DVD

Average customer rating:

Some Fine Dnacing, some missing dances
Baryshnikov in three different roles
Baryshnikov in three different roles
Some good dancing, but a very slim offering
Baryshnikov's Vestris

Baryshnikov - Live at Wolf Trap
Starring: Marianna Tcherkassky , Mikhail Baryshnikov , and Gelsey Kirkland
Manufacturer: Kultur Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Ballet & Dance | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B0002VGTX4
Release Date: 2004-10-26

Description

Baryshnikov's American Television debut! This 1976 live performance showcases the incredible Mikhail Baryshnikov, at the peak of his talents, shortly after arriving in the west. The DVD features Baryshnikov in solos and pas de deux with a variety of ballerinas, including Gelsey Kirkland, his first great U.S. partner. The program also includes Misha's spectacular leaps and spins in Don Quixote. This is the live event Baryshnikov's fans have been waiting for!

Customer Reviews:

Some Fine Dnacing, some missing dances.......2006-04-17

To start with, with the exception of "Le Spectre de la Rose", Baryshnikov and Kirkland aquit themselves well on this DVD.
"Coppelia" pas de deux is a joy, ABT's production has always been, and the pas de deux from "Don Quixote" is done in innimitable style.

"Vestris", Jakobson's solo for Baryshnikov, is a wonderful work and makes the DVD truely worth owning, if for no other reason than this ballet will never bee seen live onstage again, as only Baryshnikov has ever danced it, and it is a small jewel of virtuosity, both in dancing and acting.

"Le Spectre de la Rose" is alas, poor. I danced it better, and so did a lot of other dancers. Being Baryshnikov does not guarentee that the ballet will be well performed - one must be intimately familiar with the style of the work, which Mischa clearly was not - that said, it was on the whole a poor and inaccurate production, and I remember my mentor, Nikolai "Pappa" Beriosoff, who was Fokine's assistant, lamenting this production at the time.

But the big question is: Why is "Push Comes to Shove" missing on this DVD? It is one of the best performed sections of the original show and the live braodcast, one which I often return to in my library in preference to the version taped several years later in "Baryshnikov dances Tharp". Was it that Miss Tharp refused to grant the rights for this DVD? If so, it is a crying shame, as it is great example of her work when the performance was still new and fresh, and a rare record of several of ABT's stars.

So, if you want to see Kirkland and Baryshnikov dancing at their height, if you want to see one of the now "lost" ballets performed by it's originator, then please buy this, but please also mourn the missing ballet on this DVD and maybe write to the publishers and express your discontnet - even write to Miss Tharp about it. It is a small jewel and should be preserved and seen.

Baryshnikov in three different roles.......2005-01-20

Three numbers make up this video. The first is "Le Spectre de la Rose", Fokin's choreographic bonbon originally created by the mythic Vaslav Nijinsky and Tamara Karsavina. Baryshnikov's dancing is academic, in the sense that he dances "correctly", but without emotion. His partnering is merely elegant, when it should be rapturous. There are other interpretations on video, and Nureyev's and Farukh Ruzimatov's are warmer and more passionate than Mr. Baryshnikov's. Unfortunately, the public applauds at the wrong places. About two minutes before the end there's a pause in the music - a false "ending", in fact - and the audience bursts in applause, so the first bars of the incoming music are lost. A pity...

"Vestris" is a solo created by Leonid Jacobson for Baryshnikov in 1968. There's a black and white documentary showing an almost adolescent Baryshnikov getting a gold medal at an international competition in Moscow after having danced this piece. Vestris was a celebrated XVIII century dancer, and the coreography - rather "modern" by Soviet standards - alternates Vestris's recollections and actual solos, as he remembers his past life and career. In my opinion this is the best part of the video. Baryshnikov has to perform as a dancer, doing delicate court dances, and as an actor, conveying Vestris's inner anguishes.The two roles - dancer or actor - are separated by a pause in the music and a sort of pantomime: Mr. Baryshnikov makes a circular movement with his hand around his face, as if he were removing a mask. The audience, not understanding it, laughs...

The final number is a pas de deux from "Coppelia", coreographed by Arthur de Saint-Léon in 1870. It is, perhaps, Baryshnikov's best performance as a "classical" dancer on this video. As it is a formal pas de deux, his elegant reserve is well-suited to the choreography. His partnering is discrete in the adagio but adequately brilliant in the male variation.

Only "Le Spectre de la Rose" has sets - sparse and insignificant - and costumes are quite conventional

Baryshnikov in three different roles.......2005-01-20

Three numbers make up this video. The first is "Le Spectre de la Rose", Fokin's choreographic bonbon originally created by the mythic Vaslav Nijinsky and Tamara Karsavina. Baryshnikov`s dancing is academic, in the sense that he dances "correctly", but without emotion. His partnering is merely elegant, when it should be rapturous. There are other interpretations on video, and Nureyev's and Farukh Ruzimatov's are warmer and more passionate than Mr. Baryshnikov's. Unfortunately, the public applauds at the wrong places. About two minutes before the end there`s a pause in the music - a false "ending", in fact - and the audience bursts in applause, so the first bars of the incoming music are lost. A pity...

"Vestris" is a solo created by Leonid Jacobson for Baryshnikov in 1968. There's a black and white documentary showing an almost adolescent Baryshnikov getting a gold medal at an international competition in Moscow after having danced this piece. Vestris was a celebrated XVIII century dancer, and the coreography - rather "modern" by Soviet standards - alternates Vestris's recollections and actual solos, as he remembers his past life and career. In my opinion this is the best part of the video. Baryshnikov has to perform as a dancer, doing delicate court dances, and as an actor, conveying Vestris's inner anguishes.The two roles - dancer or actor - are separated by a pause in the music and a sort of pantomime: Mr. Baryshnikov makes a movement around his face, as if he were removing a mask. The audience, not understanding, laughs...

The final number is a pas de deux from "Coppelia", coreographed by Arthur de Saint-Léon in 1870. It is, perhaps, Baryshnikov's best performance as a "classical" dancer on this video. As it is a formal pas de deux, his elegant reserve is well-suited to the choreography. His partnering is discrete in the adagio but adequately brilliant in the variation.

There are set only for the first number - sparse and insignificant - and costumes are conventional

Some good dancing, but a very slim offering.......2004-12-05

Baryshnikov's Wolf Trap performance is now released on dvd on Kultur's "Baryshnikov's Collection." I am glad that this is now out on dvd, but I also have several reservations.
The first is that there is about 50 minutes of dancing. I really wish they had appended this with something else, so there's more actual dancing. As it is, the program goes: 1. Coppelia pas de deux, with Gelsey Kirkland; 2. Spectre a la Rose, with Marina Tcherkassky; 3. Vestris, a solo for Mikhail; and 4. Don Quixote Grand Pas, again with Kirkland.
This dvd offers a rare chance to see Kirkland, a ballerina with a famously troubled career. You can see why she's so famous though: tiny and lithe, she seems to float effortlessly. She usually positions herself in a slightly off-center position, to give the impression of a flower stem.
Of all the numbers, Fokine's Spectre a la Rose is perhaps the most disappointing. One would think Baryshnikov would be good for this role (which was a Nijinsky calling card), but surprisingly he's not. He can't seem to create any kind of otherworldly dreamy aura -- the "Spectre" in this case is just a blond down-to-earth boy who jumps through a window. I think this is essentially a character piece, and both Tcherkassky as the girl and Baryshnikov as the spectre are too earthbound. There's nothing dreamy about either of them.
In fact, despite the shortness of the videotape a certain dullness creeps into the performance. I dont think Baryshnikov was really a romantic dansuer, despite his fame and impressive technique. His tour en l'airs are clean as a whistle and he always lands in perfect 4th position. Perhaps in live performance the sheer power of his technique would have been enough, but on video there's a certain monotony about his persona.
So in sum, while this tape has some very impressive dancing, it is VERY short, and I wish it could have been paired with another performance. Gelsey Kirkland is enchanting. Interestingly, at the end of the performance the screen has a scrolling message from Gelsey about eating disorders (offstage she suffered from anorexia). This made me think perhaps there could have been an interview with Gelsey, or some backstage footage.

Baryshnikov's Vestris.......2004-11-23

I remember when this was first broadcast. It is a good overview of Baryshnikov, Gelsey, and ABT then. But I prefer the broadcast with "Push Comes to Shove" the best.
FYI: "Vestris" was created as a solo for Baryshnikov when he was still a student at the Kirov for the IBC at Varna. One of the requirements of the competition is that a new (or modern?) piece be performed, and so we have "Vestris". "Vestris" was an actual person--can't remember if dancer or choreographer--from I believe the 18th century when classical ballet was first conceived (originally at court of Louis XIV.) NOT, NO WAY, NO HOW the 1400's!!! I love the High Middle Ages, but that was never a time for classical ballet. Please do more research before making such comments in the future.

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