Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10526 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-03-22
• Rating: Exempt
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 115 minutes

DVD Description
Great Pas de Deux presents stunning performances of many of the great partnerships in recent times. Principal artists from many of the world’s leading ballet companies express all the drama and passion, the poignancy and sheer exuberance of some of the most lyrical moments to be found in classical dance.

• Maria Bylova and Leonid Nikonov - Spring Waters
  
• Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev - Le Corsaire
  
• Darcey Bussell and Jonathan Cope - The Prince of the Pagodas
  
• Adam Cooper and Scott Ambler - Swan Lake
  
• Alessandra Ferri and Wayne Eagling - Romeo and Juliet
  
• Lesley Collier and Anthony Dowell - The Nutcracker
  
• Jennifer Penney and Anthony Dowell – Manon
  
• Yulia Makhalina and Igor Zelensky - Swan Lake
  
• Natalia Makarova and Anthony Dowell - A Month in the Country
  
• Altynai Asylmuratova and Yevgeny Neff - Le Corsaire
  
• Irek Mukhamedov and Natalya Bessmertnova - Spartacus
  
• Irina Kolpakova and Sergei Berezhnoi - The Sleeping Beauty
  
• Cynthia Harvey and Mikhail Baryshnikov – Don Quixote

Special Features

• Running Time: 111 mins approx.
  
• NTSC
  
• Region Code: 2/3/4/5/6
  
• Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  
• Disc Format: DVD-9
  
• Audio: Linear-PCM Stereo

Synopsis
A collection of amazing pas de deux from some of the most famous ballets, including several famous partnerships, such as Fonteyn and Nureyev in "Le Corsaire". Also featured are Darcey Bussell and Jonathan Cope, Cynthia Harvey and Mikhail Baryshnikov, and many others.

Customer Reviews

stunning in spite of technical problems
This is a Warner Music Vision DVD and I have yet to find a DVD player which can play them without jerkiness, sometimes to the point of having a stroboscopic effect. (Compacks are the worst, Digihome is better but not perfect) Even so this was wonderful to watch - the best of The Royal Ballet, from Fonteyn and Nureyev to the all male Swan Lake, plus the best of The Kirov, and Baryshnikov with the American Ballet Theatre. A Must See.

A complete delight!
This is a wonderful DVD - I just love it! It is a captivating treasure trove of wonderful dancers and a compilation to be viewed again and again. If you love ballet this one will not disappoint.

not really "great" but definitely good
A collection of 15 pdd covering a time span of 31 years (1965-1996). It includes such well known ballet stars and partnerships as Nureyev and Fonteyn, Bylova and Nikonov, Ferri and Eagling, Mukhamedov and Bessmertova, Kolpakova and Berezhnoi, Asylmuratova and Neff, Makhalina and Zelensky, Harvey and Baryshnikov, Bussell and Cope, Cooper and Ambler (Swan Lake danced by two males leads), Collier and Dowell, Penney and Dowell, Makarova and Dowell.

The entire compilation tries to focus on presenting the performers when they were in their prime. For instance the segment featuring Nureyev and Fonteyn was recorded in 1965 and, although the picture is a little grainy, it is more than adequate to give us a glimpse of these artists.

There were a couple of segments that I didn't enjoy as much as some of the others (why choose the Wedding Pas de Deux from "Sleeping Beauty" with the elderly Kolpakova in the role of the teenaged Aurora?) but that is to be expected in a "sampling" like this. Also a couple of dancers and choreographers were featured multiple times; a little puzzling on a relatively short recording (why three Dowell performances and why two dances from the Prince of the Pagodas, both with Bussell?). And I have seen better performances of some of the ballets by other dancers.

Overall, this collection feels more like a promotional video than one of historical or artistic significance but an enjoyable DVD nevertheless. Although the video quality may change a bit from one performance to the next, this is a good chance to view some of the best dancers of the last century, to compare with other (more current) interpretations, and to see how changing forms and styles have impacted ballet.

Note: this is a different DVD from the one called "Pas De Deux" which is somewhat of a curiosity piece filmed live in 1984 at an international festival in Los Angeles and with some superb dancing by stars you may never otherwise get to see. I have both DVDs and like both.