Why are there so few Balanchine DVDs?

[alison]

While watching "The Four Temperaments" last night, it struck me once again just how few of Balanchine's works have made it to DVD. Sure, a few of his full-length works are available - Midsummer Night's Dream, Nutcracker and Diamonds spring to mind - but as regards his shorter works, it's very few. The main output is those TV recordings from, I think, the 1970s (or possibly 80s?), but there's no Serenade, no Apollo that I'm aware of ...

 

It surely can't be down to lack of demand. Is the Balanchine Trust resistant to producing DVDs, perhaps, or NYCB?

[Bruce Wall]

Here's a full length Serenade for you, Alison, with NYCB and, I think, some mighty fine dancers including the current NYCB Ballet Master in Chief.  (PS:  I know this is not available on DVD but I just thought I'd add it lest you were hungry    You will find a certain Ms. Ashley in the ensemble as well.  

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru0ruEZeqa0

Edited March 31, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[Mary]

I have a DVD of Selections by NYCB including The Four Temperaments,Stravinsky Violin Concerto, and 2 Jewels-

1977 I think?

and another with Chaconne, Prodigal Son.Ballo della Regina..

I don't know if they are still available.

Thanks for reminding me I must re watch  Tempermanets (Merrill Ashley, Daniel Duell).

But no Serenade or Apollo indeed. Thanks for Serenade Bruce!

[alison]

They are, but they're often bitty. It's only selections from Emeralds and the Diamonds pdd, if I remember rightly.

[serenade]

I have often wondered the same!  I think it's a real shame that there's nothing much in the way of recent filming available.  I really love their youtube channel and they have a lot of good footage on there but it's all just clips.  Even if they didn't want to release a DVD I would pay to stream/download something.  Maybe in the future they will do something like that, fingers crossed anyway.

[loveclassics]

Isn't there a complete performance of Jewels by POB?  i think there's also an accompanying documentary about staging Balanchine.

 

I'm sure I've got both but they're boxed up while I get the redecoration completed.

 

Linda

[Naomi M]

Not only a complete Jewel by POB, also a complete Jewels by the Mariinsky. There seems to be some problems with the filming of POB Jewels, and the movements are very blurry, very distracting although the performance was good so I could only manage to watch it once.

 

The Mariinsky Jewels recording has some very odd camera angles but at least the filming quality is better and Lopatkina in Diamonds is such a treat. 

 

Recently, a series of Balanchine New York City Ballet in Montreal has been issued and it is a 1950s recording where you can see such amazing dancers there such as Maria Tallchief, Tanaquil Le Clercq, Jacques d'Amboise, Diana Adams, Arthur Mitchell, Violette Verdy

[cslater]

It remains a puzzle why the Balanchine Trust will not release NYCB videos that must exist and will generally not allow other releases of Balanchine videos.  The earlier-mentioned Balanchine In Montreal series is treasurable.  They are released by VAI and consist of 5 DVD's, containing late 1950's and early 1960's recordings of many works that are not otherwise available; including Serenade, Apollo, Bugaku, Ivesiana, Orpheus, and others, with many of the classic dancers of that period, including Moncion, Leclerq, Tallchief, Adams, and others.  NYCB has released a paltry 2 DVD's, digitized from 4 earlier VHS's in the Dance In America series, which blesses us with fine performances of Four Temperaments, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Emeralds, and a number of others, featuring dancers like Farrell, Martins, and Ashley.  There was an earlier set of VHS's from PBS, which have not been digitized, so far as I know.  Some recordings may be seen on Youtube, stemming from a series filmed in Berlin, including Serenade and others.  The filming is pretty poor, featuring jumps every 3 or 4 seconds and "artistic" camera angles.  There are also some streaming videos from the Suzanne Farrell Ballet Company, with excerpts from Agon, Serenade and many others.  Not long ago, Paris Opera Ballet was offering a stream of Symphony In C in a wondrous performance, but this has been deleted for the U.S. market, unfortunately.  One of the better streams available is a program a few weeks ago on PBS of the School of American Ballet, dancing a complete Serenade and a substantial part of Western Symphony, superbly.  There is an educational film called Music Dances, which has sections of Balanchine-Stravinsky works, including Apollo, Agon, and Movements.  This is not for sale, except to educational institutions.  And there was a VHS of Davidsbundlertanze, which was never issued on DVD.  There is a DVD of Nutcracker, with spoken text that can't be turned off; but the more recent Nutcracker, seen in theaters and on PBS, was never issued.  And there are two complete recordings of Midsummer Nights Dream and of Jewels.

Given that the Foundation has authorized some releases, it remains astonishing that so many key works cannot be viewed, except in brief excerpts or in briefly available non-authorized streams.  These include Who Cares, Symphony in C, Vienna Waltzes, Liebeslieder Waltzes, Mozartiana, Suite #3 (Tchaikovsky) Monumentum/Movements, Episodes, and a whole host of others.  And as wonderful as MSD and Jewels are, rather than have two recordings of each, would it not have been possible for the ballet companies to feature works not otherwise available, rather than repeat what already is.

A similar situation exists with regard to Jerome Robbins, whereby there are no recordings of Dances At A Gathering, Goldberg Variations, Astaire Variations, and many others.  Strangely enough, a recently issue "Homage a Robbins" from Paris contained In G Major (Ravel), a couple of shorter works, and then an additional work not by Robbins at all.

[WoodlandGladeFairy]

I wonder if the reason why there aren't as many Balanchine blu-rays is because of copyright issues for filming, like there is no blu-ray of Cranko's 'Onegin'? Some foundations it seems are tighter than others when it comes to allowing what is filmed (like when at Glastonbury an artist like Leonard Cohen specifically asked that the BBC didn't film his set) at least that's what I've noticed. 

 

Like you can find a fair few clips of MacMillian ballets on YouTube but Balanchine less so, they get taken down really quickly.

 

The Russians love filming their ballets, no hang ups about the legalities of it, when my sister was out in Russia she went to see the Bolshoi and they all had their IPads filming the performance. 

Edited March 31, 2015 by WoodlandGladeFairy

[WoodlandGladeFairy]

I have in my blu-ray collection the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Balanchines' 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', the POB in 'Jewels' and also performing 'En Sol' and 'In The Night' (Robbins), and the Mariinsky Ballet in 'Jewels'.

 

You know I hadn't watched any recordings of Balanchine Ballet's till I got the Mariisnky Ballet in 'Jewels', I grew up on a diet of Royal Ballet and Bolshoi on VHS. 

 

Rambling a bit, just got me thinking of what ballet we get exposed to at an early age and how its wonderful that the internet provides such a broader spectrum. 

[alison]

Cslater, thank you for your detailed post, and welcome to the forum!  Do you indeed think the lack of DVDs is down to the Balanchine Trust, then?

[Timmie]

...Not long ago, Paris Opera Ballet was offering a stream of Symphony In C in a wondrous performance, but this has been deleted for the U.S. market, unfortunately...

 

This can be found on YouTube if you search for "le palais de cristal" which is the POB version of Symphony in C. It's not HD but it is still gorgeous, I think I watch it at least once a week!

[cslater]

I don't know why there aren't more Balanchine or NYCB videos available.  I do observe that the Trust removes unauthorized videos as they find them.

I have this wayward dream that NYCB might follow the lead of the Metropolitan Opera and Berlin Philharmonic and create a for-pay streaming service by subscription.  What ballet lover could resist this attraction?  Or, at least, that they will release performances that they must have in their archive.

Aside from the performances I mentioned in a previous post, there is video available at cooperating educational institutions, but I have not had the chance to look into this. 

[cslater]

Thanks for the info about Symphony in C.  This appears to be a recent upload coming from a Hungarian source.  He has uploaded two different performances of the Bizet, one the recent Paris Opera Ballet, and the other NYCB from the Berlin filmings of some decades ago.  Interestingly enough, he has also uploaded Dances At A Gathering (Robbins), Swan Lake Act 2 (Balanchine), Pas De Dix, Agon, and Persephone (all Balanchine), Who Cares, Concerto Barocco, and quite a few others.  They are recent uploads, from the last few months.  There is certainly a chance that the Trust may have these removed.

[Timmie]

Indeed, a naughty person might download them... (I would buy them in an instant if I could).

[alison]

Funny, isn't it? The sheer number of downloads must indicate that there's a potential market for them - but OTOH NYCB doesn't seem to have gone down the path of live relays very much either, or is there more available if you happen to live in the US? The only relay I remember was of the Nutcracker a few seasons back.

[A frog]

There was a couple of months ago a movie about the creation of a Justin Peck ballet called Ballet 422. I was struck by the following in an interview of the director:

 

The Dissolve: How did you come to the decision about how much of the actual performance we would see? 

Lipes: We all agreed the film was about work and working, and not necessarily the celebration of the completed version of that work. I think there’s another factor, in that ballet on a stage is meant to be seen in a theater, and shooting ballet on a stage, especially when it’s an actual live performance, where you can put the camera is limited, and it’s not entertaining and it’s not good and it’s boring. We all knew that if we forced [the performance] in, it wouldn’t be very engaging, but you also don’t want to feel like you’re robbing the audience of that moment. That was one of the hardest things about editing, the question of how much you actually put in so the audience doesn’t feel robbed. And then how much is too much that it’s just boring. So we did a few test screenings, and got a lot of reactions from people, and I feel like we found a good balance of feeling like you were there, but not forcing the viewer to watch this creation in a less than ideal way. 

 

Full link is http://thedissolve.com/news/4708-jody-lee-lipes-talks-about-artists-at-work-in-his-/

 

Depending on who is meant by "We", it could be that NYCB are on principle against filming works.

Edited April 1, 2015 by A frog

[Bruce Wall]

There was a couple of months ago a movie about the creation of a Justin Peck ballet called Ballet 422. I was struck by the following in an interview of the director:

 

The Dissolve: How did you come to the decision about how much of the actual performance we would see? 

Lipes: We all agreed the film was about work and working, and not necessarily the celebration of the completed version of that work. I think there’s another factor, in that ballet on a stage is meant to be seen in a theater, and shooting ballet on a stage, especially when it’s an actual live performance, where you can put the camera is limited, and it’s not entertaining and it’s not good and it’s boring. We all knew that if we forced [the performance] in, it wouldn’t be very engaging, but you also don’t want to feel like you’re robbing the audience of that moment. That was one of the hardest things about editing, the question of how much you actually put in so the audience doesn’t feel robbed. And then how much is too much that it’s just boring. So we did a few test screenings, and got a lot of reactions from people, and I feel like we found a good balance of feeling like you were there, but not forcing the viewer to watch this creation in a less than ideal way. 

 

Full link is http://thedissolve.com/news/4708-jody-lee-lipes-talks-about-artists-at-work-in-his-/

 

Depending on who is meant by "We", it could be that NYCB are on principle against filming works.

 

Wasn't 'Ballet 422' independently produced? 

 

I do tend to agree with the director, however.  SOME ballets - if not immaculately filmed - can - unfairly - loose the spontaneity they possess in the theatre ... and that, in and of itself, can be rather deadly.  

 

I seem to recall Justin Peck saying in an interview that up UNTIL that point (i.e., Ballet 422) he wasn't always entirely happy with the filming of his dance works.   I, myself, thought the promo for Heatscape (his most recent premiere, i.e., this month) which I posted on another page hereabouts was truly thrilling in giving a wonderfully vivid sense of the dance itself.  Indeed I have felt that when I read the reviews of the final work over the past few days.  The clip almost seemed to make the dancers jump out of my computer's screen.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[A frog]

Wasn't 'Ballet 422' independently produced? 

 

 

Depends on what you mean by independently, the director is apparently married to the NYCB director of media projects, who is listed as a producer for the film. So even if the NYCB wasn't officially and formally involved, they still had a hand in the movie behind the scenes.

 

I actually don't necessarily disagree with that assessment, but it's better than nothing and not everyone can go to the ballet, let alone see NYCB.

[cslater]

I agree that filmed ballet can be pallid, but, as others have posted, or those outside of NYC, it's the only way to see many works of Balanchine and others.  One film with some well-filmed dance is Center Stage (2000), directed by Nicholas Hytner.  The story is sort of hum-drum, but there are some wonderful sequences of ballet class, and also a brief moment from Stars And Stripes.  The climactic ballet is, I think, by Christopher Wheeldon--I may be wrong on this, but it's very well filmed, with very little in the way of "reaction shots" or jump cuts.  I've watched Center Stage several times--it's sort of a guilty pleasure. 

I do want to emphasize, per a previous post, to watch the School of American Ballet on streaming.  It won't stream forever.  The dancers are all young, and some not fully developed as artists, but they are brilliant and they bring a special ardor to Serenade.  There are also some wonderful rehearsal sequences.

 

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365385279/

[Don Q Fan]

Well I'm inclined to tweet NYCB and ask why no DVDs.  Let's see what they say IF they reply.

[serenade]

I agree that filmed ballet can be pallid, but, as others have posted, or those outside of NYC, it's the only way to see many works of Balanchine and others.  One film with some well-filmed dance is Center Stage (2000), directed by Nicholas Hytner.  The story is sort of hum-drum, but there are some wonderful sequences of ballet class, and also a brief moment from Stars And Stripes.  The climactic ballet is, I think, by Christopher Wheeldon--I may be wrong on this, but it's very well filmed, with very little in the way of "reaction shots" or jump cuts.  I've watched Center Stage several times--it's sort of a guilty pleasure. 

I do want to emphasize, per a previous post, to watch the School of American Ballet on streaming.  It won't stream forever.  The dancers are all young, and some not fully developed as artists, but they are brilliant and they bring a special ardor to Serenade.  There are also some wonderful rehearsal sequences.

 

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365385279/

 

Funnily enough it was Centre Stage that got me into Balanchine    I desperately wanted to find a full version of Stars and Stripes after seeing the clip of it in the film and things went from there.