– Joe Morgenstern, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

“MARVELOUS! It’s a profoundly optimistic and delightful movie, for balletomanes and neophytes alike. It made me happy for days afterward.”

– Andrew O’Hehir, SALON.COM

“Even if you don’t know anything about ballet, this amazing documentary will leave you walking on air.”

– E!ONLINE

“BALLETS RUSSES, a classical, elegiac film … The archival footage is so breathtaking, the reminiscences so piquant, that even a stranger to dance can’t help but be swept up by this peek into such exquisite, now vanished glamour.”

– Lisa Schwarzbaum, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“Let it be said right out loud that BALLETS RUSSES, a film that just opened at the Film Forum in Manhattan and will be playing around the country, is a scrumptious chocolate layer cake of a documentary.”

– John Rockwell, NEW YORK TIMES

“The filmmakers, who spent years gathering rare clips and artifacts, triumphantly demonstrate the almost magical power of archival documentary. Dance is, axiomatically, the most ephemeral of art forms, expiring the moment it comes into being. But here it achieves at least a virtual immortality, as the remarkable accomplishments of dancers, choreographers, and costume and set designers come alive, briefly and sometimes blurrily, on the screen.But the real life force pulsing through “Ballets Russes” – what makes it a delight even for a dance philistine like this critic – belongs to the veterans of the two companies.”

-A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES

“Much more than a specialty item for dance afficianados…an ebullient odyssey from Russia to Australia to whistle-stop America, populated by a cast of charismatic, eternally young-at-heart ballet vets…. Conveys a wonderful sense of the symbiosis between the life of a dance company and the lives of its dancers…. Enormously absorbing…. Scrupulously researched…. Elegant and touching.”

– Scott Foundas, VARIETY

“A sensational, essential documentary!” –

Sheila Benson, SEATTLE WEEKLY

“Breathes life into ballet history!”

-Moira Macdonald, THE SEATTLE TIMES

“Somewhere between Proust and Buena Vista Social Club…. These senescent ballerinas and ballerinos achieve a poignant ecstasy as they recall the exploits of their youth.”

-Andrew Solomon, ARTFORUM

“BALLETS RUSSES won high marks with terrific archive footage of the brilliant, queer-heavy ballet troupe that changed both classical dance and its audience at the dawn of the 20th century.”

-Anne Stockwell, THE ADVOCATE

“Deeply affectionate. Remarkable period footage. When the surviving dancers reunite in New Orleans in 2000, they’re close to a century old–yet they’re still vibrant and vivid. BALLETS RUSSES is a worthy testament to their endurance.”

-Kevin Courrier, BOX OFFICE MAGAZINE

“Even viewers who would rate their interest in and knowledge of ballet somewhere between little and nil should be enthralled by this history of the Ballets Russes… “

-Jason Anderson, EYE WEEKLY