Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Finally, this thrilling gala performance is available on DVD! The transfer is crisp and the dances are nicely indexed so you can jump to your favorites...not that you'll want to skip even one of them. But I'm sure every balletomane will have her or his favorite. Mine is "Remanso", a pas de trois for men based on a Garcia Lorca poem. Taped in 1998, these performances feature many of ABTs upcoming stars (Corella, Carreno, Herrera, Stiefel) as well as seasoned veterans (Jaffe, Bocca, Hill, McKerrow). Angel Corella delivers breath-taking turns in his pas de deux with Paloma Herrera from "Don Quixote."
Although comprised of eight separate dance performances, each segment is intercut with fragments of backstage interviews with the dancers and artistic director Kevin McKenzie. Nothing momentous is revealed, but it's nice to hear the dancers express their enthusiasm for the works they perform and for the company that have the priviledge to dance for. Introduced by prima ballerina assoluta Natalia Makarava (looking great in a maroon silk and velvet gown by Gianfranco Ferre), it moves quickly and is the type of DVD you'll want to watch over and over. Far superior to ABTs other recent offering on DVD, "Le Corsaire," in which the dancers make fun of ballet (with justification) in between-the-acts interviews...and which is difficult to watch more than once.
I never understand why "fine art" DVDs offer so few "extras" (in this case, none). If you go to a live performance of a ballet, you get program notes on the music and choreography and short biographies of each principal dancer. Is that so difficult to transfer to a bonus material section on a DVD? Are there copyright issues? Anyway, don't let the absence of extras deter you, this DVD really delivers the goods. Buy it, watch it, love it.
Click Here to see more reviews about: American Ballet Theatre Now - Variety and Virtuosity (Dance in America) (1998)
Variety and virtuosity are the key qualities of American Ballet Theatre's tradition. The company has long distinguished itself through its artistic eclecticism and its star power. In this dazzling program, leading American Ballet Theatre dancers are joined by guest artists to perform highlights from the company's 20th century repertoire, including romantic, classical and contemporary pieces as well as the premiere of a new piece by Nacho Duato.
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