This entertaining film sweeps through the modern history of ballet within the larger story of revolution and world war. The glory years of expatriate Russian ballet come to life hearing from the dancers themselves, who are now in their seventies and eighties. Their anecdotes reveal the technical mastery and artistic ambition of the Ballets Russes companies, yet their grueling performance schedule sounds more like vaudeville. As a result of their travels, the dancers of the Ballets Russes laid the foundation for ballet’s popularity in many unlikely parts of the world. Stunning archival dance footage traces the careers of legendary dancers from the 1930s to early 1960s and sheds light on choreographer Sergei Diagilev’s successors, Léonide Massine and George Balanchine.  NK