Swan Lake tells the timeless tale of redemption through love. It is probably the best known of all the classical ballets and for the prima ballerina who dances the dual role of Odette and Odile the supreme test of the dancer's craft.Maya Plisetskaya's melting lyricism and superlative technique make her one of the greatest exponents of the dual role since the ballet's first introduction over a century ago. Tchaikovsky's score the first in his triumvirate of great battles is the perfect complement to the imaginative choreography that sets Swan Lake apart from anything that had preceded or followed it. This production filmed live at the Bolshoi Theatre captures a great ballerina in her prime in an eternal classic.
Maya Plisetskaya: Diva Of Dance
Carmen was first set as a ballet by the famed Russian choreographer Petipa in 1845. It was based on the Merimee novella and premiered in Madrid some thirty years before Bizet's opera was first heard. Subsequent versions followed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries some using and some discarding Bizet's music. In 1949 Roland Petit created a successful vehicle for himself and his wife Zizi Jeanmaire using the Bizet score.Maya Plisetskaya always dreamed of dancing the role of Carmen and had approached Shostakovich for a score. He demurred out of respect for Bizet's celebrated opera. It was eventually Plisetskaya's husband Rodion Shchedrin who agreed to provide the music after seeing his wife and the choreographer Alberto Alonso working on some choreographic ideas. His Carmen Suite ballet based on Bizet and scored only for strings and percussion instruments was a perfect complement to Alonso's choreography and in its theatricality a showcase for Plisetskaya's considerable dramatic gifts. Shchedrin's Carmen Suite one of the darkest settings of Merimee's tragic story deeply symbolic and overtly sensual premiered at the Bolshoi Ballet on April 20 1967.
Maya Plisetskaya a prima ballerina of Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet is the subject of this documentary. Containing some rare footage of her as a child it covers the development of her career and shows highlights from some of her greatest roles. Included in this film are scenes from Swan Lake Sleeping Beauty Spartacus The Little Humpbacked Horse Raymonda The Stone Flower Romeo and Juliet Don Quixote and others.A fascinating look at a world famous dancer Plisetskaya Dances chronicles the life and work of a performer who bridged the worlds of strict academic classicism and free expressivity. The wonder and excitement of her work is everywhere evident in this award winning film.
The Bolshoi Ballet Production of The Little Humpbacked Horse:A magical tour through the land of flying horses dazzling fish and tumbling clowns highlights this magnificent Bolshoi Ballet production of Rodion Shchedrin's The Little Humpbacked Horse.Featuring the legendary Maya Plisetskaya in the role of the Queen-Maiden and with Vladimir Vasiliev as the young man who befriends the little horse with magical powers this fairy tale ballet features dazzling sets and a fine musical score that is bound to enchant children and delight ballet lovers of all ages.
The second part of this three-part ballet film contains a most unusual event a one of a kind sequence in which two of the world's greatest ballerinas Galina Ulanova and Maya Plisetskaya dance together in a memorable performance of scenes from Boris Asafiev's ballet The Fountain of Bakhchisarai. This is the only filmed record of these two great dancers performing together and it provides a unique opportunity to compare their different styles.The first part of this film features Galina Ulanova in an abridged version of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. Utilizing dazzling visual effects this production takes full advantage of the artistic qualities of the cinema rather than merely recording the event.The great Georgian dancer Vakhtang Chabukiani is featured in the third part of this film in scenes from Boris Asafiev's homage to the French Revolution The Flames of Paris.
Shchedrin - Anna Karenina
Various Composers - The Art Of The Pas De Deux
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