Directed by Dayna Goldfine & Dan Geller • Documentary • With Marian Seldes (narrator voice), Dame Alicia Markova, Frederic Franklin, Mia Slavenska, Nathalie Krassovska, Tatiana Riabouchinska, George Zoritch, Irina Baronova, Tamara Tchinarova Finch, Maria Tallchief, Yvonne Chouteau, Marc Platt, Tatiana Stepanova, Nini Theilade, Miguel Terekhov, Wakefield Poole, Yvonne Craig, Raven Wilkinson, Alan Howard, Nina Novak, Rochelle Zide, • 2005 • 118 minutes
Unearthing a treasure trove of archival footage, filmmakers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine have fashioned a dazzlingly entrancing ode to the revolutionary twentieth-century dance troupe known as the Ballets Russes. What began as a group of Russian refugees who never danced in Russia became not one but two rival dance troupes who fought the infamous “ballet battles” that consumed London society before World War II.
Ballets Russes maps the company’s Diaghilev-era beginnings in turn-of-the-century Paris--when artists such as Nijinsky, Balanchine, Picasso, Miró, Matisse, and Stravinsky united in an unparalleled collaboration--to its halcyon days of the 1930s and ’40s, when the Ballets Russes toured America, astonishing audiences schooled in vaudeville with artistry never before seen, to its demise in the 1950s and ’60s when rising costs, rocketing egos, outside competition, and internal mismanagement ultimately brought this revered company to its knees. Directed with consummate invention and infused with juicy anecdotal interviews from many of the company’s glamorous stars, Ballets Russes treats modern audiences to a rare glimpse of the singularly remarkable merger of Russian, American, European, and Latin American dancers, choreographers, composers, and designers that transformed the face of ballet for generations to come. — Sundance Film Festival, 2005
Directed by Kim Longinotto & Jano Williams • Documentary • 1995 • 50 minutes
This fascinating documentary, produced for the BBC, opens a door into the spectacular world of the Takarazuka Revue, a highly successful musical theater company in Japan. Each year, thousands of girls apply to enter...
Directed by Yuri Grigorovich • Documentary • With Ekaterina Maximova, Vladimir Vasiliev
• 1978 • 102 minutes
The Nutcracker speaks to the child in everyone, with its happy dreams of snow, presents, adventures, toys and wishes fulfilled. Despite Tchaikovsky’s most addictive score, the original ...
Directed by Mary Jane Doherty • Documentary • With Mayara Piñeiro, Gabriela Moreno, Moises Noriega • 2013 • 96 minutes
Secundaria quietly follows one high school class on its journey through Cuba's world-famous National Ballet School. The teens love to dance, but for many of them dance is also t...