Ballet 422

Director Jody Lee Lipes' "Ballet 422" chronicles young New York City Ballet dancer/choreographer Justin Peck's "Paz de la Jolla" over two months, from first rehearsal to world premiere in their 2013 winter season.

The film "shows the truth of ballet" by featuring mostly movement with minimal dialogue, as it should, documenting how choreography and rehearsal are primarily physical feats of collaboration, revision and the stamina required by endless repetition.

The NYCB was founded in 1948, and features a full orchestra, costume shop, lighting department, production crew and 91 fulltime dancers. Twenty-five-year-old Peck joined in 2007, as one of 50 members of the lowest rank, the Corps de Ballet. He had success with the company's choreographic institute, and has become the only current dancer to choreograph for them.

He chose to set his piece to a 1935 musical composition, and to feature three of the company's elite principal dancers. The film weaves in all the production elements: How the lighting is composed to complement mood and look, how the orchestra eventually integrates around the rehearsal pianist's interpretation of the music, and even the complimentary work of the hair dressers, massage therapists, stage managers and ushers. Two outside costumers are brought in to create multicolored and textured 40s-inspired swimming costumes and see-through shifts to support the music and movement.

Blu-ray special features include commentary, deleted scenes, and a sketch gallery for choreography, costumes, music, lights and stage management. The featurette "Creating 'Ballet 422'" talks about the company's mission for new work, and about work and working in general.

Peck says he first listened to the music a lot, to determine how many dancers to use, and ended up with five men, ten women, one principal couple and one solo ballerina. But the ballet emerges as more than the sum of numbers -- it's a fully realized expression of a young man's imagination.

"Ballet 422"
Blu-ray
$16.99
http://www.ballet422.com