9 replies to this topic

[cygneblanc]

The 2003-2004 POB season is now online
Go to www.Opera-de-paris.fr (One can't put a direct link).
We are going to see a Balanchine night, a Robbins/ Balanchine's one, Giselle, La Sylphide, Ivan le Terrible (I don't know the translation!) , Signes (C.Carlson), A tribute to Claude Bessy, a creation by David Bombana, Don Quixote, and CLavigo   , (I'm enough with that piece !!! ), and some other things I don't remember:(

[Estelle]

Thanks cygneblanc!

So here is a detailed list:

-a Balanchine triple bill with "Palais de Cristal"
( it hadn't been danced for about 8 years...), "The Four Temperaments", and "The Prodigal Son" (Oct 2-16)
The first performance of the series will include the Défilé and "Tchaikovsky pas de deux" (and, as it seems to have become an habit now, will be more expensive )

--Roland Petit's "Clavigo" (Oct 23- Nov 6), which had been created in 1999 for the company

-a Balanchine-Robbins mixed bill with "Concerto Barocco", "Serenade", "Tchaikovsky pas de deux" and "Afternoon of a faun" (Dec 1- 31)

-Grigorovich's "Ivan the Terrible" (1975)- it's probably because of the exchange with the Bolshoi, yet I find it somewhat surprising, as it hadn't exactly received good reviews when the company had performed it in the late 1970s... (Dec 12- Jan 7, at Bastille)

-a Kelemenis- Balanchine- Brown- Preljocaj
mixed bill with Kelemenis' pas de trois "Pavane" (from his work "Reversibilité created for the POB in 1999), Trisha Brown's "Glacial Decoy" (1979, new in the repertory), Angelin Preljocaj's "Un trait d'union" (1989, new in the repertory) and George Balanchine's "Liebeslieder Walzer" (1960, new in the repertory).
For me, it wins the prize of the most bizarre program- what a lack of unity in choreographic style, and also in music (Ravel- silence- Bach- Brahms...)
(Dec 17- Jan 3)

-"Giselle" (production by Patrice Bart and Eugene Polyakov)
(Feb 2- Mar 4)

-a Kylian mixed bill with "Doux mensonges" (created for the company in 1999), "Stepping Stones" and a new work
(Feb 17- Mar 3)

-Carolyn Carlson's "Signes", which had been created for the company in 1997
(Mar 16- April 3, at Bastille)

-a special homage to Claude Bessy on March 30, 2004

-a Nijinska- Taylor- Bombana triple bill, with Nijinska's "Les Noces", Paul Taylor's "The rite of spring" and a new work by Davide Bombana
(April 16-29)

-Nureyev's production of "Don Quichotte" (May 11- June 3, at Bastille)

-Mats Ek's "Giselle"
(May 18- June 1)

-Lacotte's reconstruction of "La Sylphide" (June 28- July 15)

And also the POB school's program including Claude Bessy's own choreographies "Concerto en ré" (1977) and "Play Bach" (1966) and George Skibine's "Daphnis et Chloé" (1959)
(April 1-8), and the Bolshoi as a guest company with three programs: Grigorovich's "Swan Lake", Lacotte's reconstruction of "La Fille du Pharaon", and a mixed bill with Fokine's "Chopiniana" and Petit's recent "La Dame de Pique".

Well, once again that's a season that's quite heavy on the modern-contemporary repertory (Kelemenis, Brown, Preljocaj, Carlson, Taylor, Ek, Bombana, Kylian) and curiously, there's only one Nureyev production ("Don Quichotte"). No Lifar, no "Etudes", no Ashton, but I guess we'll have to get used to that... But for me there are some good surprises, and especially the numerous Balanchine works (how great to be able to see "Palais de Cristal" again... but I wonder about the casts), and "Les Noces".

[Mel Johnson]

I think I recall NYCB doing exactly the Balanchine/Robbins bill in precisely that order in the City Center days.  If I were programming, I think I'd turn the all-Balanchine program on its head, and send the audience out into the Place de l'Opéra humming the Bizet, and happily exhilarated with a fouetté competition the way it ought to be done!  

I agree that "Ivan the Terrible" is an odd choice, but let's see what happens with it.

Whatever else goes onto that program, I think that "Liebesleider Waltzes" is an inspired choice for the company to make, and they should well do it justice, and more!

[Estelle]

Quote

Originally posted by Mel Johnson
I think I recall NYCB doing exactly the Balanchine/Robbins bill in precisely that order in the City Center days.  If I were programming, I think I'd turn the all-Balanchine program on its head, and send the audience out into the Place de l'Opéra humming the Bizet, and happily exhilarated with a fouetté competition the way it ought to be done!  

Oh, the order I listed won't necessarily be the order of the program, so it's possible that "Palais de Cristal" will be the last work of the evening...

Quote

Whatever else goes onto that program, I think that "Liebesleider Waltzes" is an inspired choice for the company to make, and they should well do it justice, and more!

I'm really looking forward to seeing it...

[Marc Haegeman]

Thanks for the link. Great to hear the Bolshoi Ballet will finally make it to Paris, and with an alluring programme as well, featuring foremost Lacotte's "La Fille du Pharaon" and Petit's "La dame de Pique". Touring dates are January 7 through 24, 2004.

[Françoise]

Last time, ten years ago, they give Palais de cristal in Paris, it began the evening, who will finish by Glass Pieces from Robbins, Four temperaments were gift as second ballet. And the first time I saw it by POB, it was the middle ballet, he never finish the evening, what I never explain because It's so a wonderful final   !

[su-lian]

Apparently, there's also going to be an evening "étoiles de Chine" with dancers, musicians and other artists from China because there's a special celebration in China's honour next year.
This season sounds quite interesting, especially all that Balanchine. I'm surprised that there's only one Nureyev ballet. Is the Opera slowly going to "eliminate" his ballets from the repertoire and we'll only see one of his ballets once in a while? Some people will say it would be good because his choreographies are too heavy and too complicated, but I can't help loving to go to see them. And for most of them, they're the only versions of the great classics the opera has at its repertoire (there are other versions, but which are probably quite forgotten as they haven't been danced for a while). I'm also very impatient to see the Bolshoi!

[Estelle]

Yes su-lian, I had forgotten to list the program "étoiles de Chine".

I'm wondering about the Nureyev repertory too. I'm not really a fan of those choreographies, but as you wrote, for most of them they are the only productions of the classics in the repertory... This season too, there has been only one Nureyev production ("Swan Lake"), while in the previous seasons there were at least three of his works per season. I don't know if it's an artistic choice, or perhaps just a question of money (I don't know how the copyrights work), or perhaps after showing so many of them the direction prefers to stop a little bit for a few years, and they'll be back later? Also Brigitte Lefèvre, in spite of what she said in some interviews, really seems to be more interested in the modern repertory than in the classical one...

Another choice I'm a bit puzzled about is that there will be no less than 14 performances of "Clavigo", and it might be a bit difficult to fill the theater for it (as it was this season for Neumeier's "Sylvia", for example): such recent full-length works generally attract fewer people than the classics or the Balachine mixed bill, especially when they have already been programmed two seasons ago...

And I wonder if there are some plans to revive Kader Belarbi's "Hurlevent". It had some weaknesses, but it was an interesting work, and I'd really like to see it again.

[Marc Haegeman]

I would hope that the POB doesn't forget about Nureyev's versions of the classics that quickly. Like them or not, but they are not only in several cases the only versions of the classics they have, they are also, as has been repeatedly emphasized by many of the dancers, important for the level of the company. It doesn't mean that they have to program Nureyev continually, one per season might well do, yet I'm much more concerned about what they seem to consider as a replacement (Kelemenis, Brown, Preljocaj, Carlson, Taylor, Ek, Bombana, Kylian... I'm not a fan of those either, especially not in the context of the POB.)

[su-lian]

I totally agree about everything! I mean the opera seems to be giving more and more modern and contemporary ballets and lass classical or neoclassical ballets. It's such a pity! Some companies can't really afford (technically and artisticly) to put up these great classics and don't have all that precious repertory (not only Nureyev, but also Lifar, Balanchine, Robbins...). The Opera can, but seems to be wasting it! Why don't they use more (or rather in a more satisfying way) their magnificent dancers and their such rarely wide repertoire?