The Definitive Biography of an American Dance Master
This feature-length documentary rightly presents Jerome Robbins (1918-1998) as one twentieth century’s master choreographers in the fields of musical theatre and ballet. The program offers a fairly comprehensive account of Robbins’ life and career, elaborating on prominent events such as the creation of Fancy Free, West Side Story and Robbins’ naming of names before the House Committee of Un-American Activities. Excerpts of his works featured in this program are, alas, often all too brief, but include (in the case of ballet) The Cage, Dances at a Gathering, Antique Epigraphs, Other Dances (with Makarova and Baryshnikov) and A Suite of Dances among others.
The documentary also looks at his professional relationship with George Balanchine and touches on Robbins’ personal struggles with his sexuality and Jewish heritage. There are numerous interviewees in this program representing the breadth of Robbins’ theatrical associations. Collectively they paint Robbins as a man of exceptional artistic gifts, one who was also enormously challenging to work with both personally and professionally.
Region Code: 0
Format & Aspect Ratio: NTSC, 16:9
Number of discs: 1
Run time: 130 minutes
Program date: 2008
Studio: Kultur Video
ISBN: 978-0-7697-8826-5
