New ballet association-POB future

[Juliette]

As you may have read on other topics, POB is becoming a modern dance company and a lot of us are really upset about it.

We want the POB to stay a classical and neo-classical company and to preserve its repertory.

In order to make the POB direction know how we feel, some French ballet-goers have written a petition and anyone can sign it.

Petition

But the problem is bigger in France and therefore some of us would like to create a ballet association. It would be an association where people could talk of their passion and above all an association to promote classical and neo-classical dance in France, where people often only care for modern dance.

As I know many of you feel concerned about the future of the POB and more generally about the future of classical and neo-classical dance (some of you have already shown their support in their posts and I'd like to thank Alexandra for her help), I'd like to know if there are people here who want to join us, help us or are only interested by our actions.

Just tell us how you feel about it, submit ideas, show your support.....

You are all welcome!

And I thank you in advance!

[Message edited by Estelle- Juliette, I edited your message because the link to the petition didn't work, now it should work]

[Alexandra]

I think this is a great idea, and hope it is a success. One of the reasons I started Ballet Alert! was to raise awareness of classical ballet as a distinct art form, so this falls very much in line with our mission.

If you wish to use this forum to discuss issues and keep us up to date on what's going on, please do so.

[Juliette]

As the petition is in French and some of you asked for a translation, I made a translation. It is not the complete text (I made some cuts) but the main ideas, so that you could understand what we are talking about and sign the French text (the link is just in my former post).

The translation:

To the direction of the POB :

On March the 8th was announced Paris Opera 2004-2005 season.

As next season was the first with Gérard Mortier at the head of the Paris Opera, everybody expected it .

And what a surprise! The POB is becoming a modern dance company, with a lot of new works by choreographers such as Jerôme Bel, Angelin Preljocaj, Suzanne Linke, Michèle Noiret, Pina Bausch, Trisha Brown…

Although some ballet goers find this season very interesting (they find tutus and pointes old-fashioned and think 3 Noureev productions are enough), most of us are really disappointed, all the more so since there is no other place in Paris where people can attend classical and neo-classical performances.

However, what is POB mission? Let’s remind: to preserve its repertory and to enrich it with works of a great quality and choreographers wildly known and acclaimed.

POB is not one more place where choreographers experiment new ways of dancing (as are lots of theatres in Paris such as the Théâtre de la Ville or the Théâtre de la Bastille) and is the only living theatre in France where classical dance still exists!

Besides new works by the POB are often far from being successful (for instance, the ballets by Duboc, Darde, Gallotta…), because it is not what the audience want to see!

And we want also to remind that the problem is bigger; it doesn’t only concern the POB, but the future of classical and neo-classical dance in general in France.

Is France, the country where classical dance is born, sentenced to see its dance tradition dying?

Therefore, as ballet lovers, we would like to demand:

- the return of the POB historical repertory masterpieces, such as Marco Spada, La Fille mal gardée, Coppélia and the return of great pieces such as Bournonville’s ones or Petipa’s ones (for instance Le Corsaire)

- the regular revival of the French neo-classical masterpieces, such as the ballets from Lifar, Petit, Béjart…

- Revivals (or new acquisitions) of the pieces of the neo-classical masters, who are sheduled in any classical company, such as Balanchine, Robbins, MacMillan, Neumeier, Cranko…

- New neo-classical works choreographied for the POB, for instance by Neumeier, Wheeldon, scholze, Maillot…

- Modern dance pieces (new works or acquisitions), which quality is not anymore to prove, as are the works by chreographers such as Duato, Malandain, Brumachon or among the oldest Cunningham or Graham…

That’s why we all are disappointed by POB next season and would like to tell you how anxious we feel about the future of classical and neo-classical dance in France.

I hope it's enough clear; if you have problems understanding, just ask me (and I'd like also to apologize for my mistakes)