An unusual explorer named Gum and his kindly niece adopt three orphans -- Pauline, Petrova and Posy -- and raise them as sisters in 1930s London. But the girls must fend for themselves when Gum doesn't return from one of his adventures. Together, they nurture their passions for acting, aviation and ballet in this charming TV adaptation of Noel Streatfield's novel.
Adaptation of The Nutcracker by the Mark Morris Dance Group.
Ten short pieces directed by ten different directors, including Ken Russell, Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Altman, Bruce Beresford, and Nicolas Roeg. Each short uses an aria as soundtrack/sound, and is an interpretation of the particular aria.
A filmed 1970 performance of the China Central Ballet Troupe. Adapted from the film of the same title, The Red Detachment of Women was first staged in Beijing in 1964 and was one of the Eight Model Operas which dominated the national stage during the Cultural Revolution.
With her husband Jack perpetually away at work, Margaret Hall raises her children virtually alone. Her teenage son is testing the waters of the adult world, and early one morning she wakes to find the dead body of his gay lover on the beach of their rural lakeside home. What would you do? What is rational and what do you do to protect your child? How far do you go and when do you stop?
A magical blend of choreography, stop-motion and live action, Stories from a Flying Trunk captures the enchantment of three classic stories from Hans Christian Andersen. Conceived, written and directed by Oscar nominated Christine Edzard and featuring the dancers of the Royal Ballet, choreographed by Frederick Ashton. The Kitchen contains household objects which come to life and hold an animated conversation. The Little Match Girl updates Andersen's heart-rending tale to London's East End in the late seventies. Little Ida is an inspired celebration of dance featuring members of the Royal Ballet.
Carlos Acosta's first venture directing one of ballet's 19th century classics was eagerly anticipated, as was his own starring role in the production (as Basilio), opposite the Argentinian Royal Ballet principal Marianella Nuñez (Kitri). Still built on Petipa's original choreography, Acosta's clear dramatic structure and vivid stage action gave the ‘boy gets girl despite her father’ story a more convincing air than usual, with Don Quixote's parallel obsession with Dulcinea-Kitri coherently woven into the plot.
It portrays the memories of Matilda Kshesinskaya and her love affair with the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II. Matilda, a Polish-born ballerina from the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, had a brief and intense romance with Nicholas between 1892 and 1894, before Nicholas married Alexandra Feodorovna and was crowned Tsar after his father's death. It also explores their relationship, facing societal pressures and interference from Nicholas's mother, Empress Maria Feodorovna, as well as Matilda's involvement with other members of the imperial family, the Romanovs, such as Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich and Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich.
Blossom
Discovered by an eccentric ballet master, two gifted but underprivileged Mumbai teens face bigotry and disapproval as they pursue their dancing dreams.
Asher is a former Mossad agent turned gun for hire, living an austere life in an ever-changing Brooklyn. Approaching the end of his career, he breaks the oath he took as a young man when he meets Sophie on a hit gone wrong. In order to have love in his life before it's too late, he must kill the man he was, for a chance at becoming the man he wants to be.
Yolanda Sonnabend's Faberge'-inspired designs evoke a world of Imperial Russia in Anthony Dowell's acclaimed production for The Royal Ballet of 'Swan Lake', one of the world's best-loved ballets. Marianela Nunez as Odette/Odile and Thiago Soares as Prince Siegfried bring new vitality to a compelling story of tragic romance. Valeriy Ovsyanikov conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in Tchaikovsky's glorious romantic score.
A slow-motion study by Norman McLaren of the pas-de-deux adagio, one of the most exacting and difficult dances of classical ballet. A ballet originally choreographed by the Russian ballet master Asaf Messerer is performed for this film by the internationally known Canadian pair, David and Anna Marie Holmes, to the music of Albinoni’s Adagio. A film to heighten the aesthetic appreciation of classical ballet and to afford observation of the technique and mechanics of the adagio movements.
When a hip hop violinist busking in the New York subway encounters a classical dancer on scholarship at the Manhattan Conservatory of the Arts, sparks fly. With the help of a hip hop dance crew they must find a common ground while preparing for a competition that could change their lives forever.
Scenes from the ballet Petrushka, performed by the Paris Opera Ballet at the National Opera Theatre.
When everyone in town falls under the spell of charismatic cosmetic surgeon Doctor Coppelius, feisty Swan must act to save her sweetheart Franz, before his heart is used to spark life into Coppelia – the ‘perfect’ robot-woman the Doctor has created.
Slovanské tance
Whirlwinds, burning forests, erased cities – the centuries-old artworks housed in the Louvre strongly resonate with our present time. Forêt follows a new generation of Rosas dancers moving amidst these artworks, bridging past and present. Choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Némo Flouret in 2022, the performance was designed for the Louvre’s Grande Galerie and its famed 'red rooms,' home to Italian masterpieces and 19th-century French Romantic art. Evi Cats captured this performance, with a camera that moves almost imperceptibly between the dancers and the audience, alternating between intimate close-ups and wide shots of the imposing scenery.
Swan Lake, a screen adaptation of the ballet of the same name by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Performed by Kirov Ballet, starring Yelena Yevteyeva as Odette and directed for film by Appolinariy Dudko and Konstantin Sergeyev. Produced by Lenfilm studios in 1968. Orchestra of the S.M. Kirov Leningrad Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, conductor Victor Fedotov. Ballet dancers of the Leningrad State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet named after S.M. Kirov and students of the Leningrad Choreographic School M. Agrippina Vaganova took part in the film. Golden Orchid Prize - Grand Prix at the VIFF of ballet films in Genoa, Italy (1969).
The scene is set at Billy Rose's Casa Manana Revue, filmed at the Fort Worth Frontier Fiesta (1937), an enormous production created as part of the Texas Centennial civic celebrations. The opening song, "The Night Is Young And You're So Beautiful" emanated from the first edition of the Revue and became a hit song on two continents in 1936.