'Just Dance the Steps' is a personal portrait of the Dutch choreographer Hans Van Manen in the run-up to his 90th birthday. For over five years director Willem Aerts followed and observed this internationally acclaimed master of contemporary ballet during his life and work at Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam, in the studio of the Ballett am Rhein in Du�sseldorf and at Nederlands Dans Theater in The Hague. This powerful tribute and inspirational portrayal looks back at van Manen's remarkable artistic legacy, and documents a life that remains inseparable from dance and choreography.

'Just Dance the Steps' is a personal portrait of the Dutch choreographer Hans Van Manen in the run-up to his 90th birthday. For over five years director Willem Aerts followed and observed this internationally acclaimed master of contemporary ballet during his life and work at Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam, in the studio of the Ballett am Rhein in Du�sseldorf and at Nederlands Dans Theater in The Hague. This powerful tribute and inspirational portrayal looks back at van Manen's remarkable artistic legacy, and documents a life that remains inseparable from dance and choreography.

The premiere of Adolphe Adam's Giselle' in Paris on 28 June 1841 was an absolute triumph, and it has been considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon ever since. The theme of 'Giselle,' impossible love, is relevant to all times and cultures. Giselle believes she has found her true love in Albrecht, but he is not the person she thought he was - in fact, he is engaged to someone else. Albrecht's love for Giselle has fatal consequences, but even in death Giselle is still capable of love and forgiveness. This Dutch National Ballet production by Rachel Beaujean and Ricardo Bustamante breathes new life into 'Giselle' while remaining true to the original, combining stunning sets and costumes with ethereal beauty.

The premiere of Adolphe Adam's 'Giselle' in Paris on 28 June 1841 was an absolute triumph, and it has been considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon ever since. The theme of 'Giselle,' impossible love, is relevant to all times and cultures. Giselle believes she has found her true love in Albrecht, but he is not the person she thought he was - in fact, he is engaged to someone else. Albrecht's love for Giselle has fatal consequences, but even in death Giselle is still capable of love and forgiveness. This Dutch National Ballet production by Rachel Beaujean and Ricardo Bustamante breathes new life into 'Giselle' while remaining true to the original, combining stunning sets and costumes with ethereal beauty.

The new, 3-hour film Les Naufragés du Fol Espoir by Ariane Mnouchkine and the Théâtre du Soleil, set in the early 20th century, tells the allegorical story of a ship and its passengers - from the famous opera singer down to the petty criminal. The film is an optimistic political fable intended to educate the masses. There's adventure, high drama, passionate love stories and comedy aplenty. The 3 DVD digipack-set includes 4’30” of bonus features.

Mnouchkine: Les Éphémères

Bel Air Classiques presents Wagner’s mystic masterpiece “Parsifal” in a brilliant staging by Dmitri Tcherniakov in the spectacular Staatsoper Berlin. Wagner’s last completed opera, it was begun in April of 1857 but wasn’t completed until twenty-five years later. It is loosely based on the 13th century epic poem Parzival by Wolfran von Eschenbach, in which an Arthurian knight quests for the Holy Grail. Wagner referred to this work as a “festival play for the consecration of the stage,” rather than an opera. This international cast of outstanding singers lights up the stage, and Daniel Barenboim’s interpretation of the score shimmers in the spotlight.

With the complicity of the excellent Royal Swedish Ballet, Alexander Ekman makes dreams dance in a new surprising, lyrical and cosmic choreographical piece. After the instant success of Midsummer Night's Dream, exploring the density of traditional mysticism and the maze of imagination, choreographer Alexander Ekman and the Royal Swedish Ballet once again brings us on a dancing journey through the looking glass, beyond our own reality. Known for the spectacular quality of his pieces and the oneiric imagery he tends to deploy, Ekman seamlessly takes us from one unlikely situation from the next, thanks to the incredible technical mastery and versatility of the Royal Swedish Ballet dancers. 'I like creating worlds that have never been seen before', Ekman wrote while creating Play with the Paris Opera Ballet: without ever sacrificing lyrical beauty and deep contemplation to pointless incongruity, Eskapist proves once again that the theatrical stage truly is a magic place, where the world as we know it shifts shapes only to dissolve into the most poetic fantasies one could envision. Once more, Ekman has sought support from his long-term acolyte, Swedish composer Mikael Karlsson, whose entrancing music follows the wide range of styles mobilized by Ekman: sometimes downright comic and uplifting, and sometimes reflexive, deep, and ultimately cosmic.

This outstanding DVD release contains two magnificent, but rarely performed ballets: Gene Kelly’s Pas De Dieux, and Leo Staats’ Soir de Fete. Pas De Dieux tells the myth of Eros and Aphrodite who come to earth and land on the beach. The god and goddess seduce a lifeguard and his fiancée and enjoy the pleasures of their love. Just as the couples are dancing with their new suitor, Zeus comes to retrieve his wife and the deities ascend to Olympus, leaving the humans alone to their earthly loves. Pas De Dieux carefully follows George Gershwin’s Concerto in F. The ballet earned Kelly the Chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur by the French Government. Leo Staats’ Soire de Fete was choreographed in 1925. The work is especially notable for its remarkable use of the male dancer, who is too frequently overshadowed by his female companion. This ballet includes the males moving freely alongside their female counterparts.

This new Pell�as et M�lisande from the Opernhaus Z�rich should be remembered as one of Dmitri Tcherniakov's most innovative production. Forget about the fountains, the caverns, the forest, the castles and the towers : here, the density of Maurice Maeterlinck's and Claude Debussy's symbolism becomes the starting point of an analytical journey into the human mind : it is now the psychoanalyst, 'doctor' Golaud, who has to uncover the secrets of Melisande, an unfortunate and traumatized creature he brings home, and whose silence and puzzling attitude eventually bring him on the verge of insanity. But this production is also the occasion for a reunion between Dmitri Tcherniakov and French conductor Alain Altinoglu, after the tremendous success of the Tchaikovsky diptych Iolanta / The Nutcracker - arguably one of the most successful titles of the Bel Air Classiques catalogue. Their artistic complicity is intact : the precise, analytical but also nuanced and poetic baton of Altinoglu proves to be the best possible response to Tcherniakov's subtle exploration of the human psychology. Corinne Winters, as Melisande, Jacques Imbrailo, as Pell�as, and especially Kyle Ketelsen, as Golaud, embody with an incandescent realism these characters plagued by a form of evil and violence that we will never quite understand.

With Tchaikovsky's famous and lyrically poignant score, the beloved masterpiece 'Swan Lake's depiction of tragic love is performed to perfection by the unparalleled virtuosity of Russia's great Bolshoi Ballet with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra. Recorded in early 2015, this live performance available on DVD provides an opportunity to see the modern manifestation of this legendary ballet troupe with lead ballerina Svetlana Zakharova along with Denis Rodkin and Artemy Belyakov among others introducing us to the new generation at the Bolshoi.

To celebrate the Verdi bicentennial, La Fura dels Baus opened the "Centanario Festival 2013" of the Arena di Verona with a new production of “Aida”. The most popular opera of Verona Festival, Aida is the only one performed every year, in front of 17,000 spectators. Using their experience in leading large-scale shows, La Fura dels Baus created an Aida for the XXIst century. The young, talented conductor Omer Meir Wellber led the Orchestra, Coro, Corpo di Ballo e Tecnici dell’Arena di Verona.

For most of the last fifteen years, the destiny of pianist and conductor Christian Zacharias has been linked with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, of which he was Principal Conductor and Artistic Director from 2000-13. His leadership resulted in invitations to prestigious venues and led to numerous recordings. He was named Artist of the Year at Cannes MIDEM, 2007 and in 2010 received the rank of Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters. This 2-DVD Bel-Air release of Beethoven's complete piano concertos presents Mr. Zacharias at the piano as well as conducting the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra.

Also available on Blu-ray

In this biographical and musical road movie by Andy Sommer, Antoine Wagner heads to Switzerland on the trail of his great-great-grandfather, renowned composer Richard Wagner. In order to apprehend the composer's complex personality, Antoine Wagner returns to sites where his ancestor lived, meeting historians, musicologists, musicians, and enlightened amateurs, and exploring the landscapes that inspired Richard Wagner in one of his most artistically rich periods.