"O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?"
- William Butler Yeats, "Among School Children"
Alvin Ailey - An Evening With The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Published in 2016
In this brilliant studio recording, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the country?s boldest and most exciting dance company, brings its distinctive style home to you ? dazzling, brash and dynamic, yet graceful and poetic. Divining was Judith Jamison?s first major work as a choreographer for Alvin Ailey. The dance evokes a strong feeling for African tribal ritual and is set to hauntingly rhythmic drum music. Revelations expresses Ailey?s intense feelings for his roots in the South. Here you?ll see Ailey?s vivid “blood memories” of the blues, spirituals, gospel music, ragtime and folk songs as well as the hard life of the Southern black during the Depression. Set to Modern Jazz, The Stack-Up takes place in modern-day Harlem. You?ll witness the cruel reality of urban street life as a young man is destroyed by drugs. Cry was choreographed by Alvin Ailey in 1971 for Judith Jamison and is one of his most famous pieces. Created as a birthday present for his mother, it is Ailey?s tribute to black women. You can?t help feeling being moved by the struggle, the anger and most importantly, the celebration..
Bringing Balanchine Back
New York City Ballet.
Published in 2008
Follow the New York City Ballet, led by Master in Chief Peter Martins, to the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, where ballet legend and NYC Ballet co-founder George Balanchine and others took their first ballet steps. Narrated by Kevin Kline
Don Quixote
(Kitri's Wedding)
Published in 2003
This full-length production captures the excitement, flair, and humor of Cervantes' masterpiece.
Donald McKayle (1993).
Published in 2014
1992 Scripps/ ADF Award winner Donald McKayle (presented by Maya Angelou) reconstructs "Games" on the Chuck Davis' African American Dance Ensemble. Features step by step documentation of the creative process including rehearsals, interviews, and performance footage.
Martha Graham Dance Company.
Published in 2017
Described by The Washington Post as "one of the seven wonders of the artistic universe”, this groundbreaking and celebrated company is embracing a new vision that showcases masterpieces by Martha Graham, her peers and their successors as well as newly commissioned works by contemporary artists. Program includes a rare staging of Appalachian Spring (1944) set to Aaron Copland?s Pulitzer Prize-winning score. Considered Graham?s great enduring masterwork, Appalachian Spring celebrates its 70th birthday this season. The program also features Lamentation Variations, newly choreographed by three celebrated dance makers: Sonya Tayeh, Kyle Abraham and Larry Keigwin. The works by Tayeh and Abraham are West Coast premiers following their debut at the Joyce Theater in New York. Tayeh is best known to television audiences for her choreography for So You Think You Can Dance.
The Nutcracker
Ballet in Two Acts After Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov
Published in 2014
"The Wiener Staatsballett is one of the great companies of the world. Yet never before had Rudolf Nureyev's world-famous choreography of The Nutcracker been performed in Vienna. The present production remedies this omission by presenting Nureyev's final, 1985 Paris version with two magnificent young soloists and the splendid Vienna corps de ballet. Nureyev's version enjoys a particular standing in the history of this well-known ballet in that it was the first to incorporate the psychology of E.T. A Hoffman's fairy tale on which Tchaikovsky's ballet is based"--Container.
The Sleeping Beauty
Published in 2000
"The Sleeping Beauty remains, as Rudolf Nureyev often called it, the 'ballet of ballets'. It is the most accomplished and the most brilliant, as well as one of the most spectacular of the 19th century, and the most representative of the 'noble' style of classical dancing. Rudolf Nureyev's version, which he created for the Opéra Ballet in 1989, was recorded at the Opéra Bastille in 1999, in a new production (sets and costumes) created by his faithful collaborators, Ezio Frigerio and Franca Squarciapino, who had already produced Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet and La Bayadère"--Container.
Swan Lake.
Published in 2003
A production of Tchaikovsky's ballet starring Natalia Makarova and Anthony Dowell.
Twyla Tharp
Making Television Dance.
Published in 2015
An exploration by one of America's most eminent choreographer/dancers, Twyla Tharp, of the relationship between the complex technology of television and the realm of dance. By utilizing the almost infinite creative genius and vitality of the dancer's art and the possibilities presented by television's highly sophisticated science, Twyla Tharp has produced a fusion of the two-a creation which is both television and dance carried to the highest degree. The freedom allowed by video techniques and the creatively provided by Twyla Tharp's choreography complement one another perfectly, and make possible an exciting and innovative dance/video work. Produced by the Twyla Tharp Dance Foundation. Directed by Don Mischer.
The White Crow.
Published in 2019
Capturing the raw physicality and brilliance of Rudolf Nureyev, whose escape to the West stunned the world at the height of the Cold War. With his magnetic presence, Nureyev emerged as ballet|s most famous star, a wild and beautiful dancer limited by the world of 1950s Leningrad. His flirtation with Western artists and ideas leads him into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse with the KGB.
The Art of Movement
Published in 2016
"A collection of photographs by Ken Browar and Deborah Ory that capture the movement, flow, energy, and grace of many of the most accomplished dancers in the world. Featured are more than 70 dancers from companies including American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Martha Graham Dance Company, Boston Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, The Royal Ballet, and many more. Accompanying the photographs are intimate and inspiring words from the dancers, as well as from choreographers and artistic directors, on what dance means to them"--From publisher description.
Life in Motion
An Unlikely Ballerina
Published in 2014
As the only African American soloist dancing with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre, Misty Copeland has made history. But when she first placed her hands on the barre at an after-school community center, no one expected the undersized, anxious thirteen-year-old to become a ground-breaking ballerina.
Alvin Ailey
Celebrating African-American Culture in Dance
Published in 2004
Profiles the life of one of the most popular and acclaimed dancers and choreographers in the world.
Nureyev
The Life
Published in 2007
A comprehensive biography of twentieth-century Russian ballet dancer, Rudolf Nureyev, that chronicles his childhood, defection to the West in 1961, and success on the stage.
Restless Creature
Wendy Whelan
Published in 2017
"...Offers an intimate portrait of prima ballerina Wendy Whelan as she prepares to leave New York City Ballet after a record-breaking three decades with the company...We watch Whelan brave the surgery that she hopes will enable her comeback to NYCB and we watch her begin to the explore the world of contemporary dance, as she steps outside the traditionally patriarchal world of ballet to create Restless Creature, a collection of four contemporary vignettes forged in collaboration with four young choreographers." -- Container.
Center Center
A Funny, Sexy, Sad Almost-memoir of a Boy in Ballet
Published in 2021
"A daring, hilarious, and inspiring memoir-in-essays about dance, queerness, and creativity from the American Ballet Theatre principal dancer, drag queen, and pop star who's redefining what it means to be a man in ballet"-- Provided by publisher.
