This DANCE IN AMERICA performance/documentary explores the lives of the ABT's four lead male dancers: Cuba's Jose Manual Carreno, Spain's Angel Corella, Ukraine's Vladimir Malakhov, and the U.S.'s Ethan Stiefel. Concludes with the four dancers performing.
Fun stuff!, June 7, 2004
Reviewer: Charles S. Houser (Binghamton, NY) - See all my reviews
American Ballet Theatre director Kenneth McKenzie (a former dancer himself) knows how to find, encourage, and showcase great male dancers. The four featured here are a diverse group from the current crop of principals. McKenzie seems to look to Spain and Latin America for a certain kind of fiery performer (Angel Corella from Spain and Jose Manuel Carreno from Cuba represent this group here). Russians, who once dominated the ballet stage, are represented here by Vladimir Malakhov (from the Ukraine). Ethan Stiefel (the heart-breaker star of ballet-pic "Center Stage") is the sole American.
This film is a documentary with a short dance performance appendix. Each dancer is filmed on his home turf and speaks about the importance of his family and country of origin. Nothing too revealing here. Short clips from auditions and key roles do give the viewer a sense of the unique performance styles of each of these dancers. The dance "appendix" is a short work choreographed by Mark Morris to a Schumann piano quintet (mercifully, not to the rock standard "Born to Be Wild").
The only annoying thing about this short film is that it seems to feel the need to defend the masculinity of male dancers. Didn't Edward Villella address that issue once and for all in "Prodigal Son"? My advice is to ignore the rhetoric and just enjoy the great dancing!
