Great Pas De Deux - Fonteyn, Nureyev, Makarova, Dowell, Baryshnikov, Bessmertova, and more (1995)

Stunning performances by the greatest ballet partnerships of recent times. Includes pieces from Le Corsaire, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, and more, danced by such luminous pairings as Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, Cynthia Harvey and Mikhail Baryshnikov, Darcey Bussell and Jonathan Cope, and many more.

FINE FOR THE INEXPERIENCED VIEWER

I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND THIS DVD FOR THE EXPERIENCED VIEWER OF LIVE OR DVD PERFORMANCES OF BALLET. IT IS A COMPENDIUM MOST SUITED TO THE PERSON OF ANY AGE WHO HAS NOT BEEN MUCH EXPOSED TO CLASSIC DANCE NOR COLLECTED FULL PERFORMANCE DVD'S.
YES, THE TITLE IS SOMEWHAT MISLEADING, MORE ACCURATE WOULD A SUB5ITLE SUCH AS "SAMPLES FROM SOME OF THE LEADING BALLET COMPANIES" OR "A PRIMER FOR BEGINNERS IN VIEWING DANCE".
FOR THE PURPOSES I OUTLINE, MY ONLY QUARREL IS WITH THE UNEVEN LENGTHS OF THE SELECTIONS. BETTER TWO OR THREE FEWER AND MORE TIME FOR THE REMAINING ONES. AS IT IS, TWO OR THREE ARE FRUSTRATINGLY SHORT WHILE NONE OF THE OTHERS COULD BE SAID TO BE TOO LONG.
HOWEVER, MARKETING GOALS PROBABLY DICTATED A MAXIMUM NUMBER OF ITEMS WITH SUFFICIENT TIME FOR MOST TO AVOID THE SENSE THAT THEY ARE "COMING ATTRACTIONS" OR PREVIEWS.
THE VIRTUE FOR THE BEGINNER IS THAT ALL THESE SELECTIONS ARE GOOD TO LOOK AT AND GOOD TO HEAR, ALL THE PERFORMERS HIGHLY COMPETENT, AND ALL THE SEGMENTS AVAILABLE (BY SOME GROUP OF GOOD PERFORMERS) FOR PURCHASE OR RENTAL. August 9, 2008

Very nice visually.

I am in no way an expert on ballet, but enjoy watching performances for the beauty and grace of the dancers as well as the humorous portions of some. This is a collection of excerpts from several ballets and is delightful in and of itself. I bought the DVD because Baryshnikov is the male lead on one track of "Don Quixote". Enjoyable viewing. July 14, 2008

dancing good, audio bad

No doubt, the dancing is superb. However, most ballets were recorded some time ago; consequently the audio is generally not very good. One selection is awful: The Nutcracker. Both the quality of the film and the audio are bad. One wonders why they included it on the DVD. Nevertheless for a lover of ballet this DVD is worthwhile purchasing. December 23, 2007

Great Pas De Deux

This was a beautiful gathering of some of the greatest dancers of the last century. It was wonderful. May 9, 2007

I expected more...

It is hard to explain why, but I was disappointed with this DVD. For some reason, every time I want to watch a ballet performance, I choose one of my other ballet DVDs (such as Kirov celebrated Nijinsky, or Kirov Classics). April 16, 2007

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