Customer Reviews

Bringing Balanchine Back: New York City Ballet

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Since you are reading this review, I know you are interested in what goes on in the world of ballet. I purchased this DVD for the same reason. I read the reviews here on amazon and was convinced I should get it. It really tells a story, like so many of the ballets do. However, this tells the story of a "trip" to a far-off land where many of the ballets we have grown to love were born. The name of the mysterious far-off land is Russia, the city is St. Petersburg, and the name of the place is the Mariinsky Theatre. As best as I can tell, Mariinsky is pronounced (Mar-IN-skee).

Why make the trip? Balanchine cannot go "back", He's been dead over twenty years, but his only progeny can go back for a visit to his birth-place. Who is his progeny? The New York City Ballet is the only child he ever had, even though he was married several times. Which brings up an interesting coincidence. He was once married to Maria Tallchief, one of his dancers (who was exceedingly beautiful), and one of the reviewers is named H. Tallchief from Oklahoma. So, his child is a whole group of children,(many born long after he died) carrying on his legacy with the help of people like Peter Martins, former dancer , now Artistic Director and Ballet Master of NYCB. The company has nearly 100 members in it's cast and their average age is only twenty-one. Think about that.

The occasion for the "trip" was to headline the three hundredth anniversary of St. Petersburg, and to bring to a conclusion "The Festival of the White Nights", so named because the sun does not set until after mid-night, and rises again shortly after, during that season of the year in St. Petersburg.

There is some anxiety in the minds of many cast members, because they do not know exactly how the Russians will accept them. This will be the third trip to Russia since 1962, and again in 1972, during the height of the cold war, when they met with some enthusiasm and some criticism. Balanchine was born and raised in St. Petersburg, was trained at the Vaganova Ballet Academy, and when he came to America, the Soviets considered him (and anyone else who left Russia) a "traitor". But it is now 2003 and Russia is a different country. I can tell you that the NYCB was well received by the Russian public (who know their ballet), and by the professionals of the Mariinsky. You can also be proud of your own NYCB, as I am.

We have many excellent ballet companies in our great country , and for myself, I only wish I could support them better. However, I can only buy a few DVDs. Trouble is I don't see many DVDs featuring the NYCB. I wish there were more....Richard.

I am very happy that I had bought the product. As a ballet lover, I think my money is well spent! Receiving the product on time is a plus in this shopping experience.

This "film" is a bootleg. Don't buy it. As of this day, there are no living DVD archives of New York City Ballet. "Choreography by Balanchine" is also not New York City Ballet. You are looking at "war ballet."