A 2011 French feature length documentary directed by Marlène Ionesco, “A Life for Ballet” stars prima ballerina Ghislaine Thesmar and the greats of ballet like choreographer Pierre Lacotte and dancers Rudolf Nureyev, Agnès Letestu , Michael Denard, Evgenia Obraztsova & Svetlana Zakharova.

Featuring 45 minutes of ballets excerpts unseen before including contemporary interviews as well as videos of ballet performances, many from productions shot for French television ballet including excerpts featuring the Bolshoi, the Kirov and the Opera de Paris.

“A Life for Ballet” explores 60 years of ballet from 1954 to 2011 and focuses on the romance between the talented choreographer Pierre Lacotte and his muse Ghislaine Thesmar, a prima ballerina & highly skilled professor at the Opéra de Paris and it paints a portrait of the story of ballet in the latter half of the twentieth century.

For five decades famed choreographer and dancer Pierre Lacotte has made ballet his life. Chronicling his story and that of his wife and muse, prima ballerina Ghislaine Thesmar, A Life for Ballet pulls together rarely seen archival footage, personal testimonies and peak performances celebrating the lives of these revered artists and many of their famed contemporaries. Rudolf Nureyev, Agnes Letestu, Michael Denard, Evgenia Obraztsova and Svetlana Zakharova all feature.

It’s a personal journey, full of rich observations and delightful anecdotes and yet foremost a lovely valentine to ballet and two of its greatest most passionate and dedicated advocates.

Subtitled.