What is creativity? Join Award-winning choreographer Alexander Ekman as he explores the mysteries of the creative process in this fascinating documentary.  

Choreographer Alexander Ekman is known for his out-of-this-world creative works like Hammer, Eskapist, and A Swan Lake.  In this new documentary, Ekman explores the elusive nature of creativity by speaking to people like film director Lone Scherfig, professor Shelley Carson, choreographer Mats Ek, performance artist Marina Abramovic, Joffrey Ballet’s artistic leader Ashley Wheather, film director Tran Anh Hung, professor Linda Hill, film director Tiffany Hsiung, the CEO of the David Lynch Foundation, Bob Roth, and several others. 

See creativity and the creative process from every possible angle as Ekman demonstrates his talent for creativity as he choreographs a career-defining dance piece for the Paris Opera Ballet.  

What is creativity? Join Award-winning choreographer Alexander Ekman as he explores the mysteries of the creative process in this fascinating documentary.

Kreativ: A Study in Creativity by Alexander Ekman

Get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the creative journeys of dynamic dancers and choreographers in this short film series. Produced with Sadler's Wells, each episode offers an intimate look at an artist's journey, process, and inspirations as they overcome challenges and seek new artistic heights.  Feel enriched, enlightened, and deeply moved by the passion and dedication of today's most talented dance artists. 

Get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the creative journeys of dynamic dancers and choreographers in this fascinating short film series. 

Danceworks

Mats Ek and star dancer Stéphane Bullion revisit their artistic relationship through the experience of the creation and interpretation of Another Place, but also of "Bernarda's House" and "Apartment", two Mats Ek ballets that Stéphane has danced throughout his career.

“I could only bid farewell with a creation by Mats Ek” explains star dancer Stéphane Bullion, a way for him to pay tribute to the great choreographer, one of the most influential in modern dance of the 20th century. ""This duet contains my entire career. With this duet, I conclude what I started more than twenty years ago.”

Echoing the mythical duet of Ana Laguna and Mikhail Baryshnikov in Place performed at the Stockholm Drama Theatre in 2009, Mats Ek composed Another Place at the Paris Opera ten years later. A couple gravitates around a simple table and a carpet. Love, its impulses, its exhaustion, time, wear and tear, the attempt at a new approach between a man and a woman, their anguish, vulnerability and madness... everything is played out carnally, straightforwardly, with humour and harshness in the immensity of a bare and completely open stage, on the uninterrupted thread of Franz Liszt's Sonata in B minor written in one piece. A couple's dialogue as only the Swedish choreographer knows how to portray them.

Mats Ek and Stéphane Bullion revisit their artistic relationship through the experience of the creation and interpretation of Another Place.

Another Place by Mats Ek: Documentary

This documentary reveals many intimate and astonishing facts about Maria Callas that many people may not know. Here we witness on stage a broken woman who sings nakedly from her heart, about herself and her life, who acts with incredible power and unashamed truth. Maria was just a woman in trouble, asking for our understanding and our love.

This documentary reveals many intimate and astonishing facts about Maria Callas that many people may not know. Here we witness on stage a broken woman who sings nakedly from her heart.

Callas

Witness the transformative power of dance as a group of inmates participate in choreographer Angelin Preljocaj's dance workshops behind bars. 

Sylvie, Lili, Sophia, Annie, and Malika are serving long sentences in Marseille's Beaumettes prison. For four months, they are visited by renowned choreographer Angelin Preljocaj whose dance classes are a welcome reprieve from life behind bars. Together they choreograph a new work to be performed "outside the walls" at prestigious venues like the Pavillon Noir in Aix-en-Provence and Montpellier's International Dance Festival.  

This moving documentary chronicles their profound journey as they discover the unyielding spirit that emerges when art meets confinement, revealing a gripping tale of human expression and liberation through dance.

Witness the transformative power of dance as a group of inmates take part in choreographer Angelin Preljocaj's dance workshops behind bars.

Dancing Free

This documentary is a fascinating window into the incredible creative process behind Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's moving piece, ''Secrets of the Bamboo Grove.''

Choreographer Lin Hwai-min is a visionary of the dance world.  Follow along as he creates a new piece for Taiwan's Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. Follow along behind the scenes of the rehearsal process and see how the dancers implement strict regimens of tai chi and martial arts to help shape their bodies and movements. 

A fascinating documentary that reveals the incredible creative process behind Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's ''Secrets of the Bamboo Grove.'' 

Secrets of the Bamboo Grove

Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back is a portrait of the charismatic song-and-dance man from his tap-dancing childhood fame to today in Broadway and Hollywood.
Maurice and friends—Chita Rivera, Mercedes Ellington and Debbie Allen—tell tales from his seven-decade career, including Broadway shows, a co-starring role in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Cotton Club and about his loving yet complex relationship with his superstar brother, the late Gregory Hines. Ever battling the challenges of being a gay, black man in show biz, Maurice shares his story with humor and grace.

Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back is a portrait of the charismatic song-and-dance man from his tap-dancing childhood fame to todayn in Broadway and Hollywood.

Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back

This documentary takes you inside the creative world of Australia's visionary choreographer, Meryl Tankard as she crafts a new work - Aurora.  

As the Artistic Director of the Australian Dance Theatre, Meryl Tankard became known for her out-of-the-box, innovative, and humorous works. This biographical film reveals Tankard's boundless creativity and satirical flair through extracts from her seminal works like ''Two Feet,'' ''Furioso,'' ''Songs With Mara,'' and ''Chants de Marriage 2.''  From rehearsals to the stage, watch her creative process unfold as choreographs her new take on the classic ballet Sleeping Beauty, Aurora, and join Tankard as she reunites with her former mentor, the legendary Pina Bausch.  

This documentary takes you inside the creative world of Australia's visionary choreographer, Meryl Tankard as she crafts a new work - Aurora.  

The Black Swan: Meryl Tankard - Choreographer

This meticulously restored 4K film captures a landmark moment in ballet history: the rise of 20th-century dance icon Rudolf Nureyev.

In 1964, Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake," choreographed by the 26-year-old Nureyev, premiered at the Vienna State Opera. The young Russian also performed the lead role of the prince alongside prima ballerina Margot Fonteyn. The audience demanded a record-breaking 89 curtain calls.

Newly filmed conversations with Michael Birkmeyer and Gisela Cech, who danced alongside Nureyev that night, offer firsthand accounts. Additionally, principal dancer of the Berlin State Ballet, Polina Semionova, and choreographer Eric Gauthier provide a modern perspective on Nureyev's enduring influence.

Witness the birth of a legend in a painstakingly restored film that captures Rudolf Nureyev's electrifying 1964 performance of "Swan Lake."

Rudolf Nureyev's Swan Lake: Magic Moments of Music

Filmed on location with Cirque Du Soleil performers, this documentary offers an intimate look at their lives on and off the stage. 

A behind the scenes look at people chasing their dreams and pushing their bodies to the limits.

An intimate documentary following the world-renowned performers of Cirque Du Soleil.

Grazing The Sky - The Art of Cirque Du Soleil

Franz Schubert’s masterpiece, his song cycle Winterreise, bewildered his friends when he first played it through to them. 200 years on, it still challenges musicians of every generation. In this beautiful film, Benjamin Appl (baritone) and James Baillieu (piano) re-imagine the songs at the top of a mountain pass in Switzerland in a way that emphasises the timelessness of Schubert’s music.

Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise re-imagined in the wintry setting of an Alpine landscape. 

Winter Journey: Schubert’s Winterreise

This documentary reveals the fascinating life, mind, and work of John Cage, one of the 20th century's most influential composers and thinkers.

Renowned for his groundbreaking work, including his controversial 1952 composition 4'33'', Cage was not only an artistic pioneer but a deep and philosophical thinker. When filmmaker Frank Scheffer first met Cage, their short conversation says Scheffer, ''changed my life as an artist.'' Over a decade, Scheffer collaborated closely with the composer, collecting a treasure trove of historical audio-visual material. This unique archive, comprised of interviews, musical performances, and evocative 16mm footage from Cage’s life comes together to capture the essence of this influential artist who had such a profound impact on the filmmaker. 

An essential watch for creatives, expect to learn some of Cage's creative techniques and guiding philosophies like the old Chinese methods based on the I Ching, and dive into the world of boundary-changing creativity. 

This intimate documentary reveals the fascinating life, mind, and work of John Cage, one of the 20th century's most influential composers and thinkers. 

OpérApprentis

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