Nora Esteves

The video NORA ESTEVES IN FOCO, with about one-hour duration, is the first video on classic ballet developed in Brazil.

With script and direction by Alberto Salva and artistic direction by Emílio Martins, NORA ESTEVES IN FOCO is a project supported by the Brazilian Culture Incentive Law, sponsored by Embratel and Petrobras BR and supported by Universidade Estácio de Sá.

The video comprises an intermediary and advanced grade ballet class, delivered and performed by Nora Esteves, the Prima Ballerina of the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro. Before each exercise, the dancer explains what must be done and why, warning ballet students and dancers about possible defects while performing them. 

But the video is not only didactic. It also has dancer’s testimonies about her career and, further, shows rehearsals with her partner, while she receives instructions from her rehearser. 

With this, Nora wants to show to her public, who are ballet lovers, what is behind the curtains of a show. At the end, she presents two complete pas-de-deux with her partner, the also Primo Ballerino of the Municipal Theater, Paulo Rodrigues, both under the artistic direction of Emílio Martins (professor, rehearser and choreographer).

The first pas-de-deux is “Cantabile” with choreography by Argentinean Oscar Araiz and music by Samuel Barber, in a quite contemporaneous choreographic style. The other one is the famous pas-de-deux “Don Quixote”, a key piece of the classic ballet, which requires a high technical virtuosity, whose original choreography by Petipa has been adapted through the times.

The video NORA ESTEVES IN FOCO was nationally released on November 5th, 1998, in Rio de Janeiro, at the Bookstore Letras & Expressões (Ipanema) and at Casa da Cultura of Universidade Estácio de Sá (Barra da Tijuca). It is currently available in DVD.