DVD
REVIEW:
JOFFREY MAVERICKS OF
AMERICAN DANCE
6/11/12
Co-founded in 1956 by visionary teacher Robert Joffrey and dancer Gerald Arpino, who would become their principal choreographer, The Joffrey Ballet began as a DIY dance company of six dancers touring the United States in a borrowed station wagon. What started as a childhood dream quickly grew into one of the world’s most exciting and prominent ballet companies. Together, Joffrey and Arpino transformed the face of dance with bold new perspectives for edgy ballets that challenged conventions..
Directed by Bob Hercules (Bill T. Jones: A Good Man), Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance will debut on DVD and standard digital platforms on June 12, following a festival premiere and nationwide theatrical release. The feature-length documentary is the first film to tell the story of how the legendary Joffrey Ballet revolutionized American ballet by daringly combining modern dance with traditional ballet at a time when it was not routinely accepted. The Company broke other barriers by accepting and cultivating a diverse group of talented dancers regardless of race and body type, by resurrecting nearly lost early 20th Century masterpieces, and by commissioning daring new works by cutting-edge choreographers..
The film weaves together a wealth of archival footage, behind-the-scene photos and interviews with luminaries in the dance work and features rare excerpts from many seminal Joffrey works, including Astarte, Trinity and Billboards, as well as its breakthrough collaborations with choreographers Twyla Tharp, Leonid Massine, Laura Dean and Kurt Jooss. Founders Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino and a host of ballet notables including Gary Chryst, Trinette Singleton, Helgi Tomasson, Kevin McKenzie are featured in the film..
VIDEO:
Widescreen
AUDIO:
Dolby 5.1 and DTS Surround Sound
Subtitles
French, Spanish and German
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Full dress rehearsal of Jooss’s The Green
Table
“Making of” featurette
Deleted scenes (including one from the making of Robert Altman’s film, The Company).
The DVD release includes a 12-page collectible booklet.
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