"Actor: Royal Danish Ballet"

• Romantic Ballet Collection - Swan Lake/La Syphilde/Giselle | DVD | (22/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Choreographer Matthew Bourne has achieved worldwide artistic and popular success with his innovative new versions of classical ballets. His groundbreaking work has attracted an enormous new audience for dance both at home and internationally. SWAN LAKE: Matthew Bourne''s triumphant modern re-interpretation of Swan Lake with its cast of male swans has turned tradition upside down and taken the ballet fraternity by storm. Never has such a contemporary re-working of a traditional ballet thrilled both ardent critics and modern dance enthusiasts in such equal measure. This is the recording made in 1996 of the original multi award-winning production. The cast includes: Adam Cooper Scott Ambler and Fiona Chadwick. 'Matthew Bourne has turned Swan Lake on its head he has given it a sex change and catapulted it into another universe.''some of the best performances you will ever see on a ballet stage.' The Times NUTCRACKER!: This delicious production is full of Matthew Bourne's trademark style of wit pathos and theatrical magic. Nutcracker! follows Clara's journey from a bleak Christmas Eve at Dr Dross' Orphanage through a shimmering ice-skating wonderland to the spectacular candy folk of Sweetieland. Tchaikovsky's much-loved score and Anthony Ward's stunning designs combine with Bourne's sizzling choreography. This is the recording made in 2003 of the original production starring Etta Murfitt Alan Vincent Saranne Curtin and Scott Ambler. 'Utterly delicious - a Dazzling Extravaganza' Sunday Telegraph THE CAR MAN Matthew Bourne uses the stirring and passionate music of Bizet's Carmen as the basis for a completely new and original tale. The dreams and passions of a small 1960's mid-western community are shattered by the arrival of a handsome stranger. Fuelled by heat and desire the inhabitants are drawn into a spiral of greed opportunism sex and murder. This is the original production filmed in 2001 and starring Alan Vincent Saranne Curtin Will Kemp Etta Murfit and Scott Ambler. 'Electrifying a dynamite dance of desire' Daily Mail Includes interview with Matthew Bourne.

• Christopher Bruce's Triple Bill | DVD | (12/07/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Three features from choreographer Christopher Bruce including: 'Silence Is The End Of Our Song (1983)' 'Rooster (1994)' and 'Swansong (1989)'.

• Napoli | DVD | (24/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The dramatic tradition of the remarkable dancer and choreographer August Bournonville is the keystone of the continuing excellence of the Royal Danish Ballet and Bournonvilles joyous masterpiece Napoli has become one of the Company's signature works. Persuaded by his friend Hans Christian Andersen to travel to Italy Bournonville was inspired by his stay in Naples to create this romantic ballet which tells the story of the lovely Teresina who gets shipwrecked in the Blue Grotto the empire of the sea spirit Golfo. Only true love and God can rescue her and lead her back into the arms of her beloved fisherman Gennaro. This production was filmed at The Royal Theatre Copenhagen in 1986.

• Firebird / Pulcinella | DVD | (22/11/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This release offers two short ballets by Stravinsky, The Firebird from 1909-10 and Pulcinella written a decade later, the former based on three Russian fairytales. This 1982 production by the Royal Danish Ballet was choreographed by Glen Tetley, for whom "The Firebird is a symbol of our innermost dreams and longing for freedom and true love". His interpretation has a dreamlike atmosphere, the designs echoing Jean Cocteau's La Belle et La Bete, the languorous, sensual dance evoking an understated fairytale eroticism in parallel with the shimmering score. Pulcinella comes from Stravinsky's neo-classical period and is inspired by the Italian commedia dell'arte of the 17th and 18th centuries. The story, an almost slapstick series of romantic confusions and complications amid the streets of Naples, is brought to life in this 1988 Scapino Ballet production with an enchanting mixture of dance and mime. The design is boldly colourful and Nils Christe's choreography filled with character and playful good humour. The music comes from an enthusiastic LSO under Claudio Abbado, with vocal soloists of the calibre of John Shirley-Quirk. The two works make an attractive programme. On the DVD: Other than a trailer for other Arthaus DVDs there are no special features. Reflecting the age of the material, the sound is unremarkable PCM stereo and the picture conventional 4:3. There is some audio distortion on Pulcinella, particularly on the vocal parts. The image has rich, vibrant colours and is reasonably detailed, but is also grainy and shows compression artefacts. Firebird has a smoother image, largely due to the focus being soft. The booklet contains useful notes and a full scene breakdown. The disc is encoded for regions 2 and 5. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Nina Ananiashvili & International Stars Vol. 1 | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  In 1991 a troupe of international ballet stars headed by the brilliant young Russian ballerina Nina Ananiashvili visited Japan presenting a program which underscored the considerable talents of a new generation of virtuoso dancers. Fortunately for ballet fans the performance was videotaped preserving an extraordinary demonstration of balletic wizardry.At the centre of all the excitement was Miss Ananiashvili herself demonstrating an exuberance and impetuosity coupled to a technique that can only be described as breathtaking. In these excerpts from the 1991 program her art can be viewed from a variety of perspectives: As the young girl in Le Spectre de la Rose she embodies the first stirrings of adolescent desire; in the Grand pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty she reigns as the quintessential Prima Ballerina Assoluta; the more modern vocabulary of Moods brings a deep sensuality to her dancing while the extended Grand pas from Don Quixote shows off Ananiashvili's awesome virtuosity.