If you've ever attended a performance of a classical ballet in North America, then chances are you're familiar with the work of George Balanchine. From The Nutcracker to Swan Lake George Balanchine choreographed close to the entire classical canon during his life. However he was more than just a choreographer, as Balanchine was responsible for re-defining how classical ballet was danced the world over.
Until 1933 Balanchine worked and lived in Europe, leaving his native Soviet Union when he was twenty, and was exposed to, and learned from, some of the great geniuses of ballet including the great Ballet Russes of Monte Carlo. In 1933 he immigrated to the United States at the invitation of Lincoln Kirstein, where he would spend the rest of his life perfecting his vision of what dance should be through the company he and Kirstein established, the New York City Ballet.
After a few fits and starts, the New York City Ballet didn't really get off the ground until after WWll when they established themselves as one of the premier companies in the world. Twice since the company was established, in 1962 and 1972, Balanchine took them to Russia to give performances where they were received enthusiastically. So it wasn't too surprising to find the company heading to St. Petersburg in 2003 to perform for a week's run at the world renowned Marinsky Theatre in Balanchine's native city in honour of the hundredth anniversary of his birth.
On November 11, 2008 City Lights Media is releasing Bringing Balanchine Back, a documentary made about the 2003 visit, on DVD. Originally aired on PBS stations, the DVD version of the documentary includes forty minutes more footage than was originally broadcast on television. Narrated by Kevin Kline, the film follows the company from its rehearsals in New York in preparation for the tour to its final curtain call at the end of its week-long run in St. Petersburg.
Not only does Bringing Balanchine Back tell the story of the company's tour to Russia, it also gives the viewer a fascinating look into the backstage world of professional classical ballet at the world class level. We quickly see there is nothing at all glamourous about being a ballet dancer as their days are spent in physically demanding classes followed by equally grueling rehearsals. As current ballet master and former principal dancer Peter Martins notes, nobody goes into ballet for fame or wealth, you do it because you love it.
We follow one young dancer who is scheduled to perform her first principal role during the tour, as she frantically tries to learn the steps for her part. Two weeks before the tour she had suffered a leg injury that had prevented her from rehearsing and she is struggling to make up for lost time. The cameras follow her into the final rehearsal with the full cast before her big night, and it's obvious she's not ready as she makes mistake after mistake. In the end the missed rehearsal time was too much to overcome and she is pulled from her lead role. She tries to put a brave face on it—she will still be principal dancer in another ballet later in the tour—but you can hear her heartbreak in the way her voice trembles as she talks about it.
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