6 replies to this topic

[CarolinaM]

I was wondering if somebody here was going to see and of course if she/he could tell us about  

I've heard that he is a very good choreographer and I hope to be able to watch one of his ballets soon.

I post the info on his new ballet (in French):

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FAVORITITA

Chorégraphie de José Martinez d'après José Martinez pour le Junior Ballet du CNSMDP

Musique de Gaetano Donizetti

extraits du divertissement de l'Acte II de "La Favorite" (1840)
Lumières Emmanuelle Stauble
Costumes d'Agnès Letestu, Réalisation Catherine Garnier
Création Décembre 2006, Conservatoire de Paris
Durée 16mn

Représentations Dates et horaires :
mercredi 6 décembre 2006 à 15h00
jeudi 7 décembre 2006 à 19h00
vendredi 8 décembre 2006 à 19h00
samedi 9 décembre 2006 à 15h00

INTERPRETES :

Junior Ballet Classique :
Virginie Coussière, Elisa Fossatti, Cécile Kaltenbach, Laëtitia Ménage, Mathias Deneux, Guillaume Ferran, , Kévin Pouzou

" Les musiques guillerettes ou pimpantes des ballets insérés dans les opéras du XIX siècle donnent irrésistiblement l'envie de danser. Celles du divertissement de La Favorite de Donizetti -particulièrement dynamiques (vives, lyriques ou fleuries),- m'ont incité à régler des pas et à jouer avec la virtuosité. "

José Martínez

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This info has been taken from Jose Carlos Martínezweb page.

[Farrell Fan]

Donizetti's opera is known as La Favorite or La Favorita. I'm amused that on the website the ballet has acquired an extra syllable in both French and Spanish -- La Favoritita. I can practically hear the castanets.

[Estelle]

I think the extra syllable isn't a typo (I've seen that title written like that elsewhere), perhaps the final "ita" is intended as a sort of Spanish-like diminutive form ?

Actually José Martinez had already done a choreography called "Mi Favorita" (I don't remember if it was on the same music as this one, but it was a work for a group of POB young dancers and was performed in a "Jeunes danseurs" program. I saw it a few years ago, and also another choreography he had made later for the POB school ("Scaramouche"). Both works were entertaining, humorous, clever pieces (including some parodies of bits of well-known ballets), well-suited to their young performers,  but I can't say I have a very precise memory of it, and it's hard to know about Mr Martinez's choreographic skills after just those two pieces.

CarolinaM, your post made me nostalgic of the period a few years ago when I used to live just two metro stations away from the Paris Conservatoire and used to attend their annual performances (which also had the advantage to be free)... Unfortunately I live far from there now. I hope that some other posters from this board will be able to attend it.

[CarolinaM]

Thanks a lot to both of you for your answers.

Yes, maybe José Carlos Martínez aim is to bring the name a bit "Spanished" with this last sylabe and I also know about a former ballet of him about La Favorita it could be that this one is a version.

Estelle you too have made me nostalgic but about the two times I went to Lyon and enjoyed the superb "Maison de la danse" and your great Ballet of the Opera that I also saw this summer in BCN with a Forsythe repertoire.

I went with Jesús Vallinas (the first time I met him and also the first time I had the opportunity to interview dancers, to be in the rehearsal and to issue a report for fotoescena. It has been the begining of a very exicitng and interesting activity of mine  :huepfen024:

Well I wish José Carlos good luck with his new work these days!!

[Estelle]

Yes, the Maison de la Danse is a nice theater indeed- but I regret that they schedule so little ballet...

By the way, is José Martinez known as José Carlos Martinez in Spain ? Here he's always called "José Martinez", without "Carlos"... But perhaps he added "Carlos" on his web site because "José Martinez" is such a common name (Martinez is quite common in France, and I guess even more in Spain and Spanish-speaking countries) that he preferred to avoid being confused with homonyms !

It is good that ballet schools (previously the POB school, and now the Conservatoire) give him some opportunities to choreograph... Parts of his work "Scaramouche" were shown in NYC by the POB school some time ago, so perhaps you could find some reviews of it either in this forum or on the Danceview Times web site.

Also Agnès Letestu (his former partner, and still his stage partner regularly) created some very original costumes for his ballets, I wonder if she has some plans to work as a costume designer later when she stops her career as a dancer ?

But selfishly I hope that José Martinez's new activities as a choreographer will leave him enough time to continue performing often enough, as he's one of my very favorite dancers

[CarolinaM]

Estelle, on Dec 6 2006, 03:56 PM, said:

By the way, is José Martinez known as José Carlos Martinez in Spain ? Here he's always called "José Martinez", without "Carlos"... But perhaps he added "Carlos" on his web site because "José Martinez" is such a common name (Martinez is quite common in France, and I guess even more in Spain and Spanish-speaking countries) that he preferred to avoid being confused with homonyms !

It is good that ballet schools (previously the POB school, and now the Conservatoire) give him some opportunities to choreograph... Parts of his work "Scaramouche" were shown in NYC by the POB school some time ago, so perhaps you could find some reviews of it either in this forum or on the Danceview Times web site.

But selfishly I hope that José Martinez's new activities as a choreographer will leave him enough time to continue performing often enough, as he's one of my very favorite dancers

His real name is "José Carlos Martínez" in Spain we always have known him like this. Maybe he has preferred to shorten it in France...

Thanks for the other site about reviews and I also like him very much as a dancer!  

[Estelle]

CarolinaM, on Dec 8 2006, 05:36 PM, said:

His real name is "José Carlos Martínez" in Spain we always have known him like this. Maybe he has preferred to shorten it in France...

It's interesting to know about that difference of names... Well, I guess that perhaps an advantage
of such a name in France is that he could be in the phonebooks without risking many unwanted phone calls from fans, as there probably are many "José Martinez" in Paris (also, I think in French the accent on the "i" of Martinez is omitted, as it is written as if it were a French name...)