Balanchine's Jewels in Munich

Bayerisches  Staatsballett in Munich streamed their performance of Balanchine's Jewels for one day on March 21 and it was one of the most successful examples of a filmed ballet I have ever seen. They used at least four cameras and tried to film it as if it were being seen by the human eye, as it switched easily and intelligently from close-up to long shot; there was no director credited in the streaming.  All Balanchine ballet productions have to be approved by The Balanchine Trust and a repetiteur is assigned to do the choreography; in Munich the repetieurs were former NYC Ballet dancers Patricia Neary and Elyse Borne.  It probably helped that the Munich company has dancers from all over the world, as Emeralds, to the music of Faure, is influenced by French ballet; Rubies, to Stravinsky, is American-influenced --NYC Ballet dancer Ashley Bouder danced the lead -- and Diamonds, to the music of Tschaikovsky, had Russians Alina Somova and Vladimir Schiyarov in the lead. And I'm sure it helped that the Bayerisches Staatsballet is run by Russian Igor Zelensky, who danced for the NYC Ballet.

This performance of Jewels worked beautifully on every level:  the magical green forest of Emeralds, the jazzy red of Rubies, the romantic and elegant sparkle of Diamonds.  Of course my hope increased that we will be able to go to the two performances in May of NYC Ballet for which we have tickets.