Marcelo Gomes and Veronika Part perform the White Swan pdd in YAGP's "Ballet's Greatest Hits"
In December 2012, there was a Kickstarter campaign to fund the filming of a ballet DVD/theatrical release of the YAGP gala.
Now it's available for rent/purchase on iTunes and amazon. (Hint: You don't have to purchase the $19.99 HD version on iTunes, click the price button for a dropdown to just purchase the $14.99 standard version).
For whatever reason in the final version, the segment of La Bayadere with Isabella Boylston & Joseph Phillips got cut because of musical licensing reasons? And they also cut out the Pas de Duke performance of the Ailey dancers :(
Onto the DVD: Marcelo Gomes & Veronika Part (ABT) oozed elegance in the white swan PDD. You can tell that women always love partnering with Marcelo, and Veronika is one of the most under-utilized principals at ABT. Her costume could've been better (floppy tutu!) but her and Marcelo can do no wrong. She has long, languid lines and is always super expressive.
Hee Seo (ABT) and Alejandro Virelles (Boston Ballet) did the Pdd from Alexei Ratmansky's The Nutcracker. Oh, so THAT'S what it's supposed to look like! I had seen Daniil Simkin and Sarah Lane perform it at BAM, but there were a couple of partnering glitches and Sarah's shoes were so loud on the BAM stage that it was a little distracting from her usual crystalline technique. Hee Seo is coming into her own, I saw her debut in Romeo & Juliet in Detroit a few years ago, and the performance was pretty but not a lasting one. Now she seems to have developed more confidence and smiley stage presence. Alejandro Virelles from Cuba has great energy and was the perfect cavalier, good find Boston Ballet!!
Greta Hodgkinson from National Ballet of Canada (and sorry I am forgetting her partner's name) did the 2nd act Pdd of Giselle, with Stella Abrera (ABT) as Myrtha. Stella is another one of my favorite dancers who doesn't see enough stage time, and her Myrtha was controlled and ruthless, but I still don't love the role of Myrtha. It always seems to under-utilize the dancer who gets the role (see Marie-Agnes Gilot looking fierce and glowering while Aurelie Dupont gets to do all of the dancing in the POB version).
Ashley Bouder and Daniel Ulbricht from NYCB did "Flames of Paris", which is outside of their usual Balanchine repertoire. Oof, again, the costumes! Not my favorite. Bouder's peasant costume looked more Giselle than French revolutionary. For Ashley this performance was nothing unusual but I'd never seen Daniel perform so it was a pleasant surprise. I've also seen Osipova & Vasiliev perform this at an ABT gala, and watched Catherin Hurlin & Shu Kunoichi perform it at the JKO school performance.
Don Q closed out the DVD, with Taras Domitro and Maria Kochetkova (SFB) as Basilio and Kitri and Skylar Brandt (ABT) as a flower girl. Taras and Maria are on fire, they know their roles in Don Q inside and out. Kochetkova hits every step with perfect timing and her balances and turns are superb. Skylar Brandt is also spotless, she seems to flow effortlessly across the stage and really embodies the steps.
Each performance excerpt has segments of interviews with other dances and choreographers such as Alexei Ratmansky, Alessandra Ferri, Misty Copeland, Denys & Mathieu Ganio, Nigel Lythgoe, Benjamin Millepied, and so forth, so it helps break up the monotony of the gala segments.