Search - Dancer's Dream: The Great Ballets of Rudolf Nureyev - Raymonda on DVD

Good Documentary

Eugenia D. Reynolds | 12/29/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I enjoyed learning more about Nureyev as a director and choreographer because much has been written about his life and talent as one of the greatest dancers in history. If you are interested in understanding more about Nureyev, this documentary is for you.



My only disappointment is that after watching bits and peices of the ballet I wanted to see the production of Nureyev's Raymonda in its entirety, but it is nowhere to be found! To be honest, I would much rather see the magic of the dancing than listen to others talk about how amazing it is. Because this documentary leaves you yearning to see the full length ballet that apparently does not exist is the reason it receives four stars."

The best in the "Dancer's Dream" series

Ivy Lin | NY NY | 08/31/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Of the "Dancer's Dream" documentary films, I think this one is the most informative and interesting. The "Dancer's Dream" documentaries are about Rudolf Nureyev's productions of ballets during his reign at the Paris Opera Ballet. There's documentaries of four of his productions: La Bayadere, Raymonda, Romeo and Juliet, and Sleeping Beauty.

The reason I find this particular documentary so interesting is that it interviewed a large number of dancers who danced in Nureyev's Raymonda. They have mixed and sometimes conflicting views of working with Nureyev, but they all cite his absolute perfectionism and devotion to dance. There are tantalizing clips of etoiles like Elisabeth Platel and Manuel Legris dancing Raymonda, which make me long for a complete video. (Complete videos exist of Nureyev's Sleeping Beauty, R&J, and La Bayadere.) But just as interesting is all the interviews with the dancers, who are all articulate and thoughtful. Particularly insightful is Florence Clerq. Best of all, we get to see rehearsal footage with Nureyev and his dancers, which I found just as beautiful as actual performance footage.

Highly recommended."

Great ballet documentary

tulip | Fort Worth, Texas United States | 02/07/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great documentary. After I watched the "Etoile" a sort of documentary about Paris Opera Ballet dancers, I was more interested in dancers in addition to the ballet performance. Having said that, Paris Opera Ballet really needs to release the Raymonda ballet performance DVD to show the great work by those dancers. There are some clips here and there but not enough. It is said "Raymonda" is one of the most difficult ballet to dance, and it looks like Nureyev made it more difficult but I would like to watch his entire version by the Paris Opera Ballet. They are the only who is keeping Nureyev versions of ballets as repertory."

Happy to have a glimpse of Florence Clerc

Anna Donizetti. | Tokyo, Japan | 07/19/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"At 4 or 5 years old, I used to dream to be a ballerina. But I came to throw it away after watching Rudolf Nureyev dancing on the TV. The ballet art didn't look much. And almost 30 years after I have become a passionate ballet fan thanks to Florence Clerc. I didn't know they were able to express a shyness of young lady in a dance. This DVD is doumentary. This is why I gave 4 stars. You can't see the marvel of each dancer. I wish that Amazon Com would look for a complete piece of each of these dancers. And moreover to prepare DVDs with region code all/free. You can't imagine how much I pay for a DVD with region 1, first the price of DVD then for its dubbing. But even so, I want to see !!"