I Am a Dancer Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

I Am a Dancer Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 12, 2020

The inimitable Liberace was on record as stating his performances offered "classical music with all of the boring parts taken out", a "redaction" that no doubt some listeners probably approved of. That same "greatest hits" ambience might pertain at least a little to I Am a Dancer, a 1972 documentary ostensibly about Rudolf Nureyev (and Margot Fonteyn, albeit as a sidebar) which may be of most interest to ballet fans who want a few snippets of Nureyev dancing various roles interspersed with obviously staged interstitials of him rehearsing various moves. This is an oddly static documentary considering its implied subject is movement, as personified by one of the most legendary dancers of all time. There's probably too little background information here to interest those who are trying to get some biographical tidbits about Nureyev, but at least some of the performance footage, as brief as it is, will probably delight ballet fans in general and Nureyev fans in particular.

Nureyev is largely MIA on Blu-ray, with only a handful of releases featuring him, and one of those is his "acting" debut in Valentino. And in fact, if our usually reliable database is to be believed, the only other Blu- ray featuring Nureyev in his more recognized role as ballet titan is the now long ago and probably very little remembered Don Quixote, which I reviewed way back in 2012. That may be the primary reason why I Am a Dancer will appeal to Nureyev fans, but even they should be aware that this piece never offers more than a few minutes (if even that) of Nureyev on stage in performance. There are some brief cutaways to folks like the aforementioned Fonteyn and legendary choreographer Frederick Ashton, who provide a bit of commentary on Nureyev, but even those elements are weirdly truncated and not very informative. Some of the most interesting material may be a segment of a non-traditional piece that is much more modern dance than classical ballet.

I Am a Dancer Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

I Am a Dancer is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Movement Classics, an imprint of Film Movement, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. This is another Film Movement release where the insert booklet offers only a generic "new HD restoration. This is a tale of two presentations, with some of the rehearsal, supposedly candid, material looking fairly fuzzy, often with a pretty chunky, yellowish grain field, and some of the interstitial "real" performance material offering noticeably better clarity and a more refined grain structure. The candid material has a somewhat faded look in terms of the palette, but some of the performance material offers some nice pop.

I Am a Dancer Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I Am a Dancer features a serviceable LPCM 2.0 Mono track. The piece is narrated by Bryan Forbes, along with occasional conversation between Nureyev, Fonteyn and Ashton, among others. Music is frequently just the rehearsal piano in the candid moments, but orchestral accompaniment does come into play in some of the interstitial material.

I Am a Dancer Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Terese Capucilli on Nureyev and Fonteyn (1080p; 23:22)


• Skylar Brandt on I Am a Dancer (1080p; 8:36)

Additionally, trailers for other music and/or dance offerings from Film Movement are included. As with most Film Movement releases, the disc also offers an About Film Movement option on the Main Menu which leads to text about and a trailer for Film Movement. The nicely appointed booklet contains an interesting essay by Kenji Fujishima.

I Am a Dancer Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's nothing overly revelatory in I Am a Dancer, though I can't imagine fans of Nureyev not liking this simply because it provides some rare screen time for him. Technical merits are generally solid for those considering a purchase.