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

The best things about this DVD are you get to see several famous ballet dancers (including three pairings with my favorite male danseur noble Anthony Dowell of England's Royal Ballet, who I was fortunate enough to see with his partner Antoinette Sibley in person in NYC several times in the '70s), all are filmed in color, and the angles are pretty close up for viewer appreciation of the dance steps. The worst are that each pas de deux is 10 minutes or less and seem to fly by, some ballet scenes are not the best (as one reviewer stated, Darcey Bussell's scene in Prince of the Pagodas is not the one on the DVD cover, and she spends the entire dance BLINDFOLDED which detracts from her beauty), and having two male dancers perform a Swan Lake scene while trendy, is a disappointment for the classic ballet fan like myself when there were so many wonderful male/female duos in those roles. Otherwise, its a pleasant ballet DVD that is nice to watch while I'm on my exercise bike.

It's great dancing, I love classic ballet, but the pieces are too old, nothing from recent performances. Also I didn't really care for the Swan Lake performed by two male dancers; I did like the second version though, performed by The Kirov Ballet (there are two performances of Swan Lake on the DVD). I love the Nutcracker, my favorite ballet and music of all times, but the stage props and outfits by the Royal Ballet dancers were "washed out," no contrast, a bit bland like the British food.Most of the ballerinas did excellent performances. It always amazes me as to how strong their legs, knee joints and posture as a whole must be in order to do these stunning and graceful turns, bends, stands, etc., ect., those definitely merit a 5 star for the DVD, but a few things I didn't care for, that's why the 4 star rating. Also most male dancers did excellent jumps and splits in the various pieces, Baryshnikov being totally in control of his dancing - kudus for him.All in all, if you like classic ballet it's definitely a nice addition to your reportiore. Even with some of my dislikes, I'll keep watching the DVD until I grow tired of it which won't be too soon. For the price it's a pretty good show, second to being there in person, and you can select the pieces you like if some don't appeal to you.

This DVD is a collection of 15 Pas de deux covering a time span of 31 years. (1965-1996). It includes such well know ballet stars as Nureyev, Baryshnikov, Makhalina, and Asylmuratova to mention a few.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 what these artists could do when they were at their best.Some of my favorite pieces were...- Spring Waters with Maria Bylova and Leonid Nikonov; with their fast paced,energetic leaps and lifts.- Romeo and Juliet (balcony scene) with Alessandra Ferri and Wayne Eagling; an early example of Ferri's acting and interpretation skills that we would continue to see develop, in the years to follow.- Swan Lake (Black Swan scene) with Julia Makhalina and Igor Zelensky; Makhalina show us (as Odile) just how poised, incredibly flexible and talented she really is in this role. She is simply stunning.-and last but not least the Don Quixote pas de deux with Cynthia Harvey and Mikhail Baryshnikov. This features some of Baryshnikov's world famous leaps and spins. Enough said!There were a couple of segments that I didn't enjoy as some of the others; but that would to be expected in a "sampling" of a series of pas de deux. Also a couple of dancers and choreographers were featured multiple times(3); this I found a little puzzling on a relatively short, one disc recording.An enjoyable DVD and although the video quality my change a bit from one performance to the next, you still have to feel grateful just being able to watch and appreciate some of the greatest dancers of the last century.

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.

Top grade Ballet.

it was good

One of the best DVDs I've watched on the subject. Some of the world's best-known dancers are featured in highlights from each ballet.

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.

Great to re-live these classics. Some of best ballet stars.

Awesome and Inspirational Pas De Deux performance.This dvd has encouraged me to push myself harder in my Ballet classes.

Although I have four of these already on full length ballets, the inclusion of those that I had not seen made this a welcome addition to my collection. I loved watching Margot Fontyn with Nureyev, Darcy Bussell and Alessandra Ferri.

I was somewhat disappointed as I saw no reason for two excerpts from Prince of the Pagodas nor, with due respect to his abilities, three with Anthony Dowell. Manon with Jennifer Penny was particularly beautiful as were Romeo & JulietP M Hoare

The content is, in my opinion, a superb collection of exactly what the title of the DVD says: "GREAT Pas de Deux". What a pity, therefore, that the quality of the VIDEO is poor to very poor. I must assume the DVD is merely a copy of an earlier video tape of the collection. In many instances, the audio is also sub-standard. The performances deserve 5 starts, but the quality of the DVD detracts from this.