Ballet Russes (2005)

Director: Dayna Goldfine, Daniel Geller Genres: Performing Arts, Documentary, Biography Origin: USA Certificate: G Running Time: 118 min

synopsis

A dazzlingly entrancing ode to the revolutionary twentieth-century dance troupe known as the Ballets Russes. What began as a group of Russian refugees and became two rival dance troupes who fought the infamous ‘ballet battles’ that consumed London society before World War II. Ballets Russes maps the company's beginnings in turn-of-the-century Paris, at a time when artists such as Nijinsky, Balanchine, Picasso, Miro, Matisse and Stravinsky united and collaborated; through to the halcyon days of the 1930s and '40s, when the Ballets Russes toured America, astonishing audiences with artistry never before seen. The film also explores the Ballets Russes demise in the 1950s and '60s when rocketing egos and internal mismanagement ultimately brought the company to its knees. Directed with consummate invention and infused with juicy anecdotal interviews from many of the company’s glamorous stars, Ballets Russes treats modern audiences to a rare glimpse of the remarkable merger of Russian, American, European and Latin American dancers, choreographers, composers and designers that transformed the face of ballet for generations to come. Ballets Russes takes you on a fascinating journey through the lives of characters whose innovation changed our social histories.