Ballerina

The Blu-ray Experience II: Opera, Ballet & theatre

Misty Copeland was promoted to principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre in 2015, becoming the first Black American ballerina to do so in the elite classical company's 75-year history. Misty sheds light on beating all odds through a difficult upbringing and learning ballet at 13 years old. She also expresses the importance of giving back to the communities she hopes to inspire. Friends and colleagues also share their admiration for the prominent dancer and advocate.

A joyful Pas de Deux, performed by Clara Rasmussen and Margrethe Andersen. Clara Rasmussen/Wieth/Pontoppidan (1883-1975) was to become one of the most famous actresses of Danish silent cinema; one of her most notable performances is in Dreyer’s 'Leaves from Satan’s Book' (1921), in which she plays Siri in the last of the four sections. (Stumfilm.DK)

Vaudeville dancer Amy Muller performs a portion of her stage routine, which features dancing on her toes. She dances on one toe for part of the performance. Later, she also twirls and does cartwheels.

Every weekend for six years, Jessica takes a bus from NYC, where she lives and works as a set decorator, to Boston, her hometown, where she cares for her dad, Aloysius, who is 87 and has advanced Alzheimer's disease.

An unprecedented and intimate look at the life, work and enduring legacy of British actress Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993).

When he arrives in Saint Petersburg, at the age of 29, Marius Petipa is just an obscure dancer who fled western Europe to escape his debts. He is far from imagining that his engagement in the troupe of the Russian Imperial Ballet, then rather mediocre, will reveal him, forty years later, as one of the greatest choreographers in the history of dance. It is within the Bolshoi Kamenny theaters, then Mariinsky, in a still provincial capital where three productions a year are enough to satisfy an undemanding audience, that this native of Marseille will invent a new art of ballet, over the course of sixty of creations, between 1862 (La fille du pharaon) and 1895 (Le lac des cygnes).

Manish is a talented and athletic street dancer from Mumbai who dreams of becoming professional against the wishes of his struggling parents. He meets a curmudgeonly Israeli ballet master who gives him the determination to keep going. But when he is pitted against another boy who’s got the attention of the top school in the world, Manish realizes he must push himself to his physical limits if he has any chance to succeed.

Ella Havelka made history in 2013 by becoming the first Indigenous dancer at the 50-year-old Australian Ballet. In this engaging, MIFF Premiere Fund-supported world premiere, Ella – a descendant of the Wiradjuri people – charts her inspiring journey from growing up in modest circumstances as the only child of a single mother in rural Australia to gaining entry to National Ballet School, then spending formative years with the acclaimed Bangarra Dance Theatre before accepting the invitation of The Australian Ballet's artistic director David McAllister to join one of the world's foremost ballet companies.

Seven-year-old Polina and her 13-year-old sister Nastia live and breathe ballet. Both of them are studying at the Boris Eifman Dance Academy in frigid Saint Petersburg. They’re currently awaiting their grades to find out if they’ve done well enough to be promoted to the next year, with Nastia lovingly guiding he little sister through the process. But in the meantime, Nastia also has to deal with the high demands that the academy places on its students. The gorgeously styled shots are sometimes calm, even clinical, and sometimes warm, lively and funny.

Stories about young Ukrainian dancers and their hasty flight to the Netherlands. You see their new life as refugees. The former conservatory in The Hague is a shelter for them where they collect their lives and find refuge in their profession: dance. The formation of a new ballet company, The United Ukrainian Ballet, is an important foothold in winning back their lives. They find comfort in each other and close friendships develop. In addition, there is the great love for ballet, for the dancers the best way to express themselves.

Ballet in Cuba is a national institution, revered by all. It is also a way to climb out of poverty and achieve a better life. Yet for one young ballerina, even that isn't enough.

Sergei Polunin is a breathtaking ballet talent who questions his existence and his commitment to dance just as he is about to become a legend.

The career of a classical ballet dancer is short and often riddled with injuries, and it takes a special kind of artist to submit to the discipline and strenuous regimen needed to dance with a world-class company. Follows the young and gifted Katja Björner through years of intensive training at the Royal Swedish Ballet School as she develops into an international ballet star.

A group of women dressed up as Commedia dell'Arte characters dance together.

Alvin Ailey was a visionary artist who found salvation through dance. Told in his own words and through the creation of a dance inspired by his life, this immersive portrait follows a man who, when confronted by a world that refused to embrace him, determined to build one that would.

"Dance or Die" is a moving documentary about a young Syrian dancer who escapes the war and finds a new life in Holland. But the ghosts of the past won't let him go. With the war and the advance of the Islamic State in Syria, the young classical dancer Ahmad Joudeh lost everything – part of his family, his home, but also the right to practice his art. However, he will use dance as a weapon against Daesh. Three words adorn the neck of Ahmad Joudeh: Dance or Die. The tattoo is a declaration of war against IS if it takes him over. (Text: arte)

Narrated by Terence Stamp, this TV program documents the life and career of famed ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, through interviews with friends and colleagues and archive footage.

A film in three parts after Oskar Schlemmer's Triadische Ballett (Triadic Ballet).

The film features the leaders of the Moscow Classic Ballet Theater, Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasilev, who aspire to transform their theater into an international ballet center. The film is based on a story about the personal life and creative plans of the famous ballet couple.