Jacques d'Amboise

Two of Balanchine’s most beloved ballets, Serenade and Orpheus, in this first release in VAI’s historic series featuring the New York City Ballet in Montreal. Beginning in 1954, NYCB’s Artistic Director and co-founder George Balanchine presented the company in performances produced for Radio-Canada, the Montreal division of Canadian Television. These live telecasts capture legendary dancers in core works of NYCB’s repertoire. Serenade stars Jacques d’Amboise, Diana Adams, and Patricia Wilde. Balanchine himself appears on screen to discuss Orpheus, which stars Nicholas Magallanes and Francisco Moncion dancing the roles they created in the 1948 premiere, and Violette Verdy as Eurydice.

When Jacques d'Amboise took a group of dancers and members of his teaching staff to China, they worked with acclaimed dancer Dou Dou Huang and more than a hundred Chinese children. Their goal: to create a special performance using a variety of dance styles - including hip-hop, freestyle jazz and traditional Chinese folk dance - that would premiere at the Shanghai Grand Theatre in honor of the 2007 Shanghai Special Olympics World Games. Part of a month-long cultural exchange between d'Amboise's National Dance Institute and several Chinese troupes, featuring some of that country's most talented young dancers, the collaboration underscored the power of dance to transcend obstacles of culture and language.

Support for the arts in America may be dwindling, but talent in our high schools isn't. Every year a group of the country's most gifted 17-year-old performing and visual artists - singled out among thousands of their peers - share a week of dreams as they learn from mentors like Mikhail Baryshnikov, Vanessa Williams, Jacques d'Amboise, Michael Tilson Thomas... and from each other. For seven transformative days, the passionate young artists revel in the support, encouragement and attention they have earned.

A dazzling compilation of previously unissued television appearances from 1956-1965 taken from Canadian TV and the Bell Telephone Hour. He dances Stars & Stripes, Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Afternoon of a Faun and Apollo.

A television special broadcast on PBS in honor of composer, songwriter, pianist, television writer and lyricist Joe Raposo after he passed away.

Joe Gower's job is skating through library shelves, fetching books. A police officer/friend of his is chosen to participate in a charity dance performance. Gower agrees to take his place in the show by posing as a police officer. He falls for a female officer in the show and gets into various scrapes with fellow cops and also crooks. And he dances.

Why do over 1,000 New York City schoolchildren audition for a modern dance program that requires them to sacrifice free time and involvement in sports and music? For a chance to study with the charismatic Jacques d'Amboise at the National Dance Institute. His philosophy--that creativity exists within everyone and that trying one's best ensures success--forms the foundation of a unique dance program. This documentary chronicles one school-year-long program including initial auditions, rehearsals, and the creation of an exclusive "SWAT" team, and culminates in an amazing, year-end performance at New York's Felt Forum. D'Amboise's enthusiasm is infectious--children, parents, teachers, professional dancers and musicians, and even local law enforcement officers find themselves involved in his productions. This Academy Award-winning documentary details the inspiring story of how one talented dancer's vision flourished into a coveted New York City dance program.

A ballet version of Shakespeare's play, featuring the New York City Ballet.

This documentary follows composer and conductor Igor Stavinsky at his home in California, in London, and in Hamburg where he conducts an orchestra rehearsal. Includes conversations with a variety of friends and musical collaborators. Includes footage of Stravinsky and Balanchine discussing the Variations (in memoriam Aldous Huxley) and rehearsing their ballet Apollo with Suzanne Farrell.

In 1960 CBS commissioned renown composer, Igor Stravinsky, to compose a new ballet composition, Noah and the Flood, that would be adapted for a TV special. This was supposed to be one out of an eight part series of TV specials that featured prominent artists. Most of these specials never came to fruition. The ballet told the story of Noah and the Flood with symbolic references to other biblical narratives. The choreography was directed by George Balanchine and the ballet was performed by the New York City Ballet. An addition to the performance the TV special also included an overview of Stravinsky’s career and an exposition of the biblical context. The performance was aired on CBS in 1962 with Breck shampoo as the sponsor.