Customer Reviews

Sleeping Beauty [VHS]

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

 

 

This video is a superb example of true Russian/Soviet trained dancers combined with Soviet style of "cultural propaganda". The film (created in 1964) was made to be shown in the movie theaters to bring more art to the masses (let's not forget that the arts were on very high level in former Soviet Union and still are in the present-day Russia). This movie-version style should explain somewhat choppy cinematography. On the other hand, it's is a classic that should be owned by all avid ballet lovers as well as by those who are just remotely interested in ballet. It is a great family movie!
The dancers in the main roles were the stars of the Kirov Ballet in the 60's and 70's. How can one go wrong in owning a tape with such stars in their prime as Alla Sizova, Yuri Soloviev, Natalia Dudinskaya, Natalia Makarova, Valeri Panov among many others? To any ballet student this should be a historic recording of what true classical training can produce. It's a pure academy of dance! For someone to say that the dancers are out of shape, because they might seem a little more meatier than our present-day concept of bones, is absurd! After all, it's the muscle that gets you up into the air -- not bones.
Alla Sizova was a lyrical dancer with pure classical style training and faultless technique. She received gold medal at Varna competition in 1964, and it's safe to assume that this ballet was filmed shortly after that. She was very popular in England when Kirov Ballet toured there. Unfortunately, she had a back injury and wasn't able to dance for 2 years, but she came back to dance and tour with Kirov in England and Europe without any loss of her brilliant technique. Presently, I believe, she is teaching in Washington D.C.
Yuri Soloviev was one of the most talented dancers that Russian and world ballet ever had. His technique was impeccable, his jumps absolutely breathtaking and....his life was extinquished much too soon for us to enjoy his talent. If for nothing else, one should have this tape to remember Soloviev's extraordinary talent.
Moreover, this film captured very young Natalia Makarova in the role of Princess Florina.
I hope this insight is somewhat helpful.

If you know "Sleeping Beauty", the reason to have this "Beauty" is the superlative dancing by Sizova and Soloviev. Nobody dances like them any more, and it's our loss. Sizova dances with a spontaneity and musical emphasis unlike any other Kirov dancer I've ever seen. Her Aurora was a vital part of the Kirov's first sensational tours of the West in the 1960s; curiously, I saw her dance Princess Florine at the Kirov in Act III in 1984, and even then she was dancing with amazing freshness - alas, by that point, a freshness unlike anyone in the company. Even though Soloviev isn't really a prince (he was a very famous Bluebird), he becomes a hero like no other - utterly innocent and caught up in the story as if for the first time. Latterday Kirov or Western dancers would dance this ballet with more attention to minor technical perfection and with less feeling for dance and music and character. To watch how Sizova's torso is always alive through each dance is glorious, and the way that Soloviev effortlessly phrases his series of double tours en l'air like a continuous outpouring of one single ardent thought (whereas most dancers present them like one technical cliche after another) is thrilling even if you've seen this ballet more than two hundred times in the theatre. When I first saw this film in the early 1980s, the Kirov was seldom seen in Britain or America, and it was one kind of revelation. It doesn't, however, represent how the Kirov's production worked in the theatre, it has a partly bad text (Carabosse danced on pointe and acted heavily by Natalia Dudinskaya), and it's heavily cut. Now that I've seen the Kirov and its various "Beauty" productions many times, this film is a different kind of revelation: what the Kirov was like before it became congealed by academicism. Makarova is the best of a mainly good supporting company; if you know your Kirov "Beauty"s, most of the dances here are alive as they aren't in later Kirov videos. But Sizova and Soloviev are the great reason to have this tape.

Sizova and Soloviev, as well as Valery Panov as the Bluebird are wonderful. It's definitely worth buying, but many of the most famous dances have been shortened considerably in this video.

Made in 1964, and looking every bit of it, this rare and unique rendition is in color but it is a silent film. We hear only the music of Tchaikovsky's ballet and the performers strutting their stuff against a collage of lush scenery - the Palace, the Forest, a lake, Carobosse's realm, etc. The music is terribly rendered. Moving to swiftly and having none of the finesse and bravura that is Tchaikovsky, the emphasis of this video is on the dancers. They are excellent, of course, providing drama in everything from their leaps to the look in their faces. I.E. The King and Queen shine with parental bliss upon the Christening of their daughter Aurora, are horrified upon the emergence of the menacing Carobosee (looking like a woman who has taken a hallucigenic drug) and grief-stricken upon Aurora's death when she pricks her finger. The finale is nothing more than cute customes and light dancing and the finale as the Prince and Aurora travel on a boat across the skies, is very disappointing. But still if you enjoy ballet this tape can be for you, though there are better versions out there ( look for the Viviana Durante as Aurora).

This Sleeping Beauty filmed in 1964 is a treasure for any ballet lover. As they used to say in the ballet worlds of New York,London and Paris back in the 1970's, "The wrong dancers defected from the Kirov." Meaning, that instead of Misha Barishnakov and Natalia Makarova, it should have been Yuri Soloviev and Alla Sizova who defected to the West, since they were far greater and supreme dancers. Soloviev had the biggest leaps of any dancer then or now, as well as a stunning charisma. His death at the age of 37, probably committing suicide, in 1977, was a great and tragic loss. He left a daughter who became a Kirov dancer. And Alla Sisova had a back injury that she never recovered from that unfortunately cut her career short, but I'm not certain what year she stopped dancing. Their beauty and brillance captured in this filmed version of Beauty shows us that they were not legends for nothing. Also Natalie Dudinskaya dancing Carrabosse, she was probably in her 50's when this was filmed, leaves on film for posterity her greatness as a dancer. What must she have been like in her dancing when she was younger? Nureyev always revered her. And he always spoke fondly of both Soloviev and Sizova.

Before the initial worldwide tour of the Leningrad Kirov Ballet in 1961, its rival Bolshoi Ballet troupe was the generally accepted company of choice for the performance of archetypal Russian dance. However, the Kirov brought something fresh with them that charmed balletomanes - - an emphasis upon clarity of line for traditional works, showcasing roles that were filled by an extraordinary assemblage of soloists which, in general, lacked the vigour displayed by Bolshoi dancers. This film was constructed in 1965 following the previous year's second tour by the Kirov, and will receive high marks from many aficionados of dance. It is shot at the Kirov's home, Saint Petersburg's Maryinsky Theatre, being an enactment applying the original 1890 choreography created by Marius Petipa, although there are over an hour of cuts made from Tschaikowsky's score, with several numbers being shortened, while others are excised or repositioned. Lamentably, among these cuts are a portion of the Blue Bird solos (Valeri Panov) as well as the adagio from the Grand Pas de Deux, danced here by Alla Sizova and Yuri Solovyov. Nonetheless, most viewers will accept these deletions as the work is intriguingly untypical in many ways when compared with most filmed ballets, with a result that one's interest is heightened from outstanding set and costume design, along with cinematic special effects that cannot be found with stagebound productions. It is widely printed that Rudolf Nureyev, who had discarded his Soviet citizenship by defecting to the West (leaving the Kirov in 1961), would consider returning to the U.S.S.R. only if he could once again partner Sizova, and it is not difficult to understand the temper of his statement as the prima ballerina, performing here as Princess Aurora, displays ravishing extensions along with her emblematic velvety soft jumps. She is matched by the gifted Solovyov whose singular mastery of elevation is evident dancing as Desire (Prince Charming). Additionally, ballerina Natalia Makarova is pure elegance as Princess Florina while veteran ballerina and coach Natalia Dudinskaya is dramatically convincing as the evil fairy Carabosse, albeit she dances the role en pointe. The well-trained corps de ballet is tantamount to perfection. The striking Vaganova method of arm positioning has long been with the company (wherein it was derived) and it is something wondrous upon which to focus while viewing this film. One of the finest exponents of that school during the 1960s is the incomparable Kaleria Fedicheva, cast here as one of the five good fairies. Fedicheva, who became successful as a highly valued teacher in the United States following her defection, demonstrates here that she is a true balletic blade, cutting through the air as she generates a theatric interpretation of her character. Based upon a late 17th century fairy tale by Charles Perrault, The Sleeping Princess is provided with a fantasy plotline of great intensity in addition to inherent visual appeal, and the unique stagecraft utilized for this production offers not merely proficient employment of machinery, but also an opportunity for vividly interpretive acting and dancing, with skilled film editing being a decisively significant segment of the mix. The film is an artistic achievement for which all engaged in its making may well be pleased. This would include the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theatre Orchestra, as well as the entire cast of dancers and many others of the production team, as the work's emotional impact reflects the efforts of a combination of diverse talents. Cinematographer Anatoli Nazarov employs numerous closeups and a broad range of camera angles, including overhead, that exhibits (in conjunction with artistic montage effects) especially telling effects fashioned by the design teams. This film has been released upon a less than completely satisfactory DVD, and most viewers will incline toward a 1990 Kultur VHS version that, while rather difficult to locate, and suffering from some colour washout, is yet presented in letterbox format that maintains the original aspect ratio of its Cinemascopic theatrical release prints.

No one in our family is an expert. This is a pure entertainment value rating from a family that loves many types of music and dance.

This tape, pluses and minuses, deserves 5 stars in our family, because it is simply so beautiful to watch, so engaging. It feels like a ballet AND a gripping story both, moreso than some of the other ballets we own, which can feel a bit like a plodding story as we wait for the next dance part worth watching. (La Bayadere comes to mind.) The minuses: well, the recording is old. (That doesn't bother us much.) The tape quality - Kultur Video! Shame on you! - is poor! Our new tape player can't seem to decide which way to automatically adjust this tape which "needs help" all the time, or so the system has determined! That DOES bother us! Hence, I am back here looking for this on DVD or anything better than our tape, because we love this production so much! And I am keeping my old VHS player for this tape alone, just in case I can't replace it.

I got a copy of this tape as a gift, and never thought what a jewel for the ballet this tape IS. After watching it, I became a fan of Alla Sizova and Yuri Soloviov, because they danced more deep than just a perfect technique, they had style, grace, musicality and fluidity.

Even though Makarova was more known in America because of the international projection and is considered one of the top ballerinas in the 60s, 70s and 80s, Sizova is even better because she could actually jump and turn, unlike Makarova (watch her in Royal Ballet's Swan Lake 1982), and her style was always so pure and clean.

Soloviov is amazing too, he doesn't actually look like a real prince, but after watching his dance, there was no doubt about who the prince was. Lilac fairy did a great job, though sometimes she looks a little out of proportion, she could balance her size with her delicacy.

I fully recommend this tape, though it looks old, is a classic for every balletomane and even kids who like to see a lovely story, russian style.