NEW YORK CITY - The George Balanchine Foundation is pleased to announce seven additions to its two-part archival video series. These videos are devoted to an examination of selected passages of Balanchine's choreography in detail. In a studio setting, originators or major interpreters of some of his greatest works teach, coach, and discuss their parts with dancers of today (Interpreters Archive). Other veteran Balanchine principals restore choreography not performed for many years and in danger of permanently disappearing (Archive of Lost Choreography). The overall goal of the Video Archives Program is to create an original "manuscript" of Balanchine's ballets by preserving not only the steps but the nuances of the choreography as Balanchine taught it to his original casts.

Coaches in the 2007 series include Todd Bolender, Frederic Franklin, Stanley Zompakos, Suzanne Farrell, Melissa Hayden, Arthur Mitchell, Nancy Mann, and Maria Tallchief. As if to acknowledge how widespread the performance of Balanchine ballets has become, participating dancers hail from Kansas City Ballet, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem.

The release of the seven new videos brings the series total to twenty-eight. Edited master tapes are preserved in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. For a nominal fee, copies are made available to non-circulating research repositories; some 70 libraries worldwide presently house the collection. For the first time, the videos are offered as DVDs as well as VHS videotapes.

"There is no more urgent priority at the moment than the documentation of Balanchine's teaching and philosophy by those who worked directly with him." - Arlene Croce, (formerly) The New Yorker

For a complete list of videos shot to date and the archives housing the edited tapes, visit: https://balanchine.org/03/gbfvideoarchives.jsp