Product Details

• Actors: Kevin Costner, Peter Buffett
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Compilation, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Polygram USA Video
• VHS Release Date: April 20, 1999
• Run Time: 75 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000ILF5
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,110 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #2 in

  Video > Music Video & Concerts > New Age

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Weaving Native American mythology, music, dance, and rituals into a stage presentation augmented for television and home video, Spirit: A Journey in Dance, Drums, and Song suggests a New World counterpart to Riverdance, aimed at the same audience that made Bill Whelan's Celtic extravaganza a programming staple for PBS fund drives and a perennial seller in music and home video.

Both projects also share substantial links to New Age music and mysticism. Buffett, who has focused on such a fusion in prior music, video, and multimedia projects, uses his core ensemble of synthesizers and conventional rhythm section to provide orchestral drama and sweep to the largely minor-keyed score. Native American flutes, percussion, and chant provide the music's evocative sense of identity, while Chief Hawk Pope's narration underlines the production's yearning for a simpler age of harmony with nature, while framing the dance sequences with various tribal legends.

As directed and choreographed by Wayne Cilento, the pieces pointedly begin with an "Urban Overture" in which members of the troupe, dressed in suits, evoke the regimentation and discord of the modern world, punctuated with chirping cell phones, car horns, and mechanical rhythms. Gradually, group and lead dancers loosen up both visually and stylistically to convey more fluid movement. In addition to those members combining ballet and jazz movements with elements of tribal dance, Cilento employs vividly costumed Native American dancers, much as Buffett strategically deploys costumed native musicians and chorus. Extensive use of montage allows natural symbols and scenes to be grafted over the stage-bound elements of the 75-minute performance. Ethnomusicologists may regard this as something of a pastiche, but that's probably the point--Spirit is designed as a romantic, pan-tribal evocation of the continent's pre-European culture and beliefs. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Moving and Uplifting Video, November 17, 1999

By A Customer

I saw this on a PBS special and couldn't wait to get a copy of it and the CD for myself. After many months I got both. The music is very intense and moving. The vocals of Chief Hawk Pope and drum beats mixed with chior and electric guitars, keyboards, and other modern instruments bring Native American culture into our own modern world. The show has a very good message, too. One we all seem to forget in our stressed-out, modern, every-day life.

I've viewed this video many times, especially when the real world becomes too stressful. This is a nice, spiritual production. I highly recommend it.

They also have some footage not included in the PBS special, and the interviews after the show were very good. I enjoyed hearing what other Native Americans had to say about the show and the reasons they were involved in it.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Musical and Artistic experience for the Soul!, January 21, 2000

By	Sandy fox (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

I Loved this video! It is a contemporary musical with a Native American tribal foundation. The blending of the old and new music was amazing! The spectacular choreography is powerfully danced by incredible talent. The cast was culturally diverse and a beautiful composition of the young and old ways. It moved me to tears to see where mankind has lost himself in the material world. There are many ancient messages within this video. A must see for everyone! It will give clarity and purpose to your soul self!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars sacred expression, December 13, 1999

By	cecelia brock (california) - See all my reviews

This was one of the finest expressions of spirit I have ever seen in any art form. It is much more than entertainment, it is a lens into a expression of the sacred. It expresses it's form in dance, music, modern life colliding with the best of Indian values and beliefs. The music and dance are powerfully displayed in short pieces of music that together describe the psychological, spiritual and sacred journey of the human. This could been seen as a model for integrating polarized ideologies and cultures. Absolutely beautiful.