Video Reviews and News : ****Excellent ***Good **Ordinary *Poor : <i> Recent videocassette releases, reviewed by Times critics.</i>
*** “Fonteyn and Nureyev: The Perfect Partnership”
Kultur. $39.95.
Balletomanes may already own the widely available performances excerpted here: “Romeo and Juliet,” “Les Sylphides,” the “Corsaire” pas de deux--plus, inevitably, “Marguerite and Armand.” What makes this adoring, 90-minute documentary treasurable are the archival TV clips (Fonteyn in 1937, for example), newsreel footage, home movies and interviews tracing the individual careers and celebrated, 17-year partnership of an aging symbol of British rectitude and a fiery young defector from the Soviet Union. Significantly, more people here seem to praise Nureyev’s bowing than his dancing, but the curtain-call shots do justify the enthusiasm. Better still: a rehearsal with Frederick Ashton of “Birthday Variations” and a tantalizing smidgen of Martha Graham’s “Lucifer.” Dreadful orchestral sound at times. Information: (213) 668-9123.
More to Read
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.