Heart Dances: The Journey of 'The Piano: The Ballet', The (1-Year Rental)

PLEASE NOTE: If paying via purchase order, your 365-day rental period will begin when we approve your order. (Approvals are usually processed regularly during trading hours, but please allow up to two business days.) If paying up-front via credit card or PayPal, you will have access to stream the file in a matter of minutes, and your 365-day rental period will begin straight away.

You will receive an email (separate to your tax invoice) with a link to watch this video once your payment is received (or when we approve your purchase order).

When celebrated Czech choreographer Jiří Bubeníček and his production designer brother Otto arrive in New Zealand to prepare a ballet inspired by the film The Piano for the Royal New Zealand Ballet, the stage is set for a voyage into uncharted territory for everyone involved.

For the Māori advisor hired by the ballet company, the work epitomises cultural appropriation. His response challenges the concept of freedom of expression so important to the Bubeníčeks while raising questions about cultural representation in the arts. Meanwhile the dancers face challenges of a different kind as they come to terms with the characters and how to portray them.

As everybody works to bring Jane Campion’s famous story to the stage, themes from the original film – old world versus new, new relationships, new challenges – play out amongst those involved, and Jiří and Otto discover the responsibilities of storytelling in dance are more complex than they ever imagined.

This critically acclaimed documentary is well suited to senior secondary and tertiary students studying areas of dance, but would equally engage students from Years 10 to 12 involved in many areas of the creative arts, including any form of performance. A study of collaboration in staging a performance, it reveals a great deal about the roles of choreographers, set designers, musicians and costume designers as well as dancers in creating and staging a performance.

Classification: M

Running Time: 98 mins