Walter

A dancer’s material of construction being the human body, and the role of high definition video being a rendering the material world in grand resonance, aesthetic merit would seem to attend the marriage of ballet and Blu-ray.

We are fortunate to have a glimpse of things to come in the first, and as yet only, release of dance on the format:

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Choreography by Balanchine
Pacific Northwest Ballet
BBC Concert Orchestra
Opus Arte
www.opusarte.com
Released January 2008.

In this work the dancers of the Pacific Northwest Ballet, engaged with the charismatic music of Mendelssohn, seem to achieve a state of absolute charm. The high definition video adds an immediate presence to the energy that emanates from the human form.

To address another sense, the disc offers a choice of two sound settings. “Stereo” is intended for systems with two speakers. “Surround” is useful for systems with center speaker and subwoofer and perhaps a pair of surround speakers.

As Blu-ray recently won the high definition format wars over a competing technology from Toshiba, perhaps more ballet and modern dance will soon become available. I wonder if potential sales will justify the high cost of high definition production?