Stars in the Making
This documentary is a wonderful example of trends in ballet in 1969. The first Moscow International Ballet Competition drew young dancers from around the world. Foremost among them was the outstanding Mikhail Baryshnikov, then of the Kirov Ballet, who won a gold medal. Russian ballet companies are the most often represented, but dancers from Canada, Denmark, France, Japan, Cuba, the US and other countries are featured. A pleasant surprise for me was seeing Helgi Tomassen, formerly of the Harkness Ballet and New York City Ballet and now Artistic Director of the San Francisco Ballet, winning a silver medal with his clean, effortless dancing. Many of the competitors went on to become leading dancers with their respective companies.

Between the dancing segments, the camera follows the dancers as they tour Moscow and go on a side trip to [then] Leningrad, where they watch a class at the Vaganova Institute, the school of the Kirov Ballet.

The comments on the dancing and choreography (apparently taken from the judges) are very revealing: in the late '60s, Russians still had not been exposed to much dance from the West, and some of the required modern choreography seemed to leave the judges either confused, or impressed (all out of proportion) by its supposed innovation. But the excellence of the dancing and the glimpse of ballet history is what makes this video stand out.

A later (1981) Moscow competition was documented in "Holiday of Ballet." Two other videos about ballet competitions are "Bujones: Winning at Varna" and "Erik Bruhn Prize."