Balanchine PBS Documentary
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- Опубліковано 12 тра 2019
- An excellent documentary produced by PBS American Masters. They do make one error in the beginning though. Marius Petipa was a French choreographer, not Russian, who worked for the Czar in the late 19th Century. That's me smiling behind Balanchine when he was choreographing DANCES CONCERTANTES for me and Lynda Yourth.
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Years ago i met a young promising male dancer and his mother at the airport. Told them i could lend them my PBS video of this very documentary. I mailed it to them and after a few months they wouldn't return my call to send in return. I was somewhat heartbroken and upset with myself. This documentary meant so much to me as a dancer, and now, after a decade and a half later i see it again!!. I now feel the world's greatest ballet choreographer would have wanted me to share it with that young man and that it was the right thing to do. Keep helping each other. It may not go as you want but help each other anyway.
Thanks for posting ⚘
Bless u for trying
Possibly because it was lost or their life went in another direction. They clearly didn’t put as much value on your effort as they could have. But Lord knows, lives get complicated.
The promising male dancer and his mother obviously did not value the PBS video of this documentary as you did. I find that lending things of value is, alas, a fool's errand. Don't offer to lend things, they might not find it convenient to return them to you.
As I grew up in the 1960s, ballet classes were popular and I had the impression it was like that always. Now I see it as Balanchine's influence on America's culture. What a gift!
I’d like to recommend Maria Tallchief’s autobiography; she was a glorious, fascinating, dancer, and, having been his wife and muse, it provides a great portrait of George Balanchine as well.
Thx. Read it and worked with Maria too when she invited me to choreograph and dance with her Chicago Ballet.
I saw this documentary, with its striking opening linking Petipa and Balanchine, in the New York State Theater I believe. It was quite amazing! Many years ago.
Balanchine saw things about the human body that previous choreographers had not. The sequence with Baryshnikov as the prodigal son really illuminates the performer-director relationship. A performer has the gift of openness of expression--capacity for giving life to multiple characters and experiences, but almost always needs direction to bring it out fully, when where, what.
Who plays the father in that...is that Gb ?
Anyone know? Who played the father who welcomes back the son?
@@lindaclark9925 I believe Shaun O’Brien.
@@nan2kaye thank you. I love ballet. And, i would love to meet George Balanchine. Keep the books coming, people who danced at nycb!❤️
@@lindaclark9925 He died in 1983... Some fan you are 😂
Stravinsky to Balanchine........”Take some more...let’s be drunk.”
Priceless documentary.
This brings back so many memories for me, I spent years watching NYC Ballet at Lincoln Center. If I hear the music of a Balanchine dance, I can imagine the steps and the choreography. What an invaluable documentary.
I must have seen this in 1958, the Nutcracker televised live, when I was 6. I remember it vividly.
These video excerpts must be invaluable to the company as the older generation has passed and new dancers must preserve Balanchine's original choreography.
Also I had no idea Balanchine was such a good cook and I find that so funny and endearing for some reason x3
Marius Petipa was not Russian. He was French, born in Marseille and his brother Lucien danced mostly in Paris. Many French choreographers were invited by the Csar, for example Arthur Saint-Léon (Coppélia, La Vivandière, Le Violon du Diable…etc) used to spend half the year in Russia and the other half in Paris.
It is not by an unexpected chance that all the movements of ballet are called by French words !
Just like Giorgi Balanchivadze aka George Balanchine.
This is an awesome documentary. Balanchine and Stravinsky together omg
What a wonderfully-made documentary. I especially appreciate the dance clips that are longer than usual for a documentary.
Phenomenal documentary. Marvelous footage.
I have this on VHS and been watching it for years. Thank you it is a lot easier to watch.
Thank you as always, John, for your glorious videos! I never tire of them.
So grateful to stumble upon this classic documentary about the life and career of the brilliant George Balanchine. I grew up watching NYCB, season after season, at the New York State Theater (and attending City Ops in the off season). I will have to dig out my treasured programs from those days and compare the performances here with those I saw in real life through the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Thank you for posting!
Thank you for sharing all the wonderful videos on your channel!
Thanks for posting this treasure.
A ballet company as a gift for a rich man’s wife who was a dancer. Wow ❤
Yup. Money talks.
Mr Clifford - I wanted to say that I'm over the MOON that Suzanne has been asked back to NYCB to coach Kowroski and Mearns in DIAMONDS!!!! OMG....there's justice after all. As an SAB alum (I went to dance with Dance Theatre of Harlem after doing the 1992 SAB workshop), I have been seriously depressed about NYCB's situation for all these years, esp in light of recent (etc). I HOPE that they keep Suzanne around!! This news has made my year!!!!
Yes...but keep in mind she was only given a couple rehearsals of this one ballet. Let’s hope they invite her for more.
@@jcliff26 john...did Balanchine teach Baryshnikov?!
@@lindaclark9925 I’m sure he took Balanchine’s class the couple years he was in the company, but Balanchine was already teaching much less by then.
@@jcliff26 john. I know you just put your book out, and i will buy it soon. If you could though...gimme a George Balanchine quote to add to a sketch i did of him? It would mean a lot. Maybe, a favorite saying he had? I thank you.
@@lindaclark9925 “The muse works on Union time.”
Thanks so much for this! I'm always looking for things like this about Balanchine and NYCB.
What a treat. Thank you for uploading this.
I ordered your book and it arrived just yesterday! Very excited to read it. Also I'm currently taking class twice a week at Grand Rapids ballet school since at least last summer and I love it! they're quite versatile and I love how the teachers have endless patience with me X3
This is the best documentary ever!!
Couldn't you have stayed / one more day/ April is so cold , so cold. / May is flowers and warmth/you would have got up to dance/ healed by it's mirth/ you say time is then , and now, and soon/ could we then not have said goodbye / in sunlit, flowery June / yet death is as final, and as cold, /as the ever all knowing , unyielding moon / and your dance perfectly,
maddeningly, in tune-?/ ....poem for George ballanchine
Thank you for sharing
i was in venus and visited diaghalev's grave, there were pointe shoes and flowers and lit candles ... close by were stravinsky's and his wife's, also fresh flowers ...
Misha never ceases to impress
Thank you.
This beats the repetitive news cycle on ABC, BBC, CBS, FOX, and NBC. I’d recommend the Suzanne Farrell Elusive Muse documentary in conjunction with this. Thank you for posting!
AriannaAyers chauvtr’ee
@@concoursdepianoclaudekahn8187 Perhaps you meant to write "Chauvenet's Criterion"???
Wonderful Balanchine history
Ballet was his favorite dance form ...he built from that foundation and to return to it after making those musicals was probably like someone throwing him a gob of ....putty. what a brilliant genius
He was Georgian !!!
That explains so much!
so what?
He was! But... Georgia was NOT mentioned once in this documentary... which is sad..
He was Russian Georgian!!!
"So what". Erasure of Georgian origins and facts and falsely naming them as Russian, that's what.@@mathildewesendonck7225
Thank you, I just read the autobiography of Suzanne Farrell and enjoyed to see these ballets and her dancing. Wish this documentary could get a technical makeover.
Cannot quite hear gb , needs an amp up
Very well made! Thank you for posting. but.. George Balanchine- Blanchivadze was GEORGIAN not Russian . Not once was mentioned Georgia in this documentary . Genius ..without origin.. I often wander , when he was working on "prodigal Son" was he thinking of himself... But.. again many Georgian talented people were sent to Siberia and perished. or sunk into Dostoevsky's Russia ..and ...
Purposefully diminishing Georgia's name by Russia happened and happens so often. Even Georgia as a country is so unknown by the general world that they think that Russia created us or that we only became a country after Soviet Union disbanded. In reality, Georgian history spans for decades and was flourishing long before Russia even existed. One of the major reasons why so little is known about Georgia worldwide, is Russia and its decades long oppression. Some people even think that we speak Russian, when we have an entire language family of our own and one of the few unique alphabets in the world, which looks and sounds NOTHING like Russian. As a Georgian, seeing all this ignorance and disregarding us as a little meaningless nation is very sad and I'm trying to educate as many people as I can, whenever I can.
Thank you for posting this. Some amazing footage here. (And footwork!)
This was great. Thanks for posting. I learned a lot.
Balanchine is an example of an individual who was a genius, but not a "very nice person", anyway I love the Tchaikovsky Pas de deux collage, it gave me goose bump to look at the qualities of the different dancer performing, just wonderful
Did you know him personally? Well I did and he WAS a very nice person and the most respectful and respected choreographer - teacher. I don’t know who you’ve been listening to or where you’re getting your information, but there are many jealous people out there.
my comment was more against cancel culture anyway, this documentary is awesome thank you for sharing it ;)
@@emanuelamarchetti5559 Your comment about Balanchine not being “a very nice person,” was uncalled for and plain wrong. Nothing to do with “cancel culture.” What was “cancelled?”
thank you for uploading 😊
I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO DANCE FOR GEORGE BALANCHINE...
I worked with Violette Verdi for couple sessions.
There's wayyyyy more. He married so many times....there's wayyyyy more to this man.
His voice has such a new York accent 😂...it's great.
Except he has no idea how to pronounce TOUTED. The rest of the world says TOWTED, he said TOOTED, which unfortunately is altogether something else!😀
This man was a bundle of energy
Good film.thanks so much.o
Either Balanchine had a different story for every occasion or the scriptwriter for the show got significant things wrong. For instance, Balanchine told me he wanted to stay in England, and was counting on John Maynard Keynes to help with obtaining British government permission for Balanchine to stay there. The British were in the process of allegedly deporting Balanchine...
Keynes, who was a member of the ballet crowd there, being married to Lydia Lopokova, was a name that I instantly recognized, being as I majored in economics in college.
But Keynes, Balanchine said, let him down, did not help and Balanchine took the opportunity KIrstein offered and shipped out to the United States, to our everlasting benefit. I've always had, for various reasons, no space in the articles I've written, to include this explanation in print, so here it is for the first time anywhere.
That all rings true. Glad you put it down.
Thank you 😊!
very cool!
Balanchine and the name Gershwin are synonymous with...new York
The most watched part of this is Vera Zorina dancing ''Slaughter on 10th Ave'' for the movie version of ''On your Toes'' interesting!
l can see why he liked Suzanne so much. She was a living DOLL! For Tchaikovsky's Pas de Deux ...Violette Verdy is AMAZING!
I had a privilege to work with V. Verdi just a couple years or so ,before she was gone.
@@TreasureX7 ~ l'm not dancer, and l'm just learning. Why ...do you think, .does someone that is ignorant ...like myself find her SO lovely? ls it because of her technical abilities, _or_ is it simply 'preference' ? l'm very interested to know. :) Thank you @A.Daniels.
What about Gelsey Kirkland...? Nowhere to be found in this documentary.
She had totally turned against Balanchine at this point unfortunately.
SF is breathtaking.
13:17 1:25:20 Baryshnikov
In perfect sovietlike style, this documentary erases people fallen from grace. Gelsey Kirkland, for whom B choreographed, is never mentioned. Hahaha.
Nether was Villella because Villella wanted to be paid and the producers refused because it was a documentary. Also, after the way Gelsey lied about Balanchine, his school, and his company, why should she be included? Balanchine also choreographed several ballets for me and I choreographed 8 ballets for his company, and I wasn’t mentioned either. Your comment about “Soviet style” is uncalled for as well as uninformed…and I was hardly “fallen from grace.”
Ps .. how many of his ballets are carefully written down? Each step?
Lincoln Kirsteinn...wow
How unfortunate that Peter Martins never allowed Suzanne Farrell to bring her knowledge and history of Balanchine to NYCBallet. This was so petty. Look and see what she was in Chaconne. She was the Balanchine ideal.
I’ve never liked Martins as a dancer, from 30 years ago. I guess I somehow sensed he was a power freak, ruthlessly making decisions which benefitted him and not the company. And when I learned he’d used his power to sexually coerce and use his young female dancers (and ignoring reports that some of his principal male dancers were as sick as he was), forcing him to get out, to relinquish his hold on NYCB, it all made sense….I cannot abide misogynists. I’m not even surprised that he typically doesn’t make the “best of” lists of his generation of danseurs, even though he deserved his position as a principal dancer, and I wondered if others could feel what I did. Probably not, but it makes you wonder!
I have a question...why are all the ballets Balanchine staged, even those of Fokine, Petipa & Ivanov, etc, said to be "Balanchine's" or even choreographed by him in this film? Am I misinformed? I see this a little on his Wiki page as well, but when you go to the ballets' pages, the original choreographers are clearly given (a glaring example is The Nutcracker, which in this film is called (or even said to be choreographed by) "Balanchine's", yet nowhere is remotely listed as his; I know he made changes and added or added to the party scene but that's hardly the whole ballet). I am under the impression that most artistic directors change (esp classic) ballets to suit their visions/productions/dancers, but they don't list these ballets as choreographed by them; at least printing "After Petipa...", etc.
Also, I believe Ballet Russe brought ballet to America, not Balanchine? This doc was heavily skewed toward the Balanchine/NYCB legend and less so to history, it seems. I also don't understand how they made a film on Balanchine, mentioned his first three wives, without at least mentioning his muse/love Suzanne Farrell or last wife and first "created" ballerina, Tanaquil LeClercq? I thought both of these women had a huge influence on his (and other choreographer's) work and no doubt contributed much to it themselves, plus they, esp Farrell, are in more clips here than anyone else. No need to discuss the details of those personal situations in the film, but they were a big influence, even LeClercq's illness. OK, so 3 questions!
Wonderful to see all the clips of iconic dancers; wish they were longer, but understand TV timing. Great showing that all amazing male dancers weren't necessarily from Russia!
Thank you and we are lucky you are so accessible here! With great respect,
I think you're a bit confused. Balanchine rarely restaged a ballet from another choreographer, but when he did he brought in Alexandra Danilova in the case of RAYMONDA and COPPELIA, and always gave credit to the original choreographer. As for the documentary, this was made as a tribute to Balanchine after he died. It was never meant to be a history of his private life or loves, just his impact on dance. It doesn't say he alone brought ballet to America, but the formation of his school was certainly the most serious attempt to establish a large school for developing an indigenous American ballet company. As for his Nutcracker, that is his original choreography even though he followed the original ballet's libretto, but only up to a point.
Balanchine wasn’t Russian…
George Balanchine was Georgian.
Marius Petipa was French.
Balanchine was Georgian.
His full name is Giorgi Balanchivadze.
I know that. I cannot change his documentary.
He;s not telling you to change the documentary. He's just correcting the incorrect information for whoever reads the comments.@@jcliff26
RESPECT❤
1:11:30....music can only express itself -that is my conviction..".Stravinsky .....he has the credentials for a quote like that ,that's for sure . I think he is saying that music like art comes up with the mood, and that mood is contrived by the music, or art ..
As an artist of the kind balanchine said of, "...what is that -?-..." 😂... I gotta agree, no artist of the painterly/drawing vein can truly control what is being felt by the viewer! Like music. Ballet though.. i see it as a precise math. Balanchine combined that with the euphereal. To many calculations to comprehend, when both are combined
He was Georgian!!!!!!
Yes. He was quite proud of that.
How many choreographers are there to the nutcracker?
There were no subtitles, so what are two Balanchine ballets with American themes?
Probably STARS AND STRIPES and WESTERN SYMPHONY, but he did many more that used American music and had typical American themes like WHO CARES? (Gershwin music) and SLAUGHTER ON 10th Ave (music by Richard Rogers)
John Clifford Thank you!
Judy Kinberg produced wonderful ballet shows and documentaries while at WNET. It's a shame she had to produce this under the aegis of Susan Lacy, who spent an entire career taking credit for other people's work. It's clear who the real driving force behind this film was.
It's the cutthroat culture and self serving attitude of public television that pushes viewers away
I want the premier book on balanchines life...
Does anyone know if this can be purchased on dvd?
I think it can. Look at PBS website.
Mikhail Baryshnikov...wow
Wow
Who is the male dancer in western symphony?
That was Jacques D'Amboise.
What was that last performance? That was very chilling
APOLLO
Contemporaneous music STINKS !
Sadly I agree.
Lincoln was the ticket
NOTE: Petipa was FRENCH, not Russian...although he choreographed in Russia...☺
Yes of course. Take it up with PBS.
True! and Balanchine - Balanchivadze was GEORGIAN, not Russian ...and not mentioned even once.. sad..
@@annashumer9983 Yes, Balanchine’s family came from Georgia but he was born in St. Petersburg and always thought of himself as from there. He did respect and speak often about his Georgian ancestry.
@@jcliff26 No. he wasn’t born in Russia, he was 9 years old when he was taken to Russia. In documentary he is saying that his family was very far .. and he did not have his family there.. And he wasn’t only one, who is portraying as a Russian, which is very sad and unfair..
@@annashumer9983 All his authorized biographies say he was born in St. Petersburg and that’s what he told me personally.
I feel the same about tchaicovski
1:13:03 ...Juliana...don't we get a ....last name? The Cher of ballet... 😂
@1:17:50 '...there's no Inspiration, you have to Work'!
What a shame no subtitles!
Stravinsky and balanchine were in agreement.. there isn't really inspiration, it's....work . ..to get to....somewhere. ..what is conveyed is only a spark from your spirit to do the work ? And as balanchine who attended orthodox catholic services all his life said, God provides
the components we work with
He was not Russian but Georgian, Balanchivadze
Yes. But take that up with who made the documentary. I didn’t.
His Russian accent still distinct
Wow. The short stocky ( compared to today) dancers depicted here.
@KathyMyers I think you're responding to a difference in film ratio that makes the dancers look shorter and stockier than they were. When I look at photos of the same dancers there is not a big difference from dancers today, and often I think the dancers in Balanchine's day were much thinner, as dancers now have better scientific knowlege about how to keep their weight low in a healthier way.
@@uptownsunni3560 no. I’m not a casual ballet fan. Been a fan for over 40 years and know what I’m saying is a fact.
@KathyMyers. Ok. You’re a 40 year ballet fan. I’m a professional dancer and have been in class with many of the dancers pictured, or met them in person. What time periods are you comparing? Once the Ford Foundation scholarships came into play in the 1960’s Balanchine and SAB were able to choose dancers with the more streamlined look he preferred. Is that what you mean, or is it something else?
Interesting. Under communism, young, aspiring, dancers were chosen at a young age based almost entirely on their body conformation. Dance (and sport) provided rare opportunities for young people there, so they didn’t so much choose to pursue dancing, they were assigned to it.
What does he say at 57:51 ...that the real world is not here-?
He means there’s another unseen world. He was a very spiritual man.
@@jcliff26 oh what a good man you are also to so graciously answer me yet again. John Cliffordl 😂. , balanchine and all of you dancers from that era are so incredibly down to earth, amidst the grandeur! Then as now. Also...I would say that as notably admiral except for my own belief that this is what God expects from us, to begin with! You just don't see it much these days, in my opinion. I recently watched some interview footage of the band, the doors., For instance. I thought the same thing! They were disciplined and hard working and extremely down to earth. That denotes a God centered person to me. Was it the era? Something.
Other real world leaves an imprint here.
Jaques de Ambroise
Стравинский и Баланчин…🫀
Français mercii
this doc is a visual nightmare
In what way?
A great choreographer, but for me not the story telling work of Ashton. He also I am afraid was responsible in many ways for the extreme bodies in many danceers.
That is such an urban myth. He told Farrell to gain weight when she returned to the company. He dancers of all weights and sizes. Look up Gloria Govrin. As for your taste in ballet that’s your choice. I find Ashton overly fussy, and hes never done any grand tragic ballets like Balanchine’s Prodigal Son for instance. Anyway, different tastes.
@@jcliff26 Gelsey Kirkland certainly contributed to that myth that Balanchine was a sadistic slavedriver.
@@cattycorner8 And she was under drugs at the time so her memory was warped.
46:21 he begins the eternal life long practice of boys doing things that make girls cry. So it goes.
Not sure what you mean?
I know what you mean. 😏
Awful
What?
lol
I don't like Balanchine it's all, well 80% is modern bullshit I can't relate to it. Gelsey Kirkland is the one Balanchine dancer that didn't dance that abstract stuff. Even the costumes were weird they were so long they didn't resemble tutus didn't show the dancers legs. And that chick with the fat thighs dancing to Yankee doodle. I thought he liked thin legs. Needless to say I don't or can't appreciate his work at all.
Well that’s too bad. Don’t understand what you mean about long skirts. Are just talking about SERENADE? Many of his ballets are just in leotard and tights. Well...don’t watch them then.
@@jcliff26 Thank you Mr. Clifford -- well said, sir. I happen to like Patricia Wilde's physique and her impeccable petit allegro and ballon. (That is Patty Wilde dancing in such a bonny way to the whistled "Yankee Doodle", isn't it?) I admire people who dance in a singular way and also have unique physical attributes -- so I love for different reasons Fonteyn, Farrell, Ashley, Tiler Peck, McBride, Van Hamel, Verdy.... I just love ballet, in other words -- I think it's flexible enough to allow different types of bodies to express it.
Michael Perez Yes. That’s Pat Wilde doing the “whistle” bit.
Finally! Someone who agrees with me! I’ve said many times that his ballets for Susanne Ferrell were not even ballet! It was modern dance. Gelsey danced ballet. Thank heaven we got to see real ballet!
Ballachine was a terrible choreographer, and his dancers were horribly trained. They looked ridiculous! Terrible technique, terrible lines. Garbage.
Really? Well you have a right to your opinion of course. Luckily every major critic and most professional dancers for nearly 100 years have agreed that he was a genius and one of the top choreographers of all time. Sorry you can’t see the obvious, but to each his own.
SO overrated.
Who? Balanchine? Well, to each his own I guess.
Thank you! I saw this decades ago and it's wonderful to watch again and again and ...
I have a question...why are all the ballets Balanchine staged, even those of Fokine, Petipa & Ivanov, etc, said to be "Balanchine's" or even choreographed by him in this film? Am I misinformed? I see this a little on his Wiki page as well, but when you go to the ballets' pages, the original choreographers are clearly given (a glaring example is The Nutcracker, which in this film is called (or even said to be choreographed by) "Balanchine's", yet nowhere is remotely listed as his; I know he made changes and added or added to the party scene but that's hardly the whole ballet). I am under the impression that most artistic directors change (esp classic) ballets to suit their visions/productions/dancers, but they don't list these ballets as choreographed by them; at least printing "After Petipa...", etc.
Also, I believe Ballet Russe brought ballet to America, not Balanchine? This doc was heavily skewed toward the Balanchine/NYCB legend and less so to history, it seems. I also don't understand how they made a film on Balanchine, mentioned his first three wives, without at least mentioning his muse/love Suzanne Farrell or last wife and first "created" ballerina, Tanaquil LeClercq? I thought both of these women had a huge influence on his (and other choreographer's) work and no doubt contributed much to it themselves, plus they, esp Farrell, are in more clips here than anyone else. No need to discuss the details of those personal situations in the film, but they were a big influence, even LeClercq's illness. OK, so 3 questions!
Wonderful to see all the clips of iconic dancers; wish they were longer, but understand TV timing. Great showing that all amazing male dancers weren't necessarily from Russia!
Thank you and we are lucky you are so accessible here! With great respect,
I think you’ve greatly confused some things. First off the “Balanchine” Nutcracker has all new choreography by Balanchine. The libretto is the same one basically as the original. That’s all. Balanchine never claimed choreography that wasn’t his, so I’m confused by your question about that. As for his wives and muses, this documentary wasn’t about his personal life. It was about his work. He didn’t claim that he alone brought ballet to America, but by establishing his school it certainly can be argued that he was the founder of the “American” style.
@@jcliff26 true John. Listen, I'm an artist; ultimately? The engine running that is me and God. My disciplines, sensibilities run. It. (..other ppl, romances, etc ...really never make even a dent in the core pagentry of an artists endeavors. )
This was truly a labor of love, done with such care with script, music, and archiving. I believe that there is no finer tribute than this documentary for Balanchine. I videoed this with the VHR as the show was airing, I think, in 1984 and watched it incessantly, almost nightly with my young kids. I still have this VHS, worn like a loved recipe. The segment from Prodigal Son still brings tears to my eyes.
Yes...but you notice Villella is no where to be seen. He wanted to be paid, but producers said no.
Ps....I'm glad for the very low key fan fare towards the Balanchine years. What does it matter? It was theeee foundation in the making, and all of you are stars, to me!
Thank you so much. Completely engrossing.
I have learned a little more about Mr Balanchine on this Docu. I wish it was longer and I can listen to Mr Balanchine talk about everything about his ballet. Thank you for posting this video Mr Clifford! What a treasure!
Интересно. Спасибо.