Favorite ballets or ballet movies

[Balletbrit]

Wondering if anyone has a favorite ballet or ballet movie they enjoy. Or even a ballet they would like to perform in. My favorite ballet is probably Romeo and Juliet. I think it would be fun to be involved in a mock swordfight and share romantic dances with your girlfriend (in my case). I like the Nutcracker too, but haven't seen one I like since the one with Mikail baryshnikov and Kelsey Kirkland.

My favorite ballet movie would have to be "The Turning Point" with Shirley MacLaine. I never knew she practiced ballet when she was younger. It's amazing how many actors and actresses were in ballet before acting.

[Hamorah]

Definitely Romeo and Juliet. The two main pas de deux (balcony and bedroom) have such beautiful music and such pasion in them, I just never tire of them. It has EVERYTHING in it - drama, tragedy, love, hate, sword fights and even comedy! No other ballet has quite that combination of emotion!

 

I think Baryshnikov's Don Quixote is my favourite ballet on film and yes, I love The Turning Point too. Shirley MacLaine was a fabulous dancer! She trained at the Washington School of Ballet and started her career as a dancer in stage musicals, where she was spotted by a film producer and there you are! Patrick Swayze was another dancer who turned actor. He trained at Harkness Ballet and Joffrey. When I saw him in Ghost, I could see straight away that he was a dancer - it was something about the way he moved. Once a dancer always a dancer I guess!

[olddude]

Bayadere! I don't know why, but I love the music, and I love the dancing. Nureyev's version is easily the best visually, and the one I keep coming back to. Too bad nobody but the Kirov has done the full version for a hundred years, and they dropped it like a hot rock after one season. I saw some bootleg snippets, and the story really makes so much more sense with all the acts in their right place. But I still love the dancing!

[LaFilleSylphide]

I agree with La Bayadere - stunning ballet! I also love Giselle and the variations from Raymonda, but I must say that Don Quixote is one of those ballets that always sweeps you away with how fast paced it is. I can sit and watch that and feel like I've only been in the theater for 10 minutes, it's so exhilerating. When it's over, I exclaim, "That's it???"

[Thyme]

Last night i watched 'Turning Point' on netflix with 16 yo DS. It is so great. Hadnt seen it for 30 years. He really loved watching Baryshnikov dance but also telling me about ALL the pas de deuxs on screen. Lovely thing to do for the evening!

[Ludmilla]

I love "The Turning Point", too.

 

A classic ballet film "The Red Shoes" should be a 'must-see' for serious ballet students I would think. Some things about it may seem a bit difficult (or possibly uncomfortable) to grasp or accept - and being from such an earlier time, may not be that relatable for today's teens (I did not appreciate or relate to it as a teen). But if one is open to it, it's pretty powerful; and of course there is quite a bit of ballet in it. When i started studying ballet as an adult a few years ago, i ran across this film again and it makes sense to me now. Now as an adult the compulsion to dance (or 'obsession' with any course of study or practice), for me, has such an enduring theme - especially for women.... (Life.........? or art........?) I feel it is the all-time great ballet film (not necessarily 'my favorite' but just a 'must-see at least once' to me) and there are others.

 

"Mao's Last Dancer" is probably the most recent(ly made) ballet film that i went wild over. It featured Amanda Schull (former dancer with the SF Ballet) - a wonderful dance drama and true story, based on the autobiography of Li Cunxin.

[Thyme]

Tonight we watched Ballet 422 (might have the number wrong) again on Netflix. It is a documentary with NYCB about the development of a new ballet. Nothing as gripping as the dramas we have all mentioned but still interesting.

[Lucycat]

My absolute favorite is Manon. Close followed by Kenneth McMillans Romeo and Juliet and Carlos Arcostas Don Quixote. And Swan Lake will always be special for me because it's the first ballet I ever saw and the first I danced in in the Corps in a real theatre.

[River]

I binge-watched Dance Academy on netflix recently. I got super into after starting out thinking 'meh, suppose it's alright if I was bored'.

 

It's set at a fictional ballet school in Australia but it's more a teen drama than a ballet show. If you do check it out, I'd say watch the first three episodes before making your mind up.

 

I haven't seen 'The Red Shoes' or 'Ballet 422' but I'll put them on my to-watch list for future viewing.

[leopard dancer]

I  would have to say "Center "Stage" as well as the first "Step Up" movies. Also the "Save the Last Dance" movie as well. "A nutcracker Christmas" this last Christmas  (2016) on hallmark channel was not to bad. 

[cosjo]

Mayerling is my favourite ballet! I saw it first on DVD by the Royal Ballet with Edward Watson as the Prince. In April I went to London and saw it live twice, once with Steven McRae as the principal dancer and the other with Edward Watson. It was really great! It is my favourite ballet because it is different from most ballet: it is so intense, so dramatic, there is not that silly story of a love triangle where a boy fells in love with a girl but also gets entangled with another girl so the first one days or suffers from love...

 

As for ballet movie, I really like Five Dances although it is not about ballet but instead about contemporany dance.

Edited September 24, 2017 by cosjo
I wrote wrong my favourite ballet

[NSB612]

The Turning Point  (wish I could find it streaming), Center Stage, The Red Shoes. Loved all of them also I binged watched Dance Academy loved that as well.