this was the golden era of classical ballet, is so sad watching young people now try to lift the legs higher without understanding what dance is. She is so beautiful and the whole ABT is perfect

Here I am in 2020, in stunned and joyful silence. What a performance by all the dancers and orchestra. So many comments boil down to, “Gelsey, Gelsey, Gelsey!” I couldn’t agree more. What an artist.

Let's give the ABT corps some love, too. The Polonaise is amazing! What a tempo, and every dancer is so strong. Tutti Bravi!

Gelsey is So BRILLIANT and she has such a DELICATE QUALITY when she dances. She Radiantly SPARKLES in her Precise execution of the Choreography.🌹 And, Misha, is, of course, PERFECTION! 💙 💙 Who could ask for a more beautiful ballet partnership? ABSOLUTELY GLORIOUS!!🌟🌟🌟

She makes every single movement seem full of meaning, momentous, important. Like a 'language" of movement. Don't know how she does it. At the same time she appears so vulnerable somehow. A beautifully sensitive performance (performer). Of course Baryshnikov is as stylish as always, and the corps de b is great too. A++ work of art all round.

For me, Gelsey is the most outstanding in this ballet...She had the ability to be poignantly beautiful and sensitive, and also brilliant and exciting when called for. A TRUE ARTIST...Always have adored her dancing...and am so happy to see this posted...

Wow. I remember watching Gelsey on PBS every year when they aired The Nutcracker. I was just a kid then and never fully realized what a truly special dancer she is. In those days I only cared about technique and really didn't care about artistic ability. What a delight it is to discover ballet through a new lens. This is a spectacular piece by two remarkable artists.

Balanchine and Tchaikovsky; a match made in heaven. And surely also Kirkland and Baryshnikov. And oh, that sweeping grand polonaise that ends this wonderful ballet .

Every scintilla of the music's dynamics finds expression in her body. There has been no one to equal her.

No one has or will ever dance like Gelsey. She is truly a gift and was way ahead of her time. I could watch this performance forever and nothing could compare to its beauty. She truly left her mark on ballet history as the Greatest American Ballerina.

Ummmm....Too good to be true. Seriously. One of the most beautiful things i've seen in my entire life.

I waited seven hours on line to get tickets for this season. Way before the box office even opened there was a line outside the NYS Theater. ABT was such a hot ticket then, with Baryshnikov and Makarova. I treasure those years.

I get the chills every time when she pops her leg up at the perfect timing on beat with the drum as soon as the pas de deux is over! It look like she's playing the music with her body!

Never again a dancer who chew every note of music in such level of detail as Gelsey did, or imbue so much imagination in every moment. Extreme, self-torturing honesty. Through her movement I can see all Tchaikovsky's notes...Cantabile...Molto brillante.. I always come back to this video to remind myself why I love ballet.

I love this ballett and like seing it again! A beautiful team with great stars! ABT dancers with no prpblems dancing Balanchine style.Great Gelsey and Baryshnikov! Adorable done!👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏💐

I have adored this performance since it aired may '78. I watched it on our betamax for years til the machine broke. This is such an exquisite and beautiful performance by Gelsey Kirkland. Baryshnikov was not bad either. Thank you so much I only had to wait 25 years to enjoy my favorite ballet performance again!

I think that there will never be a performance of this caliber ever again. All dancers were awesome as the tempo was quick and the change of epalmains, angles, port de bras are lightning fast.Of course Gelsey is right at home with this and is brilliant, but Baryshnikov was always on tempo, Gelsey was off a few times, but who cares considering the agility of BOTH of them, even though he appeared more modest than Gelsey did.His technique and expressivity also awedome; I never saw a pas de bourre as lusciously done as he does it at the slower tempo This performance inspires the awe that Heidegger spoke of as waning in our modern technological societies. Thanks to whoever uploaded this performance! What a joy!

A dancing genius -- that is Gelsey Kirkland. ☆

Gelsey is just Dazzling in this performance. It's amazing.

Gelsey Kirkland, phenomenal in this ballet. she's like quicksilver. how i wish to have seen her 'live'.

Kirkland was one of Balanchine's greatest, it is too bad they didn't get along. Kirkland is a fantastic dancer, we won't see her like again for a long time.

Gelsey Kirkland is still my favorite Ballet dancer, I first saw her when I was 10 or 11 in the Nutcracker on PBS and was captivated and since then I have always compared others to her and still no one else compares.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. There just isn't enough of Gelsey to watch these days. And he's pretty good too!!

Magnificent. Saw it live on stage and I cannot believe the brilliance of the dancing by Gelsey and Mihail.

I think Gelsey Kirkland is one of the finest American ballerinas of all - I watch her work over and over again, and each time, I learn something new, catch another fine detail, and am inspired.

THIS PERFORMANCE IS THE VERY TOP OF BALLET.

My heart breaks for Gelsey, she truly was such a perfect dancer, she endured so much

I've never seen anyone do this ballet at that speed. Amazing and wonderful to see it again.

gelsey is so beautiful. when she dances its like shes on air...so light. you cant take your eyes off her. what an inspiration

l adored her ,saw in 1975 in don q pdd and in 1977 in bayadeka shadows act ,in both occasions partnered by misha.unforgettable.

Thank goodness for this record of these artists and performances… I still close my eyes when this ballet is performed and see Gelsey as resplendent as in this and numerous other ballets. Thoroughly spoiled and utterly grateful

absolutely wonderful performance--Kirkland is sublime--the pas de deux is amazing. Thanks so much.

I've always loved this music,, and the choreography for this is brilliant. I was surprised how wonderful young Barishnikov and Kirkland were, especially her. I saw one slight flub; but she had a personal quality that just lit up the material. i also thought the costumes were gorgeous. Thanks ABT & Baja0270.

The attack in petite allergo is mind blowing ,its as though the music is trying to catch up to her , she is otherworldly , wish I could see her in more balanchine choreography...

and they say perfection doesn't exist...

Am sure i am in heaven!! SUBLIME PERFECTION!

Making this video available for everyone to see is making up for the lack of a commercial release. Seeing Baryshnikov at the top of his abilities and the one-of-a-kind Gelsey is bringing this amazing ballet close to heaven if not beyond. The definite take on 'Theme.' Brilliant. Thank you

I was there that night, in the first row! I met the double bass player, who I dated for a year or so afterwards! Thank you for uploading this!

This is simply one of THE greatest performances of this ballet by a ballerina *ever*. Even Makarova couldn't do this as well (tho to be fair she wasn't trained in this Balanchine tradition). I never saw Alonso do it, for whom it was made, but she was a demon also - legendary. Gelsey had a checkered career, but this was one of her triumphs.

he has to be the greatest male dancer ever. I always think he looks like a bird in flight

The chemistry exists not only between this couple but between the composer's creation. All magical.

It is totally true. There hasn't been anybody like her since and probably before: just in a class of her own. And I would include all the other greats in that statement. In retrospect, the greatest ballerina who ever danced, dancing with probably the greatest male dancer who ever danced. Just wow.

A.B.T. Soiree. The great artist : Balanchine, Tchaikovsky, Barishnikov, Kirkland. My golden age. 🎵🎵💎❤️😎

Thank you for posting this amazing piece of dance history!

So glad that this was preserved, especially if it was their last performance together.

Glorious

Fabulous. Thanks.

Hah, hah! You're *wrong* - Mr. B. gave this ballet to Kirkland to dance when she was *16* years old. Can you imagine? She was beyond brilliant. I wish I'd been around to see THAT. Phenomenal.

To the person who thinks the music is repetitious......the music is supposed to be "repetitious." It is structured as variations on one particular theme hence "Theme and Variations." It is a well-known music convention. And, it is brilliant.

Misha's performance is breathtaking as usual

Gelsey Kirkland is soooo beautiful! I'm reading her biography for a 2nd time. (the 1st time being in 1994) I love the carriage of her upper body-so strong yet expressive. Yay for her!

This is the very top of ballet. Nothing compares.

I'm glad to see more video of Kirkland here on YT.

OMG! This is amazing! Thank you so much for the opportunity to see this rare treasure!

With all my due respect for Kirkland and Baryshnikov and many other great dancers..... But I am old enough to have seen the original cast of this ballet performing.... Mme Alicia Alonso and Igor Youskevitch and they were superb and made for each other......What a team work!!!!!

I like the way she held her head up so nice and high and did not let go

Thanks so so much for posting this. Gelsey is breathtaking here and the interview at the end was icing on the cake. I wish they would release more from this golden era on DVD

It was Ms. Kirkland's appearance on "L.A. Law" that turned me into a ballet lover. Before that night I hadn't given the artform much thought. When I saw that show, something inside me clicked & I've never been the same.

I have never seen such a beautiful ballerina in every sence. Thank you Gelsey Kirkland!

Oh..... her variation is just so superb!!!! Thankyou, thankyou for posting this video!!!

love love love love love love love - did I say love? this is one of my all-time treasures on VHS tape with a not very good picture, but I love love love it anyway. I was actually at this performance - it was amazing. Those great days at ABT! thank you for posting this.

why aren't there more ballets with Gelsey Kirkland in them there are so few and i love watching her.

@mithrilmoon1 My definition of a Balanchine ballerina is not necessarily that they danced under Balanchine or Balanchine trained, but someone who can capture Mr B's hallmark style when they dance his work...hence i called her a Balanchine ballerina. I feel like when she danced his ballets even after defecting from City Ballet that she still strived to perform as he would have wanted, which made her a true artist. Watching her dance is such an inspiration. So glad to have this video on here!

love,love,love it.... they are both amazing and i love her interview in the end, i can totally relate to what she says being a dancer myself.... BRAVO!!!!!!

God, they had some kind of... Dammit, Misha is stealing the whole from her and it doesn't even look like he's trying. Misha was just pure magic dust whenever, wherever. He could partner anyone and they just meshed. I say he and Gelsey had the best. They just naturally belonged together like two beings from the same plane somehow. When they worked best together. No wonder she fell in love with him. No wonder their work together is still considered their best work. --Remembering, Dane Youssef

This was AMAZING!!! Thank you SO SO much for sharing it.

Go Mischa Go! Gorgeous form as always. I think I actually was in the State Theater for this performance...it doesn't look like the Met where ABT always performed. Those were the days, my friend.

Gelsey ABSOLUTE PERFECTION!

I had not seen it for so many years!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

@ddchil41 And let's not forget about Mischa...a superb performance...the two of them together is absolutely riveting...!!!! Love it!!!

At last somebody has it posted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!

@baja0270 Thank you so very much for uploading this performance. I remember it as though it were yesterday, and it rates as one of my all time favorites. Kirkland and Baryshnikov were amazing. Gelsey was always very special, extremely gifted, and it is so very nice to see her giving one of her all time best performances.

musicality...incredible!

Wow! What a treat to see this performance in full. Kirkland looks like American ballet royalty - speed, precision, delicacy, and beautiful shading. Baryshnikov is terrific too, as are the ABT dancers at a cracking pace! Thanks for posting. I will come back often to study this.

Thank you!magnificant

dear Gelsey thank you for sacrificing and enduring everything that came your way to give us a masterpiece like this, it could not have been easy!!!

Son todos preciosos: la música, la coreografía, etc. Un sueño verlos. Muchas gracias

So Amazing. Thank you for posting this! Gelsey Kirkland is my all time favorite ballerina. I simply cannot watch her enough. She is breath taking.

Hermoso, insuperable, maravilloso

Incredible performance!

Natalia Makarova attempted Theme & Variations a few times in her career, and not very successfully, as she herself admitted. The speed and brilliance required were beyond her. I believe her. Few ballerinas surpassed Kirkland in the speed and clarity with which she could dance Balanchine.

Thank you immensely for this.

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!

finally an interview with Gelsey! I've been looking everywhere :) She answers so truthfully and put a lot of thought into her answers. Thanks for uploading.

I watched Ms. Kirkland's shift from Balanchine to a more traditional approach as I was lucky enough to be a frequent ballet goer at that time. What always struck me in the performances I saw was her astonishing sense of clarity and musicality. In Theme and Variations I think she was an ideal interpreter, as she bridged the stylistic hybridization with her background with Balanchine, yet was able to be more classical at the same time, combining the best of both worlds. Wasn't it Alonso and Youskevitch that Balanchine challenged at Ballet Theater with this ballet originally? I am sure that is what those two would have brought to the roles, classicism with a hunger for a more contemporary challenge... that velocity! One of my all time favorites!

This literally is perfection

holly jesus thank you for posting this! very necessary!

Beautiful love to see Baryshnikov dancing Balanchine I actually prefer to watch him dancing the Balanchine Ballets over Kirkland's performance which is almost too perfect and classical as if she was still giving Balanchine the bird (as she does in her book) by purposefully not incorporating any of the Balanchine style..LOL . But still technically superb by the two stars Bravo to both and thanks for posting this lovely clip.

Baryshnikov is the greatest dancer. I saw him many many times in those days-- you had to act quickly to get tickets for the evening in which he'd be performing.

How much awesomeness can fit on one stage?

Thank you for uploading this!

SHE WAS IT!!!!!!

This is probably one of the most challenging ballets to dance. She did a wonderful job. Far better than Zakharova would be able to manage, she is so slow and this has a good deal of petite allegro to adagio transition that most modern Russian and American dancers are unable to do properly. The French and Royal Ballet manage it pretty well I have noticed.

Wow. And I thought Russians owned ballet. I guess Gelsey Kirkland owns it lol. This is the most incredible performance of a ballerina I’ve ever seen. She’s unreal. She’s near flawless. Where can I find more gelsey material? Doesn’t seem to be much on KZfaq, of decent quality anyways.

Stunning!

misha's diagonal was also incredibly fast, no time for double pirouettes from 5th..

Amazing and charming!

Wonderful video ! It is unfortunate though that the technology was not advanced enough so we could have enjoyed a performance by Alicia Alonso and Igor Youskevitch, the stars for whom the ballet was originally choreographed.

Thank you so much!!!

Perfection in Perfection...