covent Garden due to their tremendous box office draw. Although the quality of the recording will be poor, Commonwealth Catalog can provide you with a DVD of these two justly famous dancers in the title roles.