JSngry Posted April 25, 2016 Report Share Posted April 25, 2016 Lacking any real knowing frame of reference, I can't really comment on the "historical importance" of these performances (Amazon reviewers seem to think it is high, for whatever that's worth. What I can comment on is my reaction, which ranges from WHOA....to HOLY SHIT!!! to WTF?, often in the course of the same piece. Simply put, I'm left dumbfounded and jawdropped at the originality and virtuosity of every aspect of these works. I'm am not a physically gifted person (barely competent is closer to it), so what is done with bodies here defies pretty much my known and presumed laws of physics. But not jsut that...who imagines these movements in the first place? And then who executes them? And not just executes them, but executes them as musically as this? And such music! Bach, Stravinsky (lots), Ives, Toshiro Mayuzumi, Hindemith,Delibes, Menotti, and of course, Tchaikovsky (not too much, though). Music only some of which I would listen to on its own and say, hey, let's put a dance to this! Diana Adams alone...stirring something deep inside me I didn't know was there...not sex(ual) per se, just...an awareness and communion with the body in expression of the musical, spiritual and physical, both, deeply, deeply. PHRASING!!!!! 5 DVDs seems like a lot, maybe, and I know of no "budget" outlet for them...nor of a boxed accumulation. But don't ask me to prioritize among them, because I can't. Transfers vary from kinescope-looking to pretty damn good. Mostly B&W, but a little color. Amazing...whatever it "is". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted April 25, 2016 Report Share Posted April 25, 2016 Thanks for the tip. Gotta get these. Way back when (pretty sure Balanchine was still alive) I saw the NYC Ballet do Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. Early on there was a moment when much of the company suddenly advances toward the front of the stage in a wave or waves. I thought I was going to pass out it was so viscerally thrilling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted April 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2016 Yeah, this ain't your little sister's ballet...This grown folks stuff all the way. Also, there's interview spots from the telecasts, and the guy says some really cogent things, like how he like continuing to work with Stravinsky because his music is so "lean". Pretty keen insights, almost everything he says. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted May 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2016 Defying gravity being impossible, is not controlling it with nothing but the human body to the point that It seems an option rather than an inevitability one of the more ultimate of accomplishments? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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