Search - Everything Turns into Dancing on DVD

Two Unique Russian Ballet Movies.

J. M WILINSKY | teaneck, NJ United States | 09/26/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD consists of two Russian ballet movies. The first one is from 1978 and is a little under an hour in duration. It is shot on color film stock, and the picture quality looks like a typical Russian movie from that period, which is not at all bad. Of course, it doesn't look like today's state of the art video; it is a movie classic. The movie consists of several ballet miniatures choreographed just for this movie, performed by the St. Petersburg Ballet. The pieces are quite varied, ranging from Bach, Mozart, Rossini(including some of the music that was adapted for the ballet, "La Fille Mal Gardee"), and others. All the choreography is classical ballet, except one piece which is more modern. In between each piece are scenes of Saint Petersburg and additional choreography of a somewhat comic style by the St. Petersburg Ballet.
The other movie is also by The St. Petersburg Ballet and is a complete miniature ballet of Don Juan to the music of Richard Strauss. This piece is from 1987 and is almost 20 minutes long. The image quality is noticeably better, being more recent and appears to be recorded(in color) on video tape rather than film stock. This movie is treated as a bonus on the DVD.
The dancing in both of these movies is truly wonderful and exciting. The unusual nature of these movies makes them a real treat for ballet enthusiasts looking for something different.
The sound is Dolby stereo,Dolby 5.1 surround, and DTS 5.1 surround, and is uniformly very good.
This DVD is highly recommended for those interested in ballet classics.

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