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Emmanuel Thibault and the POB competition


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You must see that in POB now, premier danseurs must dance as etoile, must be able to replace etoile at every moment, they must be partner they are etoile without title elsewhere the true name of Etoile is Premier danseur Etoile which prove the imbrication of the both category. A premier danseur must be a partner it's not the case of Emmanuel Thibault.

He dances very well, it's sure but not too to be premier danseur. You could compare it to Quilleré, but Quilleré is a good partner and his career with Miami City ballet prove it. In a other company as POB, he will be soloist but I can't believe he will be etoile, he couldn't dance all the important rules as Siegfried, Albrecht, he can just dance little pdd as bluebird, peasants pdd, scottisch pdd in Sylphide.

POB is very different in their hierarchy and the employment of dancer. Sujet is the equivalent of Solist in other troup. All the premier danseur will be étoiles in other troup.

For me POB ballet lovers, it's not a shame that Thibault was not promoted. It's more a shame that Paquette go up he was young and could wait some years, and never we saw him in big rule, we just know it's a good partner. For Bélingard, the case is different, considering that other things than dance could be promote dancer in POB as well as in other companies but a few too much this year.

It's sure that they promoted premiers danseurs who are most caractère than noble but as Kevin said Paquette could be a noble not as in the good old time but he could dance the prince' rule. Pech too even his physical is a few typed.

POB has rules and laws for each category, quadrille make simple "corps de ballet", coryphée begin to have semi-solist rolls (they replace sujets) or caracter rolls as Father, and so on, rolls who just necessit play. The sujet dance all the variation and make the "Big" corps de ballet as Aurora's friends, and could sometime have premier danseur or etoile rolls in contemporary ballet. Premier danseur replace completely etoiles now, they dance the same rolls just less than them. And now since Nureyev isn't alive, they gave all the parts of soloist as Henriette and Clemence (Raymonda), Cinderella sisters, Midsummer night dream's Helena, Hermia and so on to the premier danseur instead of Danseurs etoiles which creates the rolls.

Concerning Bart, Jean-Guillaume is an excellent dancer, it's the best dancer in the POB company now and his Des Grieux, was absolutely wonderful, he just not dancing, he plays too, evidently not for the amphitheâtre but his dance and his playing is wonderful. His partenership with Aurelie Dupont was brilliant. And I think he dance the rule as Dowell or Legris. I'm not the lonely person to think that, someone else compare him to Dowell.

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No, he isn't an etoile, though he has progressed to the official rank of premiere danseur; many lesser talents have been promoted ahead of him.

M. Thibault is something of an enigma in the world of ballet with a massive following throughout Europe but little recognition by the management of his own company. He occasionally gets a leading role and I've gone over to Paris to see him dance in Don Q. and Ashton's Fille, nowadays he guests abroad a lot and recently performed Colas with the Bolshoi in Moscow.

It isn't just audiences that are in awe of Thibault: dancers are too, and Nikolai Tsiskaridze once described him to me as "a genius", a description with which I totally concur. Emmanuel Thibault's career has been blighted by the short-sightedness of the Parisian management that has conspired to rob international audiences of one of the finest dancers France has ever produced.

The first full length role he got to dance was Don Q. and both fans and critics from all over Europe converged on Paris for the event (Clement Crisp and John Percival were sitting together in the front row) I came away hoping that I had witnessed a turning point in his career and that the big roles would all follow in quick succession - but it wasn't to be. I suppose there is still a chance that at this late stage in his career he may still be made etoile as some sort of consolation prize, but I won't be holding my breath.

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innopac, thank you for reviving this thread. I'm impressed that issues relating to M. Thibault's postiion at POB remain in dispute 9 years after the original post. The thread so far as been one of the most interesting and thought-provoking of any I've read on Ballet Talk. It's worth reviving.

I'm of several minds about this topic of rank-v-emploi, etc. Several different points of view seem to me to be equally reasonable. :crying:

Alexandra's:

I read the article (lovely photos) and wondered the same thing, that they thought he had too limited an employ to be promoted. If so, it's a pity, I think. "etoile" doesn't mean "danseur noble," or "danseur classique," and there have always been great danseurs de demicaracteres. I would think they could still promote him and still cast him appropriately.

Leigh's:

This is going to sound heartless, but my one view of Thibault made me think there was no reason to promote him. Not because he wasn't a virtuoso (he was) but because he had already acheived his niche as a soloist. He looked too reedy to be partnered with a ballerina except in "exotic" roles like Bluebird, and he was doing them already as a sujet. Agreed that there is a vast portion of the repertory that I didn't see Thibault in, so I could be way off base about him personally (and wouldn't mind being corrected) but isn't the reason to promote a dancer

Francoise's:

You must see that in POB now, premier danseurs must dance as etoile, must be able to replace etoile at every moment, they must be partner they are etoile without title elsewhere the true name of Etoile is Premier danseur Etoile which prove the imbrication of the both category. A premier danseur must be a partner it's not the case of Emmanuel Thibault.

He dances very well, it's sure but not too to be premier danseur.

Any new thoughts on this topic or suggests about what ought to be done?

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