Balanchine PBS Documentary 

Years ago i met a young promising male dancer and his mother at the airport. Told them i could lend them my PBS video of this very documentary. I mailed it to them and after a few months they wouldn't return my call to send in return. I was somewhat heartbroken and upset with myself. This documentary meant so much to me as a dancer, and now, after a decade and a half later i see it again!!. I now feel the world's greatest ballet choreographer would have wanted me to share it with that young man and that it was the right thing to do. Keep helping each other. It may not go as you want but help each other anyway. Thanks for posting ⚘

As I grew up in the 1960s, ballet classes were popular and I had the impression it was like that always. Now I see it as Balanchine's influence on America's culture. What a gift!

This brings back so many memories for me, I spent years watching NYC Ballet at Lincoln Center. If I hear the music of a Balanchine dance, I can imagine the steps and the choreography. What an invaluable documentary.

Balanchine saw things about the human body that previous choreographers had not. The sequence with Baryshnikov as the prodigal son really illuminates the performer-director relationship. A performer has the gift of openness of expression--capacity for giving life to multiple characters and experiences, but almost always needs direction to bring it out fully, when where, what.

These video excerpts must be invaluable to the company as the older generation has passed and new dancers must preserve Balanchine's original choreography.

What a wonderfully-made documentary. I especially appreciate the dance clips that are longer than usual for a documentary.

I saw this documentary, with its striking opening linking Petipa and Balanchine, in the New York State Theater I believe. It was quite amazing! Many years ago.

I’d like to recommend Maria Tallchief’s autobiography; she was a glorious, fascinating, dancer, and, having been his wife and muse, it provides a great portrait of George Balanchine as well.

This was truly a labor of love, done with such care with script, music, and archiving. I believe that there is no finer tribute than this documentary for Balanchine. I videoed this with the VHR as the show was airing, I think, in 1984 and watched it incessantly, almost nightly with my young kids. I still have this VHS, worn like a loved recipe. The segment from Prodigal Son still brings tears to my eyes.

So grateful to stumble upon this classic documentary about the life and career of the brilliant George Balanchine. I grew up watching NYCB, season after season, at the New York State Theater (and attending City Ops in the off season). I will have to dig out my treasured programs from those days and compare the performances here with those I saw in real life through the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Thank you for posting!

I must have seen this in 1958, the Nutcracker televised live, when I was 6. I remember it vividly.

I have this on VHS and been watching it for years. Thank you it is a lot easier to watch.

Phenomenal documentary. Marvelous footage.

Also I had no idea Balanchine was such a good cook and I find that so funny and endearing for some reason x3

Marius Petipa was not Russian. He was French, born in Marseille and his brother Lucien danced mostly in Paris. Many French choreographers were invited by the Csar, for example Arthur Saint-Léon (Coppélia, La Vivandière, Le Violon du Diable…etc) used to spend half the year in Russia and the other half in Paris. It is not by an unexpected chance that all the movements of ballet are called by French words !

This is an awesome documentary. Balanchine and Stravinsky together omg

Mr Clifford - I wanted to say that I'm over the MOON that Suzanne has been asked back to NYCB to coach Kowroski and Mearns in DIAMONDS!!!! OMG....there's justice after all. As an SAB alum (I went to dance with Dance Theatre of Harlem after doing the 1992 SAB workshop), I have been seriously depressed about NYCB's situation for all these years, esp in light of recent (etc). I HOPE that they keep Suzanne around!! This news has made my year!!!!

Thank you for sharing

Thank you for sharing all the wonderful videos on your channel!

Thank you as always, John, for your glorious videos! I never tire of them.

A ballet company as a gift for a rich man’s wife who was a dancer. Wow ❤

This beats the repetitive news cycle on ABC, BBC, CBS, FOX, and NBC. I’d recommend the Suzanne Farrell Elusive Muse documentary in conjunction with this. Thank you for posting!

Thank you.

Very well made! Thank you for posting. but.. George Balanchine- Blanchivadze was GEORGIAN not Russian . Not once was mentioned Georgia in this documentary . Genius ..without origin.. I often wander , when he was working on "prodigal Son" was he thinking of himself... But.. again many Georgian talented people were sent to Siberia and perished. or sunk into Dostoevsky's Russia ..and ...

This is the best documentary ever!!

What a treat. Thank you for uploading this.

i was in venus and visited diaghalev's grave, there were pointe shoes and flowers and lit candles ... close by were stravinsky's and his wife's, also fresh flowers ...

I ordered your book and it arrived just yesterday! Very excited to read it. Also I'm currently taking class twice a week at Grand Rapids ballet school since at least last summer and I love it! they're quite versatile and I love how the teachers have endless patience with me X3

Thank you, I just read the autobiography of Suzanne Farrell and enjoyed to see these ballets and her dancing. Wish this documentary could get a technical makeover.

Misha never ceases to impress

Wonderful Balanchine history

Thanks so much for this! I'm always looking for things like this about Balanchine and NYCB.

Couldn't you have stayed / one more day/ April is so cold , so cold. / May is flowers and warmth/you would have got up to dance/ healed by it's mirth/ you say time is then , and now, and soon/ could we then not have said goodbye / in sunlit, flowery June / yet death is as final, and as cold, /as the ever all knowing , unyielding moon / and your dance perfectly, maddeningly, in tune-?/ ....poem for George ballanchine

I worked with Violette Verdi for couple sessions.

This was great. Thanks for posting. I learned a lot.

thank you for uploading 😊

Ballet was his favorite dance form ...he built from that foundation and to return to it after making those musicals was probably like someone throwing him a gob of ....putty. what a brilliant genius

Thanks for posting this treasure.

Balanchine is an example of an individual who was a genius, but not a "very nice person", anyway I love the Tchaikovsky Pas de deux collage, it gave me goose bump to look at the qualities of the different dancer performing, just wonderful

There's wayyyyy more. He married so many times....there's wayyyyy more to this man.

He was Georgian !!!

I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO DANCE FOR GEORGE BALANCHINE...

This man was a bundle of energy

Thank you for posting this. Some amazing footage here. (And footwork!)

Balanchine wasn’t Russian… George Balanchine was Georgian. Marius Petipa was French. Balanchine was Georgian. His full name is Giorgi Balanchivadze.

Either Balanchine had a different story for every occasion or the scriptwriter for the show got significant things wrong. For instance, Balanchine told me he wanted to stay in England, and was counting on John Maynard Keynes to help with obtaining British government permission for Balanchine to stay there. The British were in the process of allegedly deporting Balanchine... Keynes, who was a member of the ballet crowd there, being married to Lydia Lopokova, was a name that I instantly recognized, being as I majored in economics in college. But Keynes, Balanchine said, let him down, did not help and Balanchine took the opportunity KIrstein offered and shipped out to the United States, to our everlasting benefit. I've always had, for various reasons, no space in the articles I've written, to include this explanation in print, so here it is for the first time anywhere.

Good film.thanks so much.o

Balanchine and the name Gershwin are synonymous with...new York

His voice has such a new York accent 😂...it's great.

l can see why he liked Suzanne so much. She was a living DOLL! For Tchaikovsky's Pas de Deux ...Violette Verdy is AMAZING!

SF is breathtaking.

The most watched part of this is Vera Zorina dancing ''Slaughter on 10th Ave'' for the movie version of ''On your Toes'' interesting!

What about Gelsey Kirkland...? Nowhere to be found in this documentary.

I have a question...why are all the ballets Balanchine staged, even those of Fokine, Petipa & Ivanov, etc, said to be "Balanchine's" or even choreographed by him in this film? Am I misinformed? I see this a little on his Wiki page as well, but when you go to the ballets' pages, the original choreographers are clearly given (a glaring example is The Nutcracker, which in this film is called (or even said to be choreographed by) "Balanchine's", yet nowhere is remotely listed as his; I know he made changes and added or added to the party scene but that's hardly the whole ballet). I am under the impression that most artistic directors change (esp classic) ballets to suit their visions/productions/dancers, but they don't list these ballets as choreographed by them; at least printing "After Petipa...", etc. Also, I believe Ballet Russe brought ballet to America, not Balanchine? This doc was heavily skewed toward the Balanchine/NYCB legend and less so to history, it seems. I also don't understand how they made a film on Balanchine, mentioned his first three wives, without at least mentioning his muse/love Suzanne Farrell or last wife and first "created" ballerina, Tanaquil LeClercq? I thought both of these women had a huge influence on his (and other choreographer's) work and no doubt contributed much to it themselves, plus they, esp Farrell, are in more clips here than anyone else. No need to discuss the details of those personal situations in the film, but they were a big influence, even LeClercq's illness. OK, so 3 questions! Wonderful to see all the clips of iconic dancers; wish they were longer, but understand TV timing. Great showing that all amazing male dancers weren't necessarily from Russia! Thank you and we are lucky you are so accessible here! With great respect,

In perfect sovietlike style, this documentary erases people fallen from grace. Gelsey Kirkland, for whom B choreographed, is never mentioned. Hahaha.

13:17 1:25:20 Baryshnikov

Lincoln Kirsteinn...wow

Ps .. how many of his ballets are carefully written down? Each step?

How unfortunate that Peter Martins never allowed Suzanne Farrell to bring her knowledge and history of Balanchine to NYCBallet. This was so petty. Look and see what she was in Chaconne. She was the Balanchine ideal.

1:11:30....music can only express itself -that is my conviction..".Stravinsky .....he has the credentials for a quote like that ,that's for sure . I think he is saying that music like art comes up with the mood, and that mood is contrived by the music, or art ..

Mikhail Baryshnikov...wow

Judy Kinberg produced wonderful ballet shows and documentaries while at WNET. It's a shame she had to produce this under the aegis of Susan Lacy, who spent an entire career taking credit for other people's work. It's clear who the real driving force behind this film was.

very cool!

RESPECT❤

NOTE: Petipa was FRENCH, not Russian...although he choreographed in Russia...☺

Stravinsky and balanchine were in agreement.. there isn't really inspiration, it's....work . ..to get to....somewhere. ..what is conveyed is only a spark from your spirit to do the work ? And as balanchine who attended orthodox catholic services all his life said, God provides the components we work with

I want the premier book on balanchines life...

What was that last performance? That was very chilling

Contemporaneous music STINKS !

There were no subtitles, so what are two Balanchine ballets with American themes?

Who is the male dancer in western symphony?

He was not Russian but Georgian, Balanchivadze

Lincoln was the ticket

How many choreographers are there to the nutcracker?

He was Georgian!!!!!!

Does anyone know if this can be purchased on dvd?

I feel the same about tchaicovski

1:13:03 ...Juliana...don't we get a ....last name? The Cher of ballet... 😂

@1:17:50 '...there's no Inspiration, you have to Work'!

Wow

What a shame no subtitles!

Français mercii

His Russian accent still distinct

Wow. The short stocky ( compared to today) dancers depicted here.

Стравинский и Баланчин…🫀

this doc is a visual nightmare

Jaques de Ambroise

A great choreographer, but for me not the story telling work of Ashton. He also I am afraid was responsible in many ways for the extreme bodies in many danceers.

What does he say at 57:51 ...that the real world is not here-?

46:21 he begins the eternal life long practice of boys doing things that make girls cry. So it goes.

I don't like Balanchine it's all, well 80% is modern bullshit I can't relate to it. Gelsey Kirkland is the one Balanchine dancer that didn't dance that abstract stuff. Even the costumes were weird they were so long they didn't resemble tutus didn't show the dancers legs. And that chick with the fat thighs dancing to Yankee doodle. I thought he liked thin legs. Needless to say I don't or can't appreciate his work at all.

Awful

SO overrated.

Ballachine was a terrible choreographer, and his dancers were horribly trained. They looked ridiculous! Terrible technique, terrible lines. Garbage.

Stravinsky to Balanchine........”Take some more...let’s be drunk.” Priceless documentary.

I have a question...why are all the ballets Balanchine staged, even those of Fokine, Petipa & Ivanov, etc, said to be "Balanchine's" or even choreographed by him in this film? Am I misinformed? I see this a little on his Wiki page as well, but when you go to the ballets' pages, the original choreographers are clearly given (a glaring example is The Nutcracker, which in this film is called (or even said to be choreographed by) "Balanchine's", yet nowhere is remotely listed as his; I know he made changes and added or added to the party scene but that's hardly the whole ballet). I am under the impression that most artistic directors change (esp classic) ballets to suit their visions/productions/dancers, but they don't list these ballets as choreographed by them; at least printing "After Petipa...", etc. Also, I believe Ballet Russe brought ballet to America, not Balanchine? This doc was heavily skewed toward the Balanchine/NYCB legend and less so to history, it seems. I also don't understand how they made a film on Balanchine, mentioned his first three wives, without at least mentioning his muse/love Suzanne Farrell or last wife and first "created" ballerina, Tanaquil LeClercq? I thought both of these women had a huge influence on his (and other choreographer's) work and no doubt contributed much to it themselves, plus they, esp Farrell, are in more clips here than anyone else. No need to discuss the details of those personal situations in the film, but they were a big influence, even LeClercq's illness. OK, so 3 questions! Wonderful to see all the clips of iconic dancers; wish they were longer, but understand TV timing. Great showing that all amazing male dancers weren't necessarily from Russia! Thank you and we are lucky you are so accessible here! With great respect,

Thank you! I saw this decades ago and it's wonderful to watch again and again and ...

I have learned a little more about Mr Balanchine on this Docu. I wish it was longer and I can listen to Mr Balanchine talk about everything about his ballet. Thank you for posting this video Mr Clifford! What a treasure!

Thank you so much. Completely engrossing.

I have a question...why are all the ballets Balanchine staged, even those of Fokine, Petipa & Ivanov, etc, said to be "Balanchine's" or even choreographed by him in this film? Am I misinformed? I see this a little on his Wiki page as well, but when you go to the ballets' pages, the original choreographers are clearly given (a glaring example is The Nutcracker, which in this film is called (or even said to be choreographed by) "Balanchine's", yet nowhere is remotely listed as his; I know he made changes and added or added to the party scene but that's hardly the whole ballet). I am under the impression that most artistic directors change (esp classic) ballets to suit their visions/productions/dancers, but they don't list these ballets as choreographed by them; at least printing "After Petipa...", etc. Also, I believe Ballet Russe brought ballet to America, not Balanchine? This doc was heavily skewed toward the Balanchine/NYCB legend and less so to history, it seems. I also don't understand how they made a film on Balanchine, mentioned his first three wives, without at least mentioning his muse/love Suzanne Farrell or last wife and first "created" ballerina, Tanaquil LeClercq? I thought both of these women had a huge influence on his (and other choreographer's) work and no doubt contributed much to it themselves, plus they, esp Farrell, are in more clips here than anyone else. No need to discuss the details of those personal situations in the film, but they were a big influence, even LeClercq's illness. OK, so 3 questions! Wonderful to see all the clips of iconic dancers; wish they were longer, but understand TV timing. Great showing that all amazing male dancers weren't necessarily from Russia! Thank you and we are lucky you are so accessible here! With great respect,