Choreographic Art on the Cinema Screen: Film-Ballet or Ballet-Film?

Ballet first appeared in cinema in 1908, and on TV — in the 1940s. By the early 1990s about 300 filmed ballets and concerts had been collected in the film library. Nowadays the world broadcasting of ballet performances become the most demanded.

The one that stands out is The Lady of the camellias staged by John Neumeier. This choreographer is an outstanding figure of contemporary ballet theatre. His The Lady of the camellias appeared on stage in 1978, and then in 1986 a film under the same name was processed. Neumeier directed the video and did the filming himself. In this regard the main part of the article is devoted to comparative analysis of arbor imagery in both stagings.

The novelty of present article is in highlighting the features of cinema and ballet, which are combined by Neumeier in one production. At the same time the choreographer emphasizes the uniqueness of both choreographic and cinematic arts. The author concludes that John Neumeier was able to combine two different fields and create something new at their intersection.