TCHAIKOVSKY, P.I.: Nutcracker, Op. 71 (The) (Ballet Documentary, 2000)
Composer: Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Il'yich
The Nutcracker, Op. 71
Choreographer: Bejart, Maurice
Conductor: Colomer, Edmon
Colonne Orchestre
Ballet Company: Béjart Ballet Lausanne
Year of Production: 2000
Playing Time: 00:22:16
Catalogue Number: MID13244595
Bejart's magical staging transforms the piece into an enchanting autobiography and a loving homage to the choreographer's mother and to his creative hero, Marius Petipa. The first part of the performance is punctuated by Bejart, on a huge video screen, letting something of his childhood. Summing up his approach to creating this ballet, Bejart replied, "You live a life and you dream a life. When you come to write your own life you tell a lie to build the truth."
The showman of modern dance, Maurice Bejart's work has been provocative, influential and popular in equal measure. His choreography has always been physically thrilling, setting up an immediate emotional combustion between audience and performer, and he attracted huge new audiences for dance with the Ballet of the Twentieth Century productions he mounted in sports, stadia, public squares and circus tents.
