As director of the Frankfurt Ballet, American choreographer William Forsythe leaped to prominence, shaping an international troupe of dancers into the brilliant instrument of his choreographic and theatrical imagination. This programme shows Forsythe working with the company on Impressing the Tsar, and introducing dancers of the New York City Ballet to his rigorous methods, as he prepares Behind the China Dogs.
Patrick Dupond
This portrait documents a star’s effort to be, and to stay, the best. The cameras follow Patrick Dupond to Tokyo, Paris and Milan and show him training, rehearsing, performing and talking about his career. He is seen dancing Coppelia with the National Ballet of Marseille, working on Daniel Ezralow’s Soon and Alwin Nikolais’s Arc en ciel, performing in the Salome choreographed for him by Maurice Béjart, and rehearsing Giselle with Carta Fracci.
John Neumeier at Work
The American dancer and choreographer John Neumeier is renowned for his work with the Hamburg Ballet. He was filmed with the company over a busy six-month period, which encompassed rehearsals for Artus Sage, the creation of The Magnificat, and performances in Hamburg, Paris and Avignon of works including his acclaimed St Matthew Passion. Throughout the programme Neumeier talks about his methods and his creative influences.
Sylvie Guillem at Work
This portrait shows the prima ballerina in her daily round of classes, rehearsals and performances, revealing her dedication to perfection. Sylvie Guillem’s preparation for Nureyev’s Raymonda, her first performances in Rudi van Dantzig’s Four Last Songs and William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, and her appearance at a gala, dancing Bejart’s La Luna, are all recorded for posterity in this film.
Art from the South Sea Islands
This film looks at some of the most beautiful specimens of Oceanic art housed in the world’s museums. The leading French ethnographer Jean Guiart conjures up vistas of the Pacific islands as he tells the story of magnificent and colourful exhibits, explaining something of their creation, their relationship to the spiritual beliefs of those who fashioned them and how they express the cultural identity of their origins.
Karl Münchinger
In the aftermath of the Second World War, conductor Karl Münchinger (1915-90) set up the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. Under his guidance, the orchestra became world famous for ist consummately modern rendition of baroque music, attracting a new interest in eighteenth-century composers. In this profile, made five years before his death, Münchinger talks about his methods and style and is Seen rehearsing and performing music by Mozart, Pergolesi and Bach.
Cassily Kandinsky
Russian-born artist Kandinsky (1866-1944), one of the most prominent pioneers of abstract art in the early twentieth century, was widely influential both in Germany, where he taught at the Bauhaus in the twenties, and in France, where he settled in 1933. Extensive filming at a major Kandinsky retrospective at the Centre Georges Pompidou and at the Lenbachhaus in Munich forms the basis for this rich visual reappraisal of his work, which also draws on his essays, considered classics of artists’ writing.