"Director: Ross MacGibbon"

• The Car Man | DVD | (24/12/2001) from £21.29   |  Saving you £-3.30 (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  This latest dance version of Carmen comes courtesy of choreographer Matthew Bourne, who has devised his own scenario of Bizet’s opera set in a garage-diner in the American mid-West, circa 1960. The Car Man toured the UK in 2000 finishing with a four-month run to packed houses at the Old Vic. This film treatment details all the excitement of the occasion. The cinematography assists in capturing the atmosphere of Bourne’s treatment--film noir with allusions to Hitchcock--through employment of chiaroscuro. The use of the split-screen technique also enhances the cinematic feel. The music sounds seductive and full-bodied, befitting the new story line (Bourne calls it an “auto-erotic thriller”) in which an enigmatic stranger, Luca, walks into town seducing both Lana (Carmen) and Angelo (Don Jose). A swarthy individual, Luca looks an unlikely dancer until his first solo galvanises the company. The single stage set adapts into eight different permutations, taking us from diner through nightclub and prison and then out on the road in a cinematic finale where the Chevrolet cars of the period are destroyed in a pile up. The period look is further enhanced with the girls in tight-waisted colourful frocks and the men in Brando-esque T-shirts and jeans. The dance ensembles are an extraordinarily versatile group: classical, jazz, modern and flamenco seem natural expressions of their body movements. Will Kemp deserves a special mention for his sensitivite portrayal of Angelo. On the DVD: the soundtrack comes in a choice of stereo or 5.1. surround sound where the subtle employment of percussion instruments in the orchestration makes a telling effect. A picture gallery of 25 stills from the production and a 14-minute interview with Bourne expressing his initial doubt about doing another version of Carmen are further assets. He needn’t have had a qualm. This Car Man is destined to give much pleasure. --Adrian Edwards

• Coppelia | DVD | (03/04/2002) from £27.15   |  Saving you £-2.16 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The Royal Ballet.Orchestra of The Royal Opera House.Conducted by Nicolae Moldoveanu.Coppelia, a mechanical doll made by the toy-maker Dr. Coppelius, is so lifelike that some believe she is his daughter. The mistake leads to intrigue and jealousy in love.This 19th century classic, in an enchanting production of Royal Ballet choreographer Dame Ninette de Valois, with original designs by Sir Osbert Lancaster, was broadcast live by BBC television in February 2000.

• Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake (Mariinsky Ballet Orchestra) | Blu Ray | (06/10/2008) from £19.05   |  Saving you £2.94 (15.43%)   |  RRP £21.99

  Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, performed at the Mariinsky Theatre by the Artists of the Mariinsky Ballet and the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, and conducted by Valery Gergiev.

• Khachaturian - Spartacus - Bolshoi Ballet - Carlos Acosta | DVD | (06/10/2008) from £18.72   |  Saving you £-3.73 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

• The Railway Children | DVD | (14/11/2016) from £9.45   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  E. Nesbit's family favourite 'The Railway Children' follows the story of Roberta (Bobbie), Phyllis and Peter, three sheltered siblings who suffer a huge upheaval when their father is falsely imprisoned. The children and their mother, now penniless, are forced to move from London to rural Yorkshire into a new home next to a railway line. Dealing with themes of justice, the importance of family and the kindness of strangers the event is filmed from the National Railway Museum in Yorkshire, featuring the train from the original much-loved film. York Theatre Royal s Olivier award-winning production of 'The Railway Children' has been imaginatively adapted by Mike Kenny and Damian Cruden and beautifully directed for the screen by Ross MacGibbon.

• Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake - Valery Gergiev | DVD | (15/10/2007) from £15.85   |  Saving you £-1.86 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Flimed in the Imperial Splendour of the Mariinsky Theatre St Petersburg the first of a new DVD series of classic productions. The Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet dancing the definitive Swan Lake conducted by Valery Gergiev. Stars the prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Ballet Uliana Lopatkina

• Khachaturian: Spartacus | Blu Ray | (06/10/2008) from £25.95   |  Saving you £-3.96 (N/A%)   |  RRP £21.99

  Aram Khachaturian's Spartacvu The Bolshoi Ballet. Performed by Soloists and Corps de ballet of The Bolshoi Theatre Of Russia.

• Offenbach: La Belle Helene -- Paris/Minkowski | DVD | (03/12/2001) from £11.02   |  Saving you £15.23 (156.05%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Jacques Offenbach's 19th century parody of life under the yoke of Napoleon III, La Belle Hélène, has always seemed as tongue-in-cheek as the material could go. This new staging from the Théâtre Musical de Paris' 2000 season proves you can always go further. As if the social comment and knowing musical allusions (eg: Wagner's Tannhäuser) weren't enough, now via director Lauren Pelly's imagination Helen (Dame Felicity Lott) becomes a modern sexually frustrated woman dreaming the entire scenario. In her dream she is singled out as the most beautiful woman on Earth (prompting vain delusions to rival Snow White's wicked stepmother) as reward for Pâris (Yann Beuron) choosing Venus as most beautiful Goddess off Earth. Act 1 takes place in the bedroom and bed of Helen and ineffectual husband/king Ménélas (Michel Sénéchal). Here the fusion of costumes worn by High Priest Calchas (François Le Roux) seems incongruous until the archaeological dig setting of Act 2 turns everything into a dream. From then on, the analogy of bed as throne, the sheep costumes and male and female swimsuit parade followed by synchronised stage "swimming" of Act 3 all take on greater significance. Les Musicians du Louvre give a tremendous performance under Marc Minkowski's baton (which you often see popping into frame), particularly in the centrepiece duet between Lott and Beuron for their "Dream of Love". Contemporary makeovers of opera often lose sight of the original's intentions, but this update certainly preserves the spirit of Offenbach's vision. On the DVD: A choice of Stereo, Dolby 5.1 or DTS is a testament to the careful staging of this production, as is the video's multi-camera edit. In fact, the 25-minute behind-the-scenes documentary reveals the DVD was conceived as part of the staging. Four interviews make this a most welcome supplement, with Dame Lott having the most to say. --Paul Tonks

• A Midsummer Night's Dream - Pacific Northwest Ballet | DVD | (26/06/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This performance of George Balanchine's ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream was filmed live at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, in February 1999 and won the award for "Best Television Realisation of a Stage Production" at IMZ Dance Screen. The music is from Mendelssohn's youthful overture plus later theatre music, and five other pieces by the composer all selected by the great Russian choreographer Balanchine in 1962. In a fine ensemble cast, Paul Gibson as Oberon and Patricia Barker as Titania are suitably aloof, at least until the latter dances with the ass Bottom (Timothy Lynch) in a highlight of touching comedy. After all the quarrelsome entanglements of the first act, the finale ensures celebration and richly deserved happy endings all round. The simple sets have a picturesque charm, the costumes a fairytale glamour and the large cast, including many children, dance with flair and enthusiasm; this is clearly one production where everyone was having a fine time. In fact it is rather more enjoyable than Hollywood's A Midsummer Night's Dream of the same year. Ballet aficionados may also want to explore the BBC's wonderful Coppélia (2000). On the DVD: There are no special features on the disc, but the 12-page booklet is entirely in English and is well presented, offering track and cast lists, a synopsis and notes on Balanchine, Mendelssohn and the creative talents and directors of the Pacific Northwest Ballet. The sound is atmospheric--Dolby Digital 5.0--and the anamorphically enhanced 16:9 image is good, though slightly soft, and does occasionally reveal some compression artefacting. In defiance of regional encoding regulations, not only is this DVD region free, but includes the normal PAL UK television system programme material on one side and on the reverse includes the same content in NTSC format, suitable for American playback. Anyone curious to see if one format is better will find that the UK PAL transfer contains just a little more picture detail. --Gary S Dalkin

• Bamboo Dream | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £22.69   |  Saving you £2.30 (10.14%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A 'blend' of ballet contemporary dance and Chinese dance which follows the seasons of the year. Choreography by Lin Hwai-Min. Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's extraordinary blend of contemporary dance ballet and traditional CHinese dance takes it influence from elements as diverse as calligraphy meditation and martial arts. Here in the choreography of artistic director Lin Hwai-Min age-old beliefs and stories are brought into contemporary and universal perspective taking inspiration from the bamboo seen in China as a symbol of integrity and epitome of elegance.

• Mendelssohn - A Midsummer Night's Dream | Blu Ray | (28/01/2008) from £25.65   |  Saving you £4.34 (16.92%)   |  RRP £29.99

  This performance of George Balanchine's ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream was filmed live at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, in February 1999 and won the award for "Best Television Realisation of a Stage Production" at IMZ Dance Screen. The music is from Mendelssohn's youthful overture plus later theatre music, and five other pieces by the composer all selected by the great Russian choreographer Balanchine in 1962. In a fine ensemble cast, Paul Gibson as Oberon and Patricia Barker as Titania are suitably aloof, at least until the latter dances with the ass Bottom (Timothy Lynch) in a highlight of touching comedy. After all the quarrelsome entanglements of the first act, the finale ensures celebration and richly deserved happy endings all round. The simple sets have a picturesque charm, the costumes a fairytale glamour and the large cast, including many children, dance with flair and enthusiasm; this is clearly one production where everyone was having a fine time. In fact it is rather more enjoyable than Hollywood's A Midsummer Night's Dream of the same year. Ballet aficionados may also want to explore the BBC's wonderful Coppélia (2000). On the DVD: There are no special features on the disc, but the 12-page booklet is entirely in English and is well presented, offering track and cast lists, a synopsis and notes on Balanchine, Mendelssohn and the creative talents and directors of the Pacific Northwest Ballet. The sound is atmospheric--Dolby Digital 5.0--and the anamorphically enhanced 16:9 image is good, though slightly soft, and does occasionally reveal some compression artefacting. In defiance of regional encoding regulations, not only is this DVD region free, but includes the normal PAL UK television system programme material on one side and on the reverse includes the same content in NTSC format, suitable for American playback. Anyone curious to see if one format is better will find that the UK PAL transfer contains just a little more picture detail. --Gary S Dalkin

• Tchaikovsky - the Nutcracker (Colomer, Orchestre Colonne) | DVD | (24/11/2008) from £11.54   |  Saving you £-3.55 (-44.40%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Christmas Night. A little boy sits alone by a small feeble Christmas tree from the branches of which sadly hang garlands salvaged from Christmases past. His mother is dead. Suddenly in a dream or by magic she is there next to him and places a small gift at the foot of the tree. The enchanted night begins: the gift grows bigger and becomes a miraculous icon fiends flood in the mother appears alive followed by two Angels of Light created by Marius-Mephisto. The whole room is dancing and the child begins to laugh. Is it a dream? Reality is that which we feel to be real. Reality is the moment here and now. Freed from his fear the boy watches the Pas de Deux from The Nutcracker directed by Marius his master and danced by the Prince and Princess. ''I remember! Christmas.. .. Marseille the tree the Nativity scene the presents the thirteen desserts -among them my favourite -the NUTS! Above all I loved cracking nuts. My father had shown me that the insides were like a little human brain. I remember.. . My mother. I was seven years old. One evening she said to me 'your mother is going on a long journey. Promise me you will be good. I remember. Christmas.'' '' So wrote Maurice B''jart in his programme notes for his version of the well-loved Christmas ballet The Nutcracker (Casse-Noisette). B''jart''s magical staging transforms the piece into an enchanting and enchanted autobiography and a loving homage to the choreographer''s mother and to his creative hero Marius Petipa. The first part of the performance is punctuated by B''jart on a huge video screen telling something of his childhood. Summing up his approach to creating this ballet B''jart remarked ''You live a life and you dream a life. When you come to write your own life you tell a lie to build the truth.'' Using Tchaikovsky's score in its entirety augmented with popular waltz and accordion music performed on-stage by the legendary Yvette Homer B''jart takes the original St Petersburg story as a springboard from which to evoke the memories emotions and feelings of his own life''s journey: from a Marseille childhood dominated by the memory of his mother to the passionate commitment to dance inspired by the father of classical ballet Petipa. The stage is flooded with allusions to B''jart''s actual and imaginary history: characters both real and symbolic forests scouting bull-fighting bicycles old songs and much more create a universe of feeling reaching its apotheosis in a faithful recreation of the original Pas de Deux -a true declaration of love. The only character in his Nutcracker that relates to the original is Mephisto who replaces Drosselmeyer as the facilitator of fantastical dreams and happenings. Goethe''s Faust fascinated B''jart when he was still very young and the choreographer''s Mephisto is at the same time his creative hero Marius Petipa. Marius-Mephisto opens up a world to the boy Bim (B''jart) in which his dream life and his desire to dance are intertwined. Three performances of B''jart''s Nutcracker were recorded live fiom the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris for the purposes of this television presentation. The showman of modem dance Maurice B''jart''s work has been provocative influential and popular in equal measure. His choreography has always been physically thrilling setting up an immediate emotional combustion between audience and performer and he attracted huge new audiences for dance with the Ballet of the Twentieth Century productions he mounted in sports stadia public squares and circus tents. Since founding the B''jart Ballet Lausanne in 1987 he has been working on a more intimate scale but his style has remained just as electric vivid and direct in its appeal as ever.

• Delibes: Coppelia -- Royal Ballet | DVD | (20/11/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Coppélia is Delibes fairy-tale ballet of 1870, here presented in a production based on the Royal Ballet's 1954 version with designs by Osbert Lancaster and choreography by the company's founder Ninette de Valois. In a small European town Dr Coppélius (Luke Heydon) makes life-sized mechanical dolls. The whimsical tale unfolds as Swanilda (Leanne Benjamin) suspects that her fiancée Franz (Carlos Acosta) is falling in love with the enigmatic Coppélia (Leana Palmer). Everything is suitably magical, from the beautiful sets and costumes to the gorgeously melodic score. There is a sense of romantic playfulness throughout, and of course almost two hours of wonderful dancing, making this a treat to place beside Swan Lake and Giselle. Given live on 19 February 2000, this was the first live full-length ballet from Royal Opera House to be broadcast since 1968.On the DVD: Fortunately the DVD proves an object lesson in how to present ballet on the digital format. There is an introduction by Deborah Dull, principal ballerina with the Royal Ballet, a short but interesting profile of designer Osbert Lancaster, and a nine-minute film "Covent Garden Tales--The Ballet Moves" which gives a look behind the scenes at the Royal Ballet's new home. For a live production, the 16:9 anamorphically enhanced widescreen picture is simply superb, with excellent Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. With even the special features delivered with 16:9 anamorphic enhancement this is a high-quality production in every respect. Encoded for regions two and four. --Gary S Dalkin

• Moon Water | DVD | (24/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Moon Water' as performed by the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan; choreographed by Lin Hwaimin. The dancers perform with water and the sound of water accompanies selected Bach compositions.

• Mendelssohn - A Midsummer Night's Dream | HD DVD | (01/10/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  A Midsummer Night's Dream- Ballet in Two Acts and Six Scenes.

• Cursive II - Cloudgate Dance Theatre Of Taiwan | DVD | (03/04/2006) from £20.49   |  Saving you £4.50 (21.96%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan's seductive and commanding Cursive 2 is the result of a long journey into the ancient practice of movement and spirituality. By blending even more tai chi into his familiar modern dance idiom Lin Hwai-min choreographer of the highly acclaimed Moon Water and Bamboo Dream has created an achingly beautiful work in monochrome tones. Danced against a restrained background featuring blown-up images of precious Sung porcelain framed by black rice paper

• Swan Lake: Matthew Bourne | Blu Ray | (26/06/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £45.52

  I will ship by EMS or SAL items in stock in Japan. It is approximately 7-14days on delivery date. You wholeheartedly support customers as satisfactory. Thank you for you seeing it.

• Cinderella | Blu Ray | (26/04/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £25.55

  I will ship by EMS or SAL items in stock in Japan. It is approximately 7-14days on delivery date. You wholeheartedly support customers as satisfactory. Thank you for you seeing it.

• A Midsummer Night's Dream - Pacific Northwest Ballet | DVD | (26/06/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This performance of George Balanchine's ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream was filmed live at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, in February 1999 and won the award for "Best Television Realisation of a Stage Production" at IMZ Dance Screen. The music is from Mendelssohn's youthful overture plus later theatre music, and five other pieces by the composer all selected by the great Russian choreographer Balanchine in 1962. In a fine ensemble cast, Paul Gibson as Oberon and Patricia Barker as Titania are suitably aloof, at least until the latter dances with the ass Bottom (Timothy Lynch) in a highlight of touching comedy. After all the quarrelsome entanglements of the first act, the finale ensures celebration and richly deserved happy endings all round. The simple sets have a picturesque charm, the costumes a fairytale glamour and the large cast, including many children, dance with flair and enthusiasm; this is clearly one production where everyone was having a fine time. In fact it is rather more enjoyable than Hollywood's A Midsummer Night's Dream of the same year. Ballet aficionados may also want to explore the BBC's wonderful Coppélia (2000). On the DVD: There are no special features on the disc, but the 12-page booklet is entirely in English and is well presented, offering track and cast lists, a synopsis and notes on Balanchine, Mendelssohn and the creative talents and directors of the Pacific Northwest Ballet. The sound is atmospheric--Dolby Digital 5.0--and the anamorphically enhanced 16:9 image is good, though slightly soft, and does occasionally reveal some compression artefacting. In defiance of regional encoding regulations, not only is this DVD region free, but includes the normal PAL UK television system programme material on one side and on the reverse includes the same content in NTSC format, suitable for American playback. Anyone curious to see if one format is better will find that the UK PAL transfer contains just a little more picture detail. --Gary S Dalkin