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Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About

As shown on the PBS American Masters Series, February 18, 2009

A not-to-be-missed 130 minute documentary on Robbins featuring excerpts from his personal journals, archival performance footage, never-before-seen rehearsals, as well as interviews with Robbins himself and over forty others, including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jacques d’Amboise, Suzanne Farrell, Peter Martins, Chita Rivera, and Stephen Sondheim.Covers his transformations from modern dancer to ballet dancer, to master of the Broadway Musical, and to one of the greatest ballet choreographers. Includes excerpts from his ballets: Fancy Free, Les Noces, The Cage, Dances at a Gathering, Other Dances, The Goldberg Variations, Watermill, Dybbuk, Antique Epigraphs, In Memory Of... His Broadway choreography is represented by selections from On the Town, The King and I, Peter Pan, West Side Story, Gypsy, Fiddler on the Roof, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Jerome Robbins’ Broadway. 130 min.

VKU175 $30.00

Cinderella
Paris Opera Ballet


Rudolf Nureyev’s colourful, “movie-star” version of Prokofiev
s Cinderella retains the classic Perrault story but sets it in America during the difficult years of the Great Depression in the 1930s and 1940s. Agnès Letestu stars as Cinderella who, living with her alcoholic father, tyrannical stepmother and two spiteful stepsisters, dreams of escape and stardom in Hollywood. After a promising screen-test during which The Film Star, suavely portrayed by José Martinez, falls head over heels in love with her, she is fearful that her new-found happiness is too good to be true and will vanish with her youth. Fortunately, her magical protector (in the form of The Producer) and her lover move heaven and earth for a ‘happily ever after’ ending. 185 min.

VNX007 $39.95

Tales of Beatrix Potter
The Royal Ballet

Created by Frederick Ashton for a film in 1971, Tales of Beatrix Potter brings alive, with rich characterisation and invention, the famous images and stories of Beatrix Potter. Swept up in the ballets childlike exuberance, the entire cast delivers outstanding portrayals of such colorful figures as Jemima Puddle-Duck, Jeremy Fisher, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle and the irrepressible Peter Rabbit. Ashtons warm and witty, yet demanding, choreography creates a piece of charm and grace for all ages. 76 min.

VNX061 $29.95

Murray Louis in Concert

Documents Louis’ extraordinary career as a dance soloist, drawing on choreography from 1953 to 1988. Features Deja Vu, Chimera, Junk Dances and ten others. 45 min.

VDH037 $49.95
Medea (1780)

Choreographed by Jean-Georges Noverre Staged and recreated by Judith Chazin-Bennahum Presented by the University of New Mexico Department of Theatre and Dance Includes the dance documentary Recreating Medea by Mariel McEwan. 64 min.

VDH034D $39.95

Early Dance
Part 1: From the Greeks to the Renaissance

Produced by Isa Partsch-Bergsohn Directed by Hal Bergsohn

This concise history of Greek through Elizabethan dance uses engravings, prints, and paintings with accompanying music and narration. Period-costumed dancers demonstrate the pavan, galliard, saltarella, canarie and volta. 22 min.

VDH119 $39.95

 

Early Dance
Part 2: The Baroque Era

Produced by Isa Partsch-Bergsohn Directed by Hal Bergsohn

Shows the development of dance from the entertainments of the French court of Louis XIII to the theatrical art form during the reign of Louis XIV. Provides rich cultural background to the origins of ballet. 30 min.

VDH020 $39.95
Doris Humphrey Legacy
Water Study
Coaching, Analysis,
and Performance


This is one of the first works Humphrey composed as an independent choreographer. Imagistic conceptions performed in silence, the dance calls for subtle yet complex ensemble work. 91 min.

VDH045 $39.95
Doris Humphrey Legacy
The Shakers

Coaching, Analysis,
and Performance


Based on Shaker ritual, this dance weaves Humphrey
s fascination with the sect and her interest in formal dance composition. Stodelle protégé Corbin coaches technical aspects of the choreography and Stodelle give and examination of Shaker life with still photographs and engravings. 91 min.


VDH041 $39.95

The New Dance Group
Gala Historical Concert Retrospective 1930s-1970s


A 1993 production by the American Dance Guild.
In this remarkable DVD, The New Dance Group Gala Historical Concert: Retrospective 1930s -1970s, although some of the footage is a bit grainy, viewers will enjoy viewing dances of the most influential Modern Dance pioneers from the 1930s-1970s including: Mary Anthony, Ronne Aul, Talley Beatty, Valerie Bettis, Irving Burton, Jane Dudley, Jean Erdman, Eve Gentry, Joseph Gifford, Hadassah, Sophie Maslow, Donald McKayle, Daniel Nagrin, Pearl Primus, Anna Sokolow, Joyce Trisler, Charles Weidman. 160 min.



VDP588 $59.95

Program:

Songs (1956) part III “To each His Own”
Choreography: Mary Anthony

Tenant of the Street (1938)
Original choreography: Eve Gentry

Blues
Choreography: Ronnie Aul

Mourner’s Bench (1947)
excerpt from Southern Landscape
Choreography: Talley Beatty

The Desperate Heart (1943)
Choreography: Valerie Bettis

Lynchtown (1936) from the suite Ativisms
Choreography: Charles Weidman

The Negro Speaks of Rivers (1944) excerpts
Choreography: Pearl Primus

The Flight (1947) excerpt from Pursued
Choreography: Joseph Gifford

Shuvi Nafshi (1947) Return oh my soul unto thee
Choreography: Hadassah

Time Is Money (1934)
Choreography: Jane Dudley

Harmonica Breakdown (1934)
Choreography: Jane Dudley

Sign Dance For Sarah (1979)
Choreography: Irving Burton

Rainbow Round My Shoulder (1959) suite excerpt
Choreography: Donald Mc Kayle

The Transformation of Medusa (1942)
Choreography: Jean Erdman

Lyric Suite (1954) duet excerpt
Choreography: Anna Sokolow

Strange Hero (1948)
Choreography: Daniel Nagrin

Concerto in E (1979) excerpt
Choreography: Joyce Trisler

Folksay (1942) excerpt
Choreography: Sophie Maslow

The Spirit Moves


This rare 2-hour documentary is the most extensive video encyclopedia of African American social dance from 1900 to the 1980s. The Spirit Moves traces the evolution of African American dance in urban America. It was created over a period of thirty years by Mura Dehn, a European filmmaker who recognized and recorded the vital contribution of African American dance to the Jazz scene. She produced, directed, edited, and narrated this valuable film. Shown with its original editing, this DVD contains the only footage of this kind still in existence. The Spirit Moves provides a living history of the men and women who forged American social dance styles into an improvisational art form.

Part 1: Jazz Dance from the Turn of the Century to 1950
DVD, 45 min., 2008
VDP589 $59.95


Part 2: Savoy Ballroom of Harlem, 1950s

DVD, 30 min., 2008
VDP590 $59.95


Part 3: Postwar Era

DVD, 40 min., 2008
VDP591 $59.95

3 DVD Set Parts 1, 2 & 3
3 DVDs, 115 min.,
VDP592 $165.00
Swan Lake

Maya Plisetskaya and the Bolshoi Ballet, with Bogatirev and Efimov

Choreography by Grigorovich after Petipa &Ivanov, Music by Tchaikovsky


Maya Plisetskaya performed the dual roles of Odette and Odile in Swan Lake more than 800 times, an astonishing statistic, especially considering the sheer technical demands this ballet places upon the ballerina. For this historic even Plisetskaya was joined by her highly esteemed partner, the charismatic Alexander Bogatirev.

VVA421 $34.95
Plisetskaya Dances

A fascinating look at the one of the most charismatic prima ballerinas of the 20th century. Includes movements from her most famous dances: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Spartacus, The Little Humpbacked Horse, The Dying Swan, Raymonda, The Stone Flower, Romeo and Juliet, Walpurgisnacht and Don Quixote. Male stars of the Bolshoi Ballet take part.

VVA393 $34.95

Don Quixote

Nina Ananiashvili with Alexei Fadeyechev and Aleksandr Astafiev and the Tchaikovsky Perm State Ballet

Choreography by Petipa & Gorsky, revised by Ledjakh, Varlamova & Azarin-Messerer

Music by Leon Minkus


This film is the only record of Ananiashvili in one of her signature roles. Virtuosity is very much on display in this performance by the Ballet during its Japanese tour. Ananiashvili’s Kitri benefits greatly from her astonishing technical gifts, her natural charm and a flair for comedy.

VVA420 $34.95

Swan Lake

Nina Ananiashvili with Alexei Fadeyechev and Sergei Zagorulko and the Tchaikovsky Perm State Ballet

Choreography by Petipa, Ivanov & Gorsky, Music by Tchaikovsky


Ananiashvili first performed Swan Lake at the age of seventeen and the ballet has been a mainstay of her repertoire ever since. Physically and dramatically it is a role neatly tailored to her exceptional gifts. This performance, taped while the company was on tour in Japan, is the only available video of Ananiashvili in Swan Lake. She is joined in this production by Alexei Fadeyechev, her partner of a dozen years, “a fantastic partner.”

VVA422 $34.95

Romeo and Juliet

Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev with the Bolshoi Ballet

Choreography by Lavrovsky, Music by Prokofiev

Shakespeare’s tale of star-crossed young lovers has inspired countless variations, including successful permutations in dance, opera, concert music, film and musical theater. As a ballet, set to one of Prokofiev’s greatest scores, it has become a repertoire favorite. It is, however, the Kirov Ballet of Leningrad and Moscow’s Bolshoi that can claim an authentic relationship to this dance masterpiece. Here is a landmark performance, brilliantly illuminated by the performances of Maximova and Vasiliev.

VVA419 $34.95

Katia & Volodia

Ekaterina Maximova & Vladimir Vasiliev, A Portrait in Dance

Maximova and Vasiliev in a film by Dominique Delouche

Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev formed one of ballet’s supreme partnerships in their years as leading dancers with the Bolshoi Ballet. Each brought something distinctive to their individual work. Vasiliev ignited the stage with movie star looks and charisma, and a technique second to none. Maximova was enchanting and charming with the skills of a great actress. That they are husband and wife explains, in part, the unique chemistry of their collaborations.


VVA418 $24.95

Violette & Mr. B.

Violette Verdy in a film by Dominique Delouche

Violette Verdy, best remembered for her years as one of George Balanchine’s prima ballerinas at the New York City Ballet, has, in her retirement from the stage, been deeply involved in the training of young dancers. In this fascinating film, Ms. Verdy is shown coaching principal and guest artists at the Paris Opera Ballet in works of Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Her deep respect for the dances and her supportive work with her dancers define the qualities of a great teacher.

VVA423 $24.95
Dancing for Mr. B

Through interviews and performance excerpts, ballerinas Mary Ellen Moylan, Maria Tallchief, Melissa Hayden, Allegra Kent, Merrill Ashley and Darci Kistler salute their legendary teacher, George Balanchine, and share the impact he had on their lives.

VKU351 $29.99

Isadora Duncan
Masterworks

1905-1923

Isadora Duncan Dance Ensemble
Artistic Director: Dr. Andrea Mantell-Seidel
Artistic Advisor: Julia Levien

Program
Ave Maria Rosepetals
Harp Etude Bacchanal
Gypsy Mazurka Furies
Narcissus Mother
Greeting Revolutionary
Gypsy Warshavianka

DVD 52 min., 2008

VDH055 $49.95


Firestone Dances:
Ballet Highlights

Among the treasures from the Voice of Firestone archives are Rudolf Nureyev’s American television solo debut; the legendary team of Jacques D’Amboise and Melissa Hayden; the brilliant Maria Tallchief; Carla Fracci in a rare Pas de quatre set to the music of Pugni; as well as principal dancers of the Royal Danish Ballet and a performance by the Ballet Espanol Ximenes-Vargas.

DVD, 49 min., b&w

VKU127 $20.00

Hans van Manen Festival

Staged by The Dutch National Ballet to celebrate the work of choreographer Hans van Manen for his 75th birthday. International guest artists from companies such as the Kirov Ballet, and Nederlands Dans Theater, joined Dutch National Ballet to perform some of van Manens most celebrated ballets.

DVD, 130 min., color

VKU349 $30.00

Stravinsky:
Once At A Border

A Film by Tony Palmer

This biographical film about one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century includes documents, photographs and film never seen publicly before. Stravinskys three surviving children talk about their father and there are contributions from the late Madame Vera Stravinsky and many friends and colleagues. Included in the film are important performances from Les Noces, Petroushka and also a priceless film of Stravinsky himself.

DVD, 166 min., color/b & w

VKU347 $25.00

La Bayadère -
Kirov Theatre

This production was filmed live at the Kirov starring Gabriella Komleva as the temple dancer, Nikia; Tatiana Terekhova as Gamzatti, the Rajah’s daughter, and Rejen Abdyev as Prince Solor. This performance exhibits the perfection achieved by the Kirov corps de ballet. The orchestra, under the baton of Victor Shirokov, plays Minkus’ scintillating music. A piece of history, and a work of art, La Bayadère is quite simply a gem to be savored again and again.

DVD, 130 min., color

VKU181 $30.00

Swan Lake - Bolshoi Theatre

The aristocratic beauty of the Bolshoi Ballet brings this acclaimed production of Swan Lake alive with ennobling presence and artistry. Natalia Bessmertnova is soft and lyrical in the dual role of Odette and Odile; her eminently feminine quality makes her the ideal interpreter of this classic. The elegance and magnetism of Siegfried is masterfully portrayed by Alexander Bogatyrev. With exquisitely designed sets, and a dance corps whose skill rivals that of the principal ballerinas. This historic production was choreographed by the critically acclaimed master Yuri Grigorvich, with Tchaikovsky’s timeless score performed by the Moscow Symphonic Orchestra under the baton of Algis Zhuraitis.

DVD, 130 min., color

VKU348 $30.00

Gala Tribute To Tchaikovsky

Gala Performance to honor Tchaikovsky on the centenary of his death.

Artists of The Royal Ballet
The Royal Opera Chorus

Includes dances from The Nutcracker , The Sleeping Beauty, and Anastasia

DVD, 137 min., color

VKU350 $30.00

Shape Up
with David Howard

A unique exercise program designed by Americas foremost ballet master David Howard. These energizing and strengthening exercises provide a complete workout for all fitness levels and offer a varied mixture of aerobic techniques that target your bodys core muscle groups, toning and conditioning them.

DVD, 60 min., color

VKU276 $20.00

Ballet Class For Beginners

David Howard’s Ballet Class for Beginners is an excellent learning and teaching tool especially designed by America’s foremost ballet master to introduce the beginning student to the technique and vocabulary of classical ballet, with the emphasis on posture, placement and movement potential.

DVD, 40 min.

VKU021 $20.00

Seven Ballets:
The Paris
Opera Ballet


Patrick Dupond, Sylvie Guillem, Noella Pontois and the Stars and Corps of the Paris Opera Ballet

A mixed program of seven original dances featuring the sensational dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet. Housed in the largest theater building in the world, known as “the cradle of classical ballet,” the company stems from a tradition of more than 300 years, and in these dances, the tradition continues.

Dances include Escamillo (Schmucki), a Spanish folk dance, Le Petit Pan (Schmucki) with Dupond, music by Grieg, Bambou (Schmucki), danced to African folk music, Grande Pas Classique (Petipa), Rixe (Schmucki) by Saint Saens, Une Femme (Schmucki) by Sibelius, and The White Swan from Swan Lake (Petipa) with Pontois and Dupond, music by Tchaikovsky.

DVD, 66 min. + bonus features, 2008

VWL1240 $24.95

Classic Ballet Night:
The Kirov Ballet

Irina Kolpakova, Gabriela Komleva, Alla Sizova, Galina Mezentseva, Sergei Berezhnoi and the Corps of the Kirov Ballet

Choreography by Vaganova, Petipa, Bournonville, Saint-Leon and Dolin

Composers include Pugni, Drigo and Helsted

Some of the most loved dances in the classical repertory. They include Diana and Actheon (Vaganova), Esmeralda (Petipa), Flower Festival in Genzano (Bournonville), The Canteen Keeper (from Vivandiere) (Saint-Leon), The Venice Carnival (Petipa), and Pas de Quatre (Dolin).

DVD, 88 min. + bonus features, 2008

VWL1230 $24.95

Ballet Miniatures

With Choreographic Miniatures of St. Petersburg

Egyptian Night, Carnival, Romeo and Juliet

Egyptian Night and Carnival are rarely seen works by the great Russian choreographer Mikhail Fokine, the former set to music by Anton Arensky, the latter to music by Robert Schumann. These light, pretty, seductive ballets, though so different in theme and setting, are alike in showcasing the amazing artistry of the fabled Kirov Ballet, with its star dancers Faroukh Ruzimatov, Altynai Asylmuratova, and Margarita Kullik.

This fully packed program concludes with Romeo and Juliet, set to Tchaikovsky's music.

DVD, 88 min., 2000

VQ1111 $34.95

Sylvia (Delibes)
Ballet in three acts

The Royal Ballet with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Choreography by
Frederick Ashton

Darcey Bussell and Roberto Bolle star in Frederick Ashton’s Sylvia, restored to the splendor of its elegant and opulent three-act form for the 75th anniversary celebrations of The Royal Ballet. Taken from Greek mythology, it tells the story of Sylvia, loved by Aminta, abducted by Orion and eventually rescued by Eros.

DVD, 117 min., 2007

VNX031 $30.00

La Bayadère

Teatro alla Scala

Choreography by Natalia Makarova based on the original 1877 creation by Marius Petipa.

This new production of La Bayadère tells of a series of typically romantic conflicts presented in an ancient Indian setting: love and jealousy, intrigue, murder and revenge. In the final climax, the temple dancer Nikiya and Solor, her warrior lover, are united forever in death, and together they enter a paradisal world of eternal joy. The restless soul of a loving woman thus triumphs over all earthly torment and redeems her lover from the ensnarement of the world.

DVD, 126 min., 2007

VNX139 $30.00

Lieutenant Kijé and
Le Baiser de la Fée

With Artists of the Moscow Classical Ballet Company

Lieutenant Kijé
Vasiliev, Struchkova and Popko

Choreography by Tarasova and Lapauri, Music by Prokofiev

Le Baiser de la Fée (based on The Fairy’s Kiss by Hans Christian Anderson)
Malakhov, Tatsenko, Vasilieva and Gorbatsevich

Choreography by Vasiliev and Kasatkina, Music by Stravinsky

A new release with two ballets never before available on DVD.

With Bonus Selections:
Pas de deux from Sleeping Beauty and Don Quixote

DVD, 107 min., 2008

VVA415 $34.95

Gayne

Larisa Tuisova and the Latvian Opera and Ballet Company

Choreography by Eifman, Music by Khachaturian

A new release of a ballet never before available on DVD.

With Bonus Selections: Gayne, last act and adagio with different casts and Spartacus, two adagios with different casts

DVD, 81 min. + 47 min. bonus selections, 1995

VVA414 $34.95

Now on DVD
Mary Wigman
1886-1973

When the Fire Dances Between Two Poles

Narration by Mary Wigman, with voice-over in English. Includes historical footage of early Laban School and Wigman’s own compositions, Witch Dance, Seraphic Song, Dance of Summer, and excerpts from her last performance in 1942, Farewell and Thanksgiving.

DVD, 41 min., b&w, 1990

VDH036D $29.95

 

Le jeune homme et la mort and Carmen

With the Opera National de Paris

Le jeune homme et la mort (The Young Man and Death) - Nicolas le Riche and Marie-Agnes Gillot Choreography by Roland Petit, music by Bach: Passacaglia in C minor Costumes after Karinska

Carmen Clairemarie Osta and Nicolas le Riche Choreography by Roland Petit, music by Bizet Recorded live at the Paris Opera July 2005.

DVD, 92 min., 2005

VNX153 $34.95

Hans Van Manen

2-DVD set
Nederlands Dans Theater and Het Nationale Ballet

DVD I:
Nederlands Dans Theater
Choreography by Hans Van Manen
Déjà vu (music by Part), Solo (music by Bach); Kammerballett (music by Karayev, Scarlatti and Cage; The Old Man and Me (music by Cale, Stravinsky and Mozart)

DVD II
Het Nationale Ballet
Choreography by Hans Van Manen
Frank Bridge Variations (music by Britten) and Two Pieces for Het (music by Tuur and Part)

DVD I: 80 min. (ballets 63 min., introductions 17 min.), 2000

DVD II: 60 min. (ballets 38 min., introductions 22 min.), 2007

VNX151 $34.95

Clavigo

Nicolas Le Riche, Clairemarie Osta and Marie-Agnes Gillot and the Opera national de Paris

Choreography by Roland Petit, music by Gabriel Yared

A ballet in two parts based on a story by Goethe. Recorded live at the Paris Opera in October 1999

DVD, 87 min., 2007

VNX143 $34.95

Nederlands Dans Theater Celebrates Jiri Kylian

With stars of the Nederlands Dans Theater

Three dances of Jiri Kylian, including an introduction to each ballet by Jiri Kylian.

Bella Figura ( music by Foss, Pergolesi, Marcello, Vivaldi and Torelli)

Sleepless (music by Haubrich, based on Mozart’s Adagio in C minor K617)

Birth-Day (music by Mozart)

DVD 128 min. (ballets 92 min., introductions 36 min.), 2007

VNX152 $34.95

Dancing In The Light

Presented by the American Dance Festival, Dancing in the Light showcases six historic dance compositions by African-American choreographers. The dances include: Ostrich (1932) by Asadata Dafora, Barrelhouse Blues (1943) by Katherine Dunham, Strange Fruit (1943) by Pearl Primus, Mourner’s Bench (1947) by Talley Beatty, Rainbow ’Round My Shoulder (1959) by Donald McKayle, first section of D-Man in the Waters (1989) by Bill T. Jones.

DVD, 50 min., color, 2007

VKU341 $19.95

William Forsythe

From A Classical Position
and
Just Dancing Around?

Artistic director and choreographer of the Ballet Frankfurt and himself trained in ballet, Forsythe shows an appreciation of and often a critical engagement with classical dance, transforming and revitalizing it. Here is a documentary about the man and his work. Rated R for language.

DVD, 78 min., color, 2007

VKU342 $19.95

The Great Mass

A Ballet by Uwe Scholz
Leipzig Ballet with Kiyoko Kimura
Music by Mozart
Performed by the orchestra of the Leipzig Gewandhaus and chorus of the Leipzig Opera

A masterpiece of large ensemble choreography! The twenty-four dancers, dressed entirely in white, perform this magnificent realization of Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, one of the most glorious pieces of choral music ever written. The rows of dancers open and close, allowing rivers of movement to erupt in every direction. They fit together in block-like forms and flow through each other diagonally. Tension finds release in wide leaps and eloquent arm movements. Kiyoko Kimura's solos are breathtakingly beautiful.

Filmed live in 2005 as a memorial to the choreographer Uwe Scholz, the program opens with the dancers being individually introduced to a solemn Gregorian chant, followed by the opening Kyrie of the Mass. After the Gloria, the Mass is interrupted three times by several contemporary contrasting pieces of Scholz’s choreography and his interpretation of Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue in C Minor and his Ave Verum Corpus (The viewer needs to skipover these interruptions to see the Mass in its entirety).

DVD 130 min., 2005

VNX146 $29.95

Great Dancers
of Our Time

Vladimir Malakhov, Lucia Lacarra, Kiyoko Kimura with Diana Vishneva, Nadja Saidakova, Christoph Böhm, Cyril Pierre

International ballet stars perform Le Spectre de la Rose, and selections from Manon, Swan Lake, Lady of the Camellias, and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 among others.

DVD 78 min., 2003

VNX145 $24.95

Notre-Dame de Paris

Choreography by Roland Petit
Costumes by Yves Saint Laurent
Performed by the Ballet de L’Opera National de Paris
With stars Isabelle Guerin, Nicolas Le Riche, Laurent Hilaire, Manuel Legris Music by Maurice Jarre


Based upon Victor Hugo’s novel of the same name, Notre Dame de Paris tells the story of Quasimodo, the hunchback bellringer of Notre Dame, the beautiful gypsy girl Esmeralda, and the evil Archdeacon Frollo. Petit brings the melodramatic events of the story to life in this full-length ballet.

DVD, 86 min., 1996

VNX146 $29.95

Sylvia

Ballet and Orchestra of the l’Opera National de Paris
Choreography by John Neumeier
Music by Leo Delibes
With Aurelie Dupont, Marie-Agnes Gillot, Manuel Legris, Nicolas Le Riche


John Neumeier, legendary director of the Hamburg Ballet, has taken the 1876 ballet and created a “new” Sylvia for the Paris Opera Ballet. Originally based on Greek mythology, Neumeier has transformed the story into a modern parable about the difficulties of loving.

DVD, 136 min., 2005

VPL464 $29.95

Aschenbrõdel
(Cinderella)

Ballet and orchestra of the Vienna State Opera
Music by Johann Strauss II
Costumes and stage design by Christian Lacroix
Choreography by Renato Zanella


A rare ballet treat, Johann Strauss’s comic “Cinderella” takes place around New Year’s Eve in turn-of-century Vienna. Act One is set in Madame Leontine’s fashion studio where preparations are being made for a fancy New Year’s Eve ball. Act Two is the ball itself. Act Three, Scene One returns to Madame Leontine’s; Scene Two is in the bridal-gown department of the “Four Seasons” department store. The traditional story is loosely followed through various high jinks and Strauss’s effervescent music. Johann Strauss appears in Act One disguised as an Italian street musician, while Madame Leontine is a drag queen. Gorgeous costumes, scintillating music, and brilliant dancing mark this spectactular 1999 production.

DVD 122 min., first DVD release, 2007

VNX141 $29.95

New Books

Click for New DVD Releases

Click to browse and search
our entire inventory of books
using our on-line catalog.

Beautiful Body, Beautiful Mind
The Power of Positive Imagery:
Over 80 Exercises and a 10-Day Beauty Program

Eric Franklin

Mind-Body expert Eric Franklin emphasizes lifestyle and positive mental attitude rather than surgery, creams or pills, in this guide to staying young through mental stimulation, self-talk, setting of goals, motivation, and relaxation. He takes you on a journey through the body from the face, to joints, bones, muscles, organs, glands, and the nervous system, with specific exercises for rejuvenating each part. The concluding 10-Day Beauty Program provides a selection of different mental and physical techniques designed to produce results that can be seen and felt in only 10 days. Illustrated with 84 drawings and 12 photos.

168 pages paperbound
ISBN 9780871273093


ELY00613 $19.95


New Dance:
Writings on Modern Dance

Doris Humphrey
Selected and Edited by Charles Humphrey Woodford

This collection of essays, lectures and notes reveals the inspiration behind the choreography of modern dance founder Doris Humphrey.The fundamentals of composition: form, content and execution are expressed in her own spirited words, providing an intimate look at the creative process. Notes made before and during the making of forty-one of her dances show how she put her choreographic principles and world view into dance, including some of her best-known masterpieces: Water Study, The Shakers,Two Ecstatic Themes, New Dance, With My Red Fires, Passacaglia in C minor, Day on Earth, Night Spell.

144 pages, hardbound, jacketed,
ISBN 97808712730799

PBC02237 $24.95


Labanotation for Beginners

Ann Kipling Brown

Labanotation is one of the most widely used systems of dance notation in the world today, and this elementary textbook provides practical instructions for the study of its basic principles. Students using it will examine the elements of movement and notation, and practice dances they have created themselves, as well as learn about dances created by established choreographers.

The principles of the system are presented in a sequence of clear, graded lessons, illustrated with numerous examples and supplemented with practical exercises in reading and writing, with each section of the text presenting logical progressions of exploring and recording movement.

ISBN 9781852731236
84 pages, paperback

DBL02218 $24.95


Rudolf Laban:
An Extraordinary Life

Valerie Preston-Dunlop

Rudolf Laban (1879-1958) was a visionary, a mystic, a lover, a leader, a dancer, an artist, a teacher, and a theorist. This is the story of his extraordinary life, a life intimately bound up with the political, social and cultural upheavals that formed the turbulent backdrop of modern Europe. He witnessed the dissolution of the old order and was caught up in the rise of Nazism from which he was eventually forced to flee to Britain. He made his lasting impact in movement and dance, uncovering the interconnectedness of the body and the psyche, the individual and the group; and he devised a revolutionary method of movement notation that continues its use and influence today. His ideas have generated innovations, not just in dance, but also in acting and performance, in the study of nonverbal communication, in ergonomics, in educational theory and child development, in personality assessment and psychotherapy. This book tells the story of his life of idealism, disillusion and determination.

320 pages, paperbound
ISBN-13 978-1-85273-124-3

DBL02217 $32.00


Ballet Beginnings
Pre-School Movement Fundamentals
for Ages 3-4

Rosemary Boross

2 Music CDs Included

Exercises that assist basic motor development are at the core of this guide for dance teachers who prepare very young children for ballet classes. Teaching strategies are organized around a complete lesson plan for a fantasy garden pre-school class that includes warm-up exercises, creative movement, center work, and work across the floor. With coloring book pages that may be duplicated as handouts to students. Contains 2 music CDs of original songs and instrumental arrangements.

128 pages, paperbound
7-1/2" x 9-1/4"
ISBN-10 0-87127-289-X
ISBN-13 978-0-87127-289-8
PBC00162 $24.95

also available in this series:
Fantasy Garden Ballet Program DVD
with Rosemary Boross, Program Creator

A Fantasy Garden Ballet Class II

Pre-schoolers will love dancing in a class of ballet fundamentals taught by Emboîte Ants and Leaping Lady Bugs. The children work on basic motor skills with Marching Marigolds and Green Galloping Grasshoppers and perform rhythmic exercises in the Caterpillar Circle.

DVD, 40 min.

VKU124 $19.95


A Century of Russian Ballet

Roland John Wiley

An exciting, wonderfully researched look onstage and backstage at the Russian Ballet between 1810 and 1910. The story is built on a framework of famous ballets by such celebrated choreographers as Charles Didelot, Filippo Taglioni, Jules Perrot, Arthur Saint-Leon, Marius Petipa and Mikhail Fokine. Onto this framework are placed eyewitness accounts and criticisms, including biographies of choreographers, accounts of life in the imperial theater school, reminiscences of important artists, and reviews of first performances. Each of the ten chapters is introduced with further commentary that draws on press accounts and literature of the time.

Out of the mists of time, this story of the fabled Russian Ballet comes as close as possible to the reality of being a student, dancer and choreographer in its richest period. This is a reprint of a book first published by Oxford University Press in 1990, and long out of print.

464 pages, paperbound,
8 pages of black & white illustrations
ISBN 978-1-85273-120-5

DBL00250 $45.00


The Story of Dai Ailian

Richard Glasstone

An enormously respected and influential figure in China, both for her wide research into Chinese folk dance and her pivotal role in the establishment of ballet in China, the achievements of the teacher and choreographer Dai Ailian are not well known in the west. Here is her story, set in the wide social and historical context it deserves.

Dai was born and spent her childhood in Trinidad, then went to study in England. She journeyed to China were she took part in the resistance to the Japanese invasion, then traveled to the remote Chinese Borderlands, collecting and recording the dances of minority populations. In 1954, Dai was appointed Principal of the Beijing Dance School, a post she held until interrupted by the notorious Cultural Revolution. She was sent to work in the fields (as were many artists) and was “rehabilitated” in 1975. The next year she was made Artistic Adviser to the National Ballet of China, where she devoted the rest of her life to re-establishing the company’s artistic and technical standards.

The author, internationally known dancer and choreographer and Senior Teacher at London’s Royal Ballet School, was asked by Dai Ailian to write this autobiography.

120 pages, paperbound
32 black& white illustrations
ISBN 978-1-85273-118-2

DBL01850 $21.95

The Romantic Ballet in Paris

Ivor Guest

Stars of the romantic ballet, as well as the choreographers, composers, designers, and balletomanes of the time are brought to life in a colorful panorama of this great age of French ballet. The age of romanticism in the first half of the nineteenth century was one of the greatest periods in the history of ballet. In a span of three decades (1820 to 1847) ballet became what it had never been before—a major theater art, gaining new vitality and meaning from the ideas of the romantic movement which rapidly infiltrated each one of its component parts: scenarios, music, décor, choreography and dance style.

The center of the romantic ballet was the Paris Opéra. Its high priest was the poet Théophile Gautier, who wrote the scenarios of Giselle and other ballets. He explained the dual nature of the romantic ballet by contrasting the two rival ballerinas, the spiritual Taglioni and the passionate Elssler.

This definitive study, completely revised and updated, handsomely produced and beautifully illustrated, is based on exhaustive research of the archives of the Paris Opéra and printed and pictorial sources of the time.

ISBN 978-1-85273-119-9
DBL01725 $82.00

The Cecchetti Legacy
An Analysis and Description of the Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet

Ann Hutchinson Guest and Toby Bennett

The Cecchetti Legacy provides a more detailed account of the Cecchetti Method, one of the great classical methods of teaching ballet, than has yet been published. Both word descriptions and Labanotation are used to describe style and technique (body integration, dynamics and space, the use of the head and torso, the use of the arms and the use of the leg and foot) and the enchainements (barre work, port de bras, center practice, adage, center pirouettes, allegro, des pas sur les pointes, steps for men, tours en diagonale and tours round the room). For those teachers and students who cannot read Labanotation there is much in the written text that will both supplement and clarify a great deal of what is already available in the Cecchetti manuals, although an ability to read Labanotation would be very helpful in using this book.

This complete Labanotation score, drawing on wide sources of information, as well as exploring more detailed descriptions of movement texture and timing (those “extras” that give the style its character and exceed mere word instruction), will enable future dance students and scholars to access an even more comprehensive account of Enrico Cecchettis legacy.

Bibliography, index, guide to weekly exercises, illustrated
378 pages, paperbound, 8-1/4" x 11-1/2"
ISBN 978-1-85273-122-9
DBL00199 $65.00

Dancing the Black Question
The Phoenix Dance Company Phenomenon

Christy Adair

A dynamic cultural history of the internationally celebrated Phoenix Dance Company, unique in several ways: its members were in their teens when they formed the company in 1981, they gained recognition very early in their careers through an established television arts program in 1984, they were skillful performers but had not received formal training, they were based in the north of England at a time when most dance centered in London (and New York), and they were black British men who had known each other since childhood, coming from a tight-knit African-Caribbean community.

As children, they “learned a lot from London Contemporary Dance Theatre and watched videos of Twyla Tharp, Netherlands Dance Company, Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Alvin Ailey Company.”

This complex narrative, played out through gender, ethnicity and class, places Phoenix as a significant artistic force in contemporary dance. One of the paradoxes it faced was the expectation by funding bodies, critics and audiences that it represent “the black community.” Such expectations posed a challenge for each successive artistic director. This provocative story investigates institutional racism on the part of arts policy makers, funders and critics.

339 pages, paperbound, 6" x 9"
ISBN 978-1-85273-116-8
DBL00402 $45.00

Stravinsky Dances
Re-Visions Across a Century

Stephanie Jordan

Stephanie Jordan’s ground-breaking survey and close examination of a range of Stravinsky dances—some familiar, others less so—sheds new, unexpected light upon a renowned composer of ballet music. This book is essential reading for scholars and students in the fields of dance, music and interdisciplinary studies.

615 pages, paperbound
ISBN 978-1-85273-125-0
DBL01835 $110.00

Pointe Shoes, Tips and Tricks
for Choosing, Tuning, Care

Angela Reinhardt

Over 280 color illustrations show how to modify shoes step by step, using scissors, needle and thread, hot water and elastic, to adapt pointe shoes perfectly for all types of foot and all types of floor surfaces, and to help them last as long as possible. Also contains valuable suggestions for foot fitness. Over 100 tips and tricks for personal pointe shoe tuning, for both beginners and professionals.

109 pages, paperbound
ISBN 978-1-85273-115-1
DBL01505 $21.95

The Struggle with the Angel
A Poetics of Lloyd Newson’s Strange Fish

Janet Adshead-Lansdale

From the book: “Theoretically and methodologically, this text offers a contribution to the development of interpretive theory in the arts and to the analysis of performance practices.

Topical, conceptual, and methological problems are explored through an extended analysis of Strange Fish (1992) by Lloyd Newson and the DV8 Physical Theatre (UK)

...I ask how it comments on and reconstructs ‘the story’ of Christ. It uses well-known moments and images from the story of his life and draws on the morality found in biblical tales.

...In ironic contrast, it challenges Christian views of morality at a time of discomfort for the Church. Evidence emerges of explicit homosexuality, of child abuse, and the fathering of illegitimate children. This evidence invites the view that theological attacks on different forms of sexuality are mendacious and dishonest.”

268 pages, paperbound, 6" x 9"
ISBN 978-1-85273-117-5
DBL02216 $44.95


New from
Princeton Book Company/
Elysian Editions

High Performance Beauty
Makeup & Skin Care for Dance, Cheer,
Show Choir, Pageants & Ice Skating

Christine Dion

“An invaluable resource, beauty guide, and instructional book
that educates and empowers performance artists!”
–Linda Bernabei-Retter, President, Stagewear L.A. Costume Collection


“The perfect book for every performer, mom, studio owner
and applier of makeup of every age! Easy to read in a
logical format that presents must-have knowledge.”
–Doug Shaffer, President, Music Works

“Certainly a must have for all performers!
You do not need to search any further than this wonderful book.”
–Joe Tremaine, President, Joe Tremaine Dance Conventions and Competitions

Starting with the essentials of basic skin care and maintenance, this comprehensive guide details tips and techniques for handling the unique makeup needs of performance athletes such as dancers, cheerleaders, gymnasts, and skaters. Following a discussion of the different skin types, daily routines and various products–including herbal remedies–the guide lays the groundwork for the creation of a flawless, long-lasting, face. In addition to detailing the fundamentals of makeup application, the book explains how to make allowances for extreme and varied conditions of performance spaces and demonstrates how to camouflage individual flaws. A section on character faces includes directions for creating a Spanish flamenco, a cabaret star, a ballerina angel, and a cat.

About the Author:
Christine Dion has more than 25 years of experience as a makeup artist and is the owner of Mode Dion, a cosmetics and makeup training company that specializes in providing cosmetics and education to performing artists. As an educator and trainer she has collaborated with companies such as Chanel, Estée Lauder Corporation, and Gucci. She is the producer of the film The Competition Face: The Winning Look and has written for American Cheerleader, Dance Spirit, and Dance Teacher. She lives in Palm Desert, California.

128 pages, paperbound
7-1/2" x 9-3/4"
146 full color photographs
ISBN-10 0-87127-303-9
ISBN-13 978-0-87127-303-1
ELY01554 $24.95

also available in this series
High Performance Beauty DVDs

MODE DION's
High
Performance
Beauty
Junior Stage Face


with Christine Dion

Shows juniors (under 11 years), and those who help them with their make-up, how to achieve a flawless performance face Easy, fast and comforting, Christine guides the viewer through techniques that are designed just for children who are, at times, uneasy with the experience of makeup application. From achieving perfect brows (the frame), beautiful open eyes, flawless skin, enhancing small features and adding show appeal, this instructional will show you the way to a professional, age appropriate, polished performance face.

VCD001 $19.95

MODE DION's
High
Performance
Beauty
Senior/Adult Stage Face

with Christine Dion

Shows teens and adults how to get a flawless stage face. Perfect for dance, cheer and show choir. Easy to follow application techniques along with enlightening do’s and don’ts. Discusses using neutral colors to compliment every costume change. Demonstrates how to define features and add show appeal for the most polished performance face.

VCD002 $19.95


Yoga in
Your School

Exercises for Classroom, Gym and Playground

Teressa Asencia

Yoga in Your School presents a series of short “Yoga breaks” designed for teachers to easily insert into their daily classroom schedule. Each posture or breathing technique may be practiced in less than three minutes, so that they may be used regularly or as needed, when attention or energy begins to wane. The short segments may also be combined to create longer sequences for physical education classes, playgrounds, athletic and recreation centers, camps and dance schools. This book is designed to jump off the pages and inspire teachers to adapt the exercises to work in their particular circumstance with no additional training. These simple movement exercises are designed to develop concentration, improve motor skills and physical fitness, develop strength, flexibility and balance.

By simply taking a few moments to stop between activities to breathe and stretch, teachers may create a harmonious classroom with calm alert children who are receptive and eager to learn.

“Within the next ten years, Yoga in school will be the norm.”
—Miriam Gates, Child magazine

About the Author: Teressa Asencia, B.A. University of Iowa, M.A. City University of New York, has taught Yoga for twenty five years in California, New York, Canada, China, Tunisia and France and continues to teach Yoga workshops internationally. She wrote and produced three Yoga series for Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and is the author of Playful Family Yoga.

112 pages, paperbound,
7-1/4" x 9"
129 black & white photographs
ISBN-10 0-87127-286-5
ISBN-13 978-0-87127-286-7
PBC02236 $19.95


Paris Discovered
Explorations in the City of Light

Mary McAuliffe

Paris Discovered is a collection of 50 probing chapters intended for armchair travelers and visitors to the City of Light. Digging deep into Paris’ memories, the author has discovered patterns of the past that have left tangible imprints on the city today. McAuliffe explores Paris through space and time, from the top of Notre Dame to the medieval aqueducts that still lie beneath its streets; from the Impressionists’ Path to the barricades of Les Miserables; from Abélard and Héloïse to Napoleon; from the antiques of Village Saint-Paul to the new hot spot for shopping, Viaduc des Arts. She unearths the Paris that charmed Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams in the eighteenth century - and George Gershwin and Ernest Hemingway in the twentieth century. In her explorations, McAuliffe discovers a hidden river, the Bièvre, and follows its course. You feel that you are on an adventure with the author as she investigates the city and discovers surprises such as a twelfth century chapel disguised as a private house! Or a mysterious small round building with a distinctive cupola that turns out to be part of an ancient waterworks! Full of off-the-beaten path excursions and little known historical facts about prominent locations, Paris Discovered intrigues and englightens.

Elysian Editions
ISBN-10 0-87127-287-3
ISBN-13 978-0-87127-287-4
Cloth bound, 288 pages 6" x 9"
ELY01551 $21.95


The Paris Opéra Ballet

Ivor Guest

This concise history of the Paris Opéra Ballet begins with its origins in 1661 and continues through 2000. Originally published in French, it is presented for the first time in an English language edition. Includes appendices of ballets produced between 1776 and 2004, Principal Dancers, Principal Ballet Masters, Guest Artists and a list of ballets performed more than 100 times.

160 pages, hardbound, 32 pages
of illustrations, including prints,
drawings and photographs.
ISBN-10 1-85273-109-5
ISBN-13 978-1-85273-109-0
DBL01501 $39.95


Dancing Off the Page
Integrating performance, choreography, analysis and notation/ documentation


Edited by Rachel Duerden
and Neil Fisher

Explores ideas of style in dance performance and choreography, and it shows how the theory and practice of dance study can be successfully integrated, using labanotation as a tool

142 pages, paperbound
audio CD included
ISBN 978-1-85273-113-7
DBL399
$32.95

 

Dancing in
Your School

A Guide for Preschool and Elementary School Teachers

Anne Dunkin

This joyful book guides and encourages teachers to incorporate movement into classroom learning. Included are seventy easy and fun classroom movement activities that serve as examples for you to use when creating your own variations, even if you have not studied movement or dance. Lesson plans provide models for building your own.

The book provides an historical overview of dancing in U.S. public education curriculum during the twentieth and twenty first century. It identifies the objectives of physical education curriculum, kinesthetic reinforcement of classroom learning, and arts education, all in relation to dance education. In addition to giving a strong argument for the value of movement awareness during educational development, this book includes resource lists and a specialized index of movement, activities and dances.

“I really enjoyed reading this book and trying ideas out with my students.”
—Chris Roberts, 4th grade teacher, Utah

“Dunkin has been successful in laying out intricate concepts in a direct, comprehensive and organized fashion.”
Barbara Bashaw, Director of Dance Education, New York University

About the Author: Ann Dunkin has a Ph.D. in Dance History and Theory from the University of California, Riverside, and an M.A. in Human Development Education from the University of Maryland. She has several decades of experience in developing and presenting dance education programs for children and their teachers, and toured much of the U.S. for several years performing original children's dance productions and conducting teachers' workshops. Among much other experience presenting dance in education, she taught “teaching dance” to pre-service elementary educators at California State University.

144 pages, paperbound
7-1/4" x 9"
74 line drawings
ISBN-10 0-87127-285-7
ISBN-13 978-0-87127-285-0
PBC00295 $24.95


Inner Focus
Outer Strength

Using Imagery and Exercise for Strength, Health, and Beauty

Eric Franklin

The mental technique of imagery—demonstrated, for example, when a dancer pictures a sunflower reaching toward the sun as he/ she stretches upwardis thoroughly explained in this guide to daily stress-relieving routines. Movement, coordination, flexibility, and posture are all external characteristics that can be improved significantly with a strong inner focus.

Good mental health through imagery can benefit circulation, breathing and even individual body cells. Practical advice—how to choose and use an assortment of personal mental images, how to use tricks such as “mental recycling,” and how to set up an imagined “portable fitness studio”—can be used stress-inducing dead time waiting in line, climbing stairs, sitting in an airplane seat, talking on the telephone, or running the vacuum cleaner.

128 pages, paperbound,
7-1/2" x 9-1/4"
ISBN-10 0-87127-288-1
ISBN-13 978-0-87127-288-1
ELY00820 $19.95


Dance in Poetry
An International Anthology
of Poems on Dance

Compiled by Alkis Raftis

The 105 poems that comprise this anthology are as delightfully varied in voice as the dancing that inspires them. With this collection, Raftis proposes that we celebrate the diversity of dance and hear poetry’s response to the many languages of the body. Poets include Denise Levertov, William Carlos Williams, Lord Byron, Langston Hughes, D.H. Lawrence, Sa’di, Claude McKay, Euripedes, Li Po, Thomas Hardy, Theodore Roethke, Rainer Maria Rilke and Carl Sandburg.

192 pages, paperbound, 6" x 9"
ISBN-10 0-87127-284-9
ISBN-13 978-0-87127-284-3
PBC00324
$18.95


Rhythmic Subjects
Uses of energy in the dances of Mary Wigman, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham


Dee Reynolds


The goal in this interdisciplinary book is to show that uses of energy in movement are central to dance practice and analysis.

316 pages, paperbound

ISBN 978-1-85273-112-0
DBL1736
$44.95

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