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The George Balanchine Foundation Issues Seven New Archival Videos

Videos feature excerpts from Rubies from Jewels, Meditation, Emeralds from Jewels, Liebeslieder Walzer, La Source, Valse Fantaisie, The Unanswered Question from Ivesiana, coached by dancers who originated or were major interpreters of these roles

The George Balanchine Foundation is pleased to announce seven additions to its archival video series. These videos are devoted to detailed examinations of selected passages of Balanchine's choreography. In a studio setting, originators or major interpreters of some of his greatest works teach, coach, and discuss their parts with dancers of today. 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 conceived and taught it to the dancers in the original casts.

Coaches in the 2013 series include Todd Bolender, John Clifford, Suzanne Farrell, Jillana, Allegra Kent, Conrad Ludlow, Mimi Paul, Helgi Tomasson, Edward Villella, and Violette Verdy. Participating are dancers from American Ballet Theatre, Miami City Ballet, New York City Ballet, and Suzanne Farrell Ballet.

The release of the seven new videos brings the series total to forty-two. Edited masters are preserved in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and for a nominal fee, copies of these are made available to non-circulating research repositories. Currently seventy-six libraries worldwide house the collection, and they are also available through the Alexander Street press Dance in Video series.

Nancy Reynolds, dance historian, writer, and the Foundation's director of research, conceived and continues to direct the program, assisted by independent filmmaker and film professor Virginia Brooks and Nichol Hlinka, former New York City Ballet principal dancer.

For a complete list of videos shot to date and the facilities housing them, visit:
https://balanchine.org/03/gbfvideoarchives_videos.html

The George Balanchine Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1983. Its mission is to create programs that educate the public and further Balanchine's work and aesthetic in order to facilitate high standards of excellence in dance and related arts.