Customer Reviews

Divine Dancers - Live from Prague / Prague State Opera

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This DVD covers a ballet gala performed in Prague in January, 2006. The pieces are from classical and modern ballet and consist of solos, pas de deux, and a pas de quatre. The dancers all dance with amazing technique and expression, and there are behind the scenes rehearsals and interviews thrown in before each of the pieces. I was especially impressed by the father and son team of Dmitri and Daniil Simkin from Germany. We do not often get to see a pas de deux danced by a father and son. Their technique was fantastic! The father also dances with Marek Tuma in another piece and the son dances a solo. It is in this last solo that I did not appreciate the tendancy of the camera to stay in close up. The camera cannot always stay in a longshot, and it is necessary for the camera to move in and out and change angles to follow the action(after all when we view a performance live, we do the same thing with our eyes and cannot focus on everything simultaneously). Sometimes we do want a close up because facial expression and hand gestures can be important, but it should not be over done. For the most part, I found the camera work to be satisfactory. I also enjoyed listening to the Bolshoi dancers talk about each other. They sound like they are in love!
The image(16:9 widescreen) and sound(pcm stereo, dd5.1, dts5.1) are absolutely perfect. A twelve page booklet in English, German, and French is also included. This is recommended for all lovers of ballet.

The artwork and title of this DVD made me think it would be cheesy, or clumsily shot, or that *something* would be wrong with it, but, as the song says "C'est la vie, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell.". I just finished seeing it, and it was absolutely wonderful. The caliber of artistry in this live performance makes this DVD a keeper.

In the last 20 years, I've not kept up much with ballet "buzz," but I had seen the charming Polina Semionova in a Youtube video clip, and she was the reason I bought this DVD. And as I expected, Polina was wonderful, dancing an excerpt from her favorite ballet, "Manon," and that would have been enough. But to my delight, I discovered other wonderful dancers here - in particular, Oksana Kutcheruk as a luminous Aurora in the Grand Pas de Deux from "The Sleeping Beauty," and the lovely Bolshoi dancer Maria Alexandrova in "The Pharoah's Daugther" pas. Not the least of the surprises was the solo performance by 16-year-old Daniil Simkin, a fresh-faced young man with a big talent and a bigger personality. He was skilled, and funny, and a pleasure to watch. He owned the audience from the jump. And Natalia Hoffman of the Dutch National Ballet was a wonder in more modern piece set to the music of Kurt Weill. Finally there was the "The Man I Love" piece from the NYCB favorite "Who Cares?", set to the music of George Gershwin. I believe the the same Bolshoi Dancers who were so good in "Pharoah's Daughter" were even better in this piece. Alexandrova has a beautiful, "Balanchine-dancer" body, and her technique is simply staggering. She would not look out of place dancing this on the NYCB stage.

I was not wild about "The Moor's Pavane," which used to be part of the Joffrey's repertoire when there still WAS a Joffrey and it still had a New York season. I like Purcell's music, but I find the ballet overly long and dull, which is odd because "Othello" is anything BUT dull. But Charles Jude, whose name I had heard but had never seen dance, was an awesome Othello (I think Gary Chryst was the last person I'd seen dance that role, and that was the 1970s!). And it was the Vietnam-born Jude who reworked the "Sleeping Beauty" pas de deux I mentioned earlier.

I really do recommend this. In fact, it's a steal here. Get it!

I recommend this DVD for all ballet lovers! The dancers are some of the best dancers around at the moment...two of the ballerinas have danced in the Bay Area recently (2008/9)and were sensational. The ballets are pas-de-deux and show cases for technique and style...and the beauty of the dancers (they are all lovely to look at!)

The photography is crisp and clear, the 'behind the scenes' camera work is informative and the Prague Opera House looks gorgeous. This DVD is well worth the money.

Sorry, I don't know how to describe it, but there was something unsatisfactory about the program. Maybe too much Jose Limon. And I thought that Jude was overacting. But young Daniil Simkin was a treat.
The dancers are very good but...

I have no despute with the other reveiwers about the performance. Excellent dancers with lot of styles. I just want to emphasize that the lighting were awful and the photograghy was not much better. Lot of time, the faces are unrecognizable, blurry and grainy. If you are satisfied by the overall picture without details, then this DVD is very good. By the way, the sound is good.

This DVD has a variety of dance/ballet on it, classical, modern, long works, short works, all filmed in Prague, and with an international selection of dancers. It should therefore appeal to diverse tastes. Watch out for the amazing young dancer Daniil Simkin who'll take your breath away in his solo.

Unique opportunity to view some big contemporary names with some not so big but still great - gala evening performance.