Actors & Directors
- Sergei Gorbachev
- Nadezhda Pavlova
- Moscow City Ballet
Run time: 43 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £10.99
Review The Carmen Suite - A Night At The Ballet - The Moscow City Ballet / Ovc Media Limited:
Release date: 2001-12-24
Run time: 86 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £15.99
Review Matthew Bourne - The Car Man / Warner Music Vision:This latest dance version of Carmen comes courtesy of choreographer Matthew Bourne, who has devised his own scenario of Bizet's opera set in a garage-diner in the American mid-West, circa 1960. The Car Man toured the UK in 2000 finishing with a four-month run to packed houses at the Old Vic. This film treatment details all the excitement of the occasion. The cinematography assists in capturing the atmosphere of Bourne's treatment-film noir with allusions to Hitchcock-through employment of chiaroscuro. The use of the split-screen technique also enhances the cinematic feel. The music sounds seductive and full-bodied, befitting the new story line (Bourne calls it an “auto-erotic thriller”) in which an enigmatic stranger, Luca, walks into town seducing both Lana (Carmen) and Angelo (Don Jose). A swarthy individual, Luca looks an unlikely dancer until his first solo galvanises the company. The single stage set adapts into eight different permutations, taking us from diner through nightclub and prison and then out on the road in a cinematic finale where the Chevrolet cars of the period are destroyed in a pile up. The period look is further enhanced with the girls in tight-waisted colourful frocks and the men in Brando-esque T-shirts and jeans. The dance ensembles are an extraordinarily versatile group: classical, jazz, modern and flamenco seem natural expressions of their body movements. [+]Will Kemp deserves a special mention for his sensitivite portrayal of Angelo. On the DVD: the soundtrack comes in a choice of stereo or 5. 1. surround sound where the subtle employment of percussion instruments in the orchestration makes a telling effect. A picture gallery of 25 stills from the production and a 14-minute interview with Bourne expressing his initial doubt about doing another version of Carmen are further assets. He needn't have had a qualm. This Car Man is destined to give much pleasure. -Adrian Edwards.
Actors & Directors
- Orchestra Of London
- The Bolshoi Ballet
- Natalya Bessmertnova
- Irek Mukhamedov
Price: £10.99
Review The Bolshoi Ballet Live - Divertissements [1986] / Castlevision:
Actors & Directors
- Andrey Ostaltsov
- Alisa Strogaya
- Irina Kolpakova
- Tatyana Terekhova
- Farouk Ruzimatov
Price: £10.99
Review The Magic of the Kirov Ballet (1988) / Entertainment Video Co.:Sequences from La Bayadere, Le Corsaire, The Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda, Swan Lake, Paquita, Don Quixote.
![Review Teldec Video (Warner Classics) / Paris Opera Ballet - Paris Dances Diaghilev [1990]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KV4ENJFHL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Coby Stunnenberg
- Hans Veerman
- Jaap Hoogstra
- Stephan Brenninkmeijer
Run time: 84 min.
Price: £10.99
Review Paris Opera Ballet - Paris Dances Diaghilev [1990] / Teldec Video (Warner Classics):
![Review Warner Music Vision / Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake [1996]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31QNW91C5EL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Fiona Chadwick
- Barry Atkinson (II)
- Adam Cooper
- Emily Piercy
- Scott Ambler
- Peter Mumford
- Matthew Bourne
Run time: 120 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £8.41
Review Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake [1996] / Warner Music Vision:This Swan Lake was the unexpected popular hit of 1996, when radical choreographer Matthew Bourne took Tchaikovsky's traditional ballet by the scruff of the neck and reworked it with a myriad of modern influences and themes to astonishing effect. Seldom have the dark psychological riptides at the heart of so many classical ballets been so brilliantly exposed. The Prince (Scott Ambler) is a wretched and dissolute young man dominated by his mother, the Joan Collins-like Queen (Fiona Ambler). Shades of Tennessee Williams, indeed. Von Rothbart becomes a press secretary, more sinister éminence grise than hissable villain. Most startling of all, The Swan (Adam Cooper) is a muscular, emphatically masculine male. Bourne has stressed the universality of his interpretation, which proved such a success for his Adventures in Motion Pictures dance company. And indeed this is never an overtly "gay" Swan Lake, although the electricity of the pas de deux at the height of Act 2 delivers a palpably homoerotic charge. Its universal threads-as Bourne suggests, the need to be held and understood is common to us all-are synthesised in the utterly moving conclusion as the Swan cradles the lifeless Prince and raises him to a better place. Swan Lake becomes a human, rather than simply romantic, tragedy. [+]On the DVD: Swan Lake is presented in full screen 4:3 video format and this version would certainly have benefited from widescreen to show off the dazzling court and night club scenes as well as the lake and the impact of the all-male swan corps de ballet. But the lush Dolby Digital 5. 1 Surround Sound serves the rich interpretation of Tchaikovsky's score from The New London Orchestra to handkerchief-wringing effect. Extras include menu-driven resumes and a synopsis. -Piers Ford.
![Review Riverdance / Riverdance - Live From New York City [1996]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511BRB3YGRL._SL160_.jpg)
Release date: 1997-10-06
Run time: 94 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £2.87
Review Riverdance - Live From New York City [1996] / Riverdance:The Irish hard-shoe sensation Riverdance underwent its second incarnation with Live from New York City, a 1996 performance filmed at Radio City Music Hall. The dazzling choreography and energetic score remain, but Michael Flatley was replaced by less-flamboyant Colin Dunne, a superb technician who works well with Flatley's former colead, Jean Butler. About half an hour longer than the 1995 original, Live from New York City expands upon the second act's theme of the Irish leaving their homeland for other parts of the world. In the most engaging new number, "Trading Taps", a trio of Irish dancers faces off against two urban American tappers. While much of this show will be familiar, it's different enough to be enjoyed on its own terms. It's also more stylishly shot, but that's also its biggest drawback-frenetic editing that allows only brief glimpses of the dancers and leaves the viewer dizzy. -David Horiuchi.
![Review Warner Home Video / Tales Of Hoffman [1951]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516KADGMYWL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Emeric Pressburger|Michael Powell|Moira Shearer|Robert Rounseville
Run time: 119 min.
Price: £10.99
Review Tales Of Hoffman [1951] / Warner Home Video:
![Review Warner Music Vision / Dancing On Dangerous Ground [2000]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41H7KNXT9VL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Jean Butler
- Lindsay Dolan (II)
- Colin Dunne
Run time: 127 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £2.64
Review Dancing On Dangerous Ground [2000] / Warner Music Vision:
Actors & Directors
- Margot Fonteyn
- Patricia Foy
Run time: 89 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £14.99
Review Margot Fonteyn: Profile of a Dancer [1989] / Universal Pictures UK:
Actors & Directors
- The Royal Ballet
- Rudolf Nureyev
- Margot Fonteyn
Run time: 121 min.
Price: £5.99
Review Romeo And Juliet / ITV DVD:
![Review Universal Pictures UK / The Nutcracker [1986]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZAFT5P65L._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Pacific Northwest Ballet
- Carroll Ballard
Run time: 82 min.
Price: £14.99
Review The Nutcracker [1986] / Universal Pictures UK:
![Review 2 Entertain Video / Path To Perfection [1984]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KEZF2ZDTL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Jayne Torvill|Christopher Dean
RRP: £6.99
Price: £3.00
Review Path To Perfection [1984] / 2 Entertain Video:
Release date: 1996-08-05
Run time: 73 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £2.68
Review Riverdance - A Journey / Various:
Actors & Directors
- Aleksei Fadeyechev
- Mikhail Sharkov
- Natalya Bessmertnova
- The Bolshoi Ballet
RRP: £12.99
Price: £12.99
Review The Bolshoi At The Bolshoi - Presents Romeo And Juliet / ITV DVD:
![Review Vision Video Ltd. / Torvill And Dean - The Story So Far [1996]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/415227WV85L._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Jayne Torvill
- Christopher Dean
Run time: 113 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £15.95
Review Torvill And Dean - The Story So Far [1996] / Vision Video Ltd.:
Actors & Directors
- Evelyn Hart
- Martin James
- Elizabeth Anderton
- Peter Schaufuss
RRP: £14.99
Price: £14.98
Review Swan Lake / Universal Pictures UK:
Actors & Directors
- Irek Mukhamedov
- Darcey Bussell
Run time: 100 min.
Price: £14.99
Review Winter Dreams / Teldec Video (Warner Classics):
![Review Vision Video Ltd. / Torvill And Dean - Face The Music - The Tour [1995]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41V9P4DFG1L._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Christopher Dean
- Jayne Torvill
Run time: 91 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £0.20
Review Torvill And Dean - Face The Music - The Tour [1995] / Vision Video Ltd.:
![Review Vision Video Ltd. / Michael Flatley's Feet Of Flames [1998]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZHPW8VNSL._SL160_.jpg)
Release date: 1998-11-02
Run time: 114 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £2.38
Review Michael Flatley's Feet Of Flames [1998] / Vision Video Ltd.:An expanded and more polished version of Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames was recorded at an outdoor performance in London's Hyde Park. While much of the material is familiar to Flatley fans, the production is superior in every way. It's better photographed and the editing is less frenetic. The individual segments are sharper, more self-assured, as is Flatley, who also produced and directed this version. (He also demonstrates his talents as a flutist-maybe he should call himself Lord of the Renaissance. ) The outdoor setting also makes the show feel less like a Vegas act, though the proceedings have about as much relation to their Celtic folk roots as the Broadway musical Cats has to the TS Eliot children's poems on which it was based. -Richard Natale.
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The Carmen Suite - A Night At The Ballet - The Moscow City Ballet, Matthew Bourne - The Car Man, The Bolshoi Ballet Live - Divertissements [1986], The Magic of the Kirov Ballet (1988), Paris Opera Ballet - Paris Dances Diaghilev [1990], Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake [1996], Riverdance - Live From New York City [1996], Tales Of Hoffman [1951], Dancing On Dangerous Ground [2000], Margot Fonteyn: Profile of a Dancer [1989], Romeo And Juliet, The Nutcracker [1986], Path To Perfection [1984], Riverdance - A Journey, The Bolshoi At The Bolshoi - Presents Romeo And Juliet, Torvill And Dean - The Story So Far [1996], Swan Lake, Winter Dreams, Torvill And Dean - Face The Music - The Tour [1995], Michael Flatley's Feet Of Flames [1998]Top headlines: Modern girls might see selves in Kit Kittredge: Despite her cloche hat, feed-sack dresses and obsession with a relic known as a typewriter, modern girls might see a lot of themselves in Kit Kittredge, the Depression-era living-doll in the new American Girl feature film. ›16:27, 2.07 Obamas sit down for first family interview: During their first interview as a family, the Obamas talk about putting family first while campaigning for president. ›00:26, 9.07 Video: 'Paper cuts' leave print newsrooms bleeding: July 8: As the entire newspaper industry struggles to make a profitable transition to digital media, the new publisher of the four Palm Beach Post papers was the most recent to announce job cuts. 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