DVD/Videos: Born to be Wild

[tantalus]

I was disappointed with the "Born to Be Wild" DVD. I didn't seen much that was

really inspiring. I liked some of Malakhov's jumps best BUT I couldn't

discern their height from the way the film was edited & cropped.

I would like to dance the pirate's slave in "La Corsaire" as Angel

Corella did it.

 

I was hoping to learn from the DVD how those three trained.

Baryshnikov said on a DVD about him that there were tricks to jumping so high

BUT he wouldn't describe them, claiming that too many dancers would

look good IF they knew. Also, he recently told Charlie Rose that

the cubans had the best male ballet training in the world right now,

BUT he couldn't articulate it very well (limited english, I presume).

(Any suggestions re: how I can get male ballet tips?)

 

I've read about some specials & some series about ballet & about

men's ballet training on british TV but have been UNable to find

them. One was "Ballet Boys." (Anyone know where I can find them?)

[Clara 76]

Well, ballet can't be reduced to tips and tricks. The real secret to ballet is that it takes 8-10 years of almost daily training in order to train the muscles to perform the movements correctly.

 

Now, there are Physics concepts that can be applied to ballet jumps and turns, and each individual artist's gifts and talents certainly come into play as does their physical body, but the day-to-day work is what creates the magic.

 

As a male dancer, I do recommend Tarasov's book, 'Ballet Technique for the Male Dancer', and Kenneth Law's 'The Physics of Dance', because they are good supplements to the training.

[dancesmith]

While I do tend to collect the books and a few DVDs, I agree that they are of very limited value in learning much about actually dancing ballet. As far as books for men, I would second the recommendation for "Physics of Dance." The Tarasov book is long out-of-print. I watch for used copies but the current lowest price I'm aware of is about $130 ! Putting that in lessons is a much better investment.

[Mel Johnson]

Don't suppose that Baryshnikov's English is limited. He's been in the west for over 30 years, and he's fluent.

 

There is a name for the hint that there's some sort of "secret knowledge" involved in ballet. Actually, there are two names, but one isn't suitable for a family discussion board. The printable one is "gnosticism". That is a philosophy best described by using the unprintable one.

 

The "secret knowledge" is pretty much as Clara has described it. There are no shortcuts in ballet, no "insider tricks".