The American Ballet Theatre, one of the world’s most renowned dance companies, is synonymous with excellence in the arts. On the occasion of its 75th anniversary, the PBS network is presenting Ric Burns’ newest documentary, American Ballet Theatre: A History, on Friday, May 15 at 9 p.m. (check local listings) as part of its American Masters series.
This thoughtful and esthetic documentary takes a close look at the ABT and delves into the world of ballet, an art form that expresses the geometric beauty and proportionality of the human body.
It unfolds through thrilling performances, vivid rehearsal footage and revealing interviews with the ABT’s leading lights down through the ages.
As Burns suggests, its claim to fame has been its success in refining the great Russian ballet tradition in the United States.
Starting as a small, financially hard-pressed collective in 1940, the ABT has become a revered institution thanks to key figures like Lucia Chase, one of its founding members; Agnes de Mille, one of its most famous choreographers; Alicia Alonso, one of its prima ballerinas and Mikhail Baryshnikov, its principal dancer and artistic director from the mid-197os to the late 1980s.
Its current artistic director, Kevin McKenzie, who has held the position since 1992, describes ballet in poetic terms. As he observes, “It strikes a resonant place in the soul.”
Originating in Italy, ballet flourished in France in the royal court of Louis XIV, and was originally a masculine art form associated with kingly power and authority. The Russians, in the 19th century, imported French masters and raised ballet to new levels. In the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, ballet became a symbol of the Soviet state.
The upheaval in Russia brought dancers and choreographers to western Europe and the United States, which benefited from their expertise immensely.
Burns, one of America’s greatest documentarians, expertly weaves the history of ballet into the fabric of his film. And while these segments are instructive, American Ballet Theatre burns with intensity when critics, such as Jennifer Homans, describe ballet in expressive terms and when animated clips of mesmerizing dancers in full flight unfold before our eyes.
To his credit, Burns has made a film that is both intellectually and emotionally satisfying.