Balanchine at your video store.

When this column began, one of the first people interviewed was Judy Kimberg, a producer for Dance in America Asked why the exceptional programs in this PBS series had not been issued on videocassette, Kinberg patiently explained that every effort was being made to do so but that retroactive negotiation with unions was a tricky business. Gradually, a trickle of tapes began to appear. Last June, Nonesuch Dance Collection released The Balanchine Library, five VHS titles that celebrate the genius of George Balanchine. Two are documentaries and three are of repertoire (two originally produced for PBS and one by CBS Cable in association with NVC Arts). Together these videos immeasurably enhance the library of dance tapes for purchase by the public and fill the gaping hole that existed without Balanchine's representation. The suggested list price of $19.98 per cassette assures that the tapes will reach a wide audience.

The repertoire tapes include PBS's Tzigane, the Andante from Divertimento No. 15, and The Four Temperaments--all filmed in 1977--and Chaconne and Prodigal Son, both filmed in 1978, and CBS Cable's Robert Schumann's Davidsbundlertanze, taped in 1982. Historians may find director-producer Merrill Brockway's program notes for each cassette a bit sketchy, but Brockway's anecdotes do allow viewers to breathe the air of creativity that surrounded these tapings. Balanchine was present in the television studio, working with the camera in mind so that his choreography and his dancers would be presented as he wanted them seen. And it did not hurt that he was loved and respected by his supremely talented collaborators.

There is also the fascination of seeing what New York City Ballet looked like during the four-year period of the taping. Balanchine cast the works as he would in the theater, so we can see the younger dancers he always tested in Divertimento No. 15 and The Four Temperaments. One had forgotten how sturdy Maria Calegari once looked, compared to her later streamlined elegance. Merrill Ashley is at a technical peak in both Divertimento and The Four Temperaments, while Bart Cook in the latter performs the Melancholic solo with tremendous poignancy. Karin von Aroldingen's roles as a supportive lover in Davidsbundlertanze and as a cold, seductive Siren in Prodigal Son allow two contrasting aspects of her talents to be viewed.

Not surprising is the preeminence of Suzanne Farrell on the repertoire tapes. Tzigane (with Peter Martins), probably the least substantial piece of choreography chosen, allows viewers a close-up look at Farrell abandoning herself fully to the role. In Chaconne, also with Martins, she has a role that fully reveals the depth of both their individual talents and the transcendent quality of their partnership. The power of Mikhail Baryshnikov's performance as the Prodigal testifies to what Brockway describes as Balanchine's "boundless energy" as he coached the dancer. In Temperaments--a stunning version of the ballet rechoreographed for television-0it is the full company that is the star. The ballets are revealed as well as anyone could hope for in the reduced dimensions of a TV screen. It is not the theater, it is another experience and the best of its kind.

Of the documentaries, Dancing for Mr. B: Six Balanchine Ballerinas, an original film by Anne Belle (Seahorse Films, Inc., in association with WNET/Thirteen), has already aired on PBS. The careers of the six ballerinas--Ashley, Melissa Hayden, Allegra Kent, Darci Kistier, Mary Ellen Moylan, and Maria Tallchief--cover more than forty years. Reflecting on the choreographer's work and his influence on them, they shed light on his teaching and choreographic methods. The interviews are supplemented with photographs and film clips that allow the viewer to experience each speaker as a performer. The dancers are honest in assessing their relationships with Balanchine, when they were in favor and when they were not. Conspicuously absent are interviews with three of Balanchine's most important muses, Tanaquil Le Clercq, the late Diana Adams, and Suzanne Farrell, but their importance is noted in the commentary of the other dancers.

The final tape, Arabesque, is the first of The Balanchine Essays, a nine-part series that will explain and demonstrate key aspects of Balanchine's teaching and use examples drawn from his repertoire. Arabesque was produced by the George Balanchine Foundation, Inc., in association with Tatge/Lasseur Productions, Inc., and it was directed by Brockway. Suki Schorer former NYCB dancer and now a teacher at the School of American Ballet, explains the positions and placement of arabesque as Balanchine defined and taught them, and how he used this seminal position in his ballets. Ashley shares her recollections of Balanchine's words on the subject as she demonstrates Schorer's explanations. SAB students Jeffrey Edwards, Rebecca Metzger, and Maydelle Fason join her.

Schorer's corrections enable the viewer to comprehend qualities that make Balanchine's style distinctive. For example, she emphasizes a gentle bending of elbows and a leading with the wrists as the arms change from first to second and from third to fourth arabesques. Although this well-produced tape is rather matter-of-fact, Schorer and Ashley often interact with both enthusiasm and spontaneity. Gordon Boelzner, now NYCB's music director, provides piano accompaniment. [Also see Teacher Talk.]

This fall the Balanchine Library scheduled the release of two more repertoire tapes: choreography by Balanchine: "Stravinsky Violin Concerto" and Selections from "Jewels," and Balanchine Celebration, excerpts from NYCB's daylong tribute in 1993. Two more essays will also be available: Passe and Attitude and Port de Bras and Epaulement.

Just in time for Christmas!