As an aspiring ballerina, age eight, I remember begging my mom to let me check out the library’s copy of Swan Lake just one more time—I begged her so often, in fact, that she caved and ordered me my very own copy.
A dancer in today’s era has an endless amount of resources for world-class dance via the internet: Marquee.tv is the newest one, and perhaps one with the best content a young ballet or contemporary dancer could dream of.
Somewhat akin to Netflix or Hulu for dance, Marquee.tv is a streaming service that allows lovers of dance full-length dance films, taped productions, and documentaries. It’s incredibly well-curated, though, so much so that I wonder how they earned the permissions to upload the work of today’s most relevant choreographers. Several works by master choreographer Jiří Kylián, for example, are available in full on Marquee.tv, so prominent that they warrant their own section in the drop-down menu.
But Kylián’s are not the only acclaimed works on Marquee.tv. John Neumeier, Mats Ek, Crystal Pite, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and Alexander Ekman are a few of the many celebrated choreographers whose work appears on this platform.
Alongside them, a few lesser known talents and intriguing documentaries might spark your interest. Categories in the dance section include ballet, contemporary, dance film, popular styles, and fall dance season. Underneath the collections menu, you’ll find categories: dance festival favorites (Naharin’s Virus, Borrowed Light, Story/Time), “from the Nordics” (Rare Birds, Julia & Romeo), classic Jiří Kylián (Bella Figura, Falling Angels, Car Men), American Masters (Paul Taylor Dance Company, New York City Ballet, Alonzo King Lines Ballet) and portrait of the artist (Darcy Bussell, Sasha Waltz).
Among each of these categories is some of the highest caliber concert dance the world has to offer—and each is thoughtfully filmed. Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young’s masterpiece Betroffenheit, for example, carried all the magic of its stage tricks with this film editing, without relying on movie magic to work around them. It maintained its intense theatricality and remained true to the stage vision in this video version. Though the media player is essentially just an embedded YouTube plugin, the Marquee.tv interface rarely skips or freezes. And for the access that it provides the digital audience of dance lovers, Marquee.tv is well worth the subscription.
With an assortment of this caliber, I’d say Marquee.tv is almost a Criterion Collection of classical dance—if only it had a more diverse range of styles. It’s still new, so let’s give it some time to improve and expand.
Written by Celine Kiner for LA Dance Chronicle, August 15, 2019
To learn more about Marquee.tv and to subscribe, click here.
Featured image: Danza Contemporanea di Cuba – Photo by Johan Persson
