20 replies to this topic

[cygneblanc]

Women

Are promoted:

Première danseuse:
Ludmila Pagliero

Sujets:
Amandine Albisson-Pivat
Héloïse Bourdon-Noury
Séverine Westermann

Coryphées:
Laure-Adélaïde Boucaud
Aubane Philbert
Valentine Colasante


Some results are really scandalous   More later ! Congrats to everyone !

[Alexandra]

Thank you, cyngeblanc!  I take it there were disappointments and surprises   I'll look forward to reading yhou on this.

Congratulations too all!

[Estelle]

Thanks, cygneblanc ! Did you attend the competition ?
I'm looking forward to reading your comments.

[gracey]

Thanks for that update. Any news on which men were promoted?

[Estelle]

If I remember correctly, this year the competition for men won't be on the same day (it will take place tomorrow).

[Mashinka]

I am very surprised that Mathilde Frousty hasn't been promoted.  Can one of you Parisians tell me anything about Ludmila Pagliero please, as I have yet to come across her.

[cinnamonswirl]

I second the request for reports about Pagliero. The French boards are in an uproar! All I know about her is she danced the peasant pas in Giselle this year, and she's originally from Argentina.

Yes, too bad about Froustey. Also Eleonore Guerineau.

[silvermash]

Ludmila Pagliero is from Argentina and was a soloist at the National ballet of Chile before entering POB in 2003 I think, at the first level like any other dancer.
She raised quite quickly in the ranks  though, due to her strong technical background but still, as she has only been a Sujet for one year, she hasn’t got yet so much soloist roles in Paris so it’s really difficult to tell how she will develop but she shows some nice promises.
When she danced the main role in Les enfants du Paradis last year, I thought she was really excellent as an actress too. As she is strong technically she could invest in the interpretation which was important in this ballet. However, she has been mainly seen in contemporary repertoire where she is really stunning with a lot of musicality. I think she has done most of the contemporary ballets the past years...  but she’s very strong and secure technically, so perhaps we will see her next in more classical parts?

[bingham]

silvermash, on Nov 19 2009, 03:34 PM, said:

Ludmila Pagliero is from Argentina and was a soloist at the National ballet of Chile before entering POB in 2003 I think, at the first level like any other dancer.
She raised quite quickly in the ranks  though, due to her strong technical background but still, as she has only been a Sujet for one year, she hasn’t got yet so much soloist roles in Paris so it’s really difficult to tell how she will develop but she shows some nice promises.
When she danced the main role in Les enfants du Paradis last year, I thought she was really excellent as an actress too. As she is strong technically she could invest in the interpretation which was important in this ballet. However, she has been mainly seen in contemporary repertoire where she is really stunning with a lot of musicality. I think she has done most of the contemporary ballets the past years...  but she’s very strong and secure technically, so perhaps we will see her next in more classical parts?

     I don't recall of any recent foreign-born dancer who has risen so fast in POB. I remember her winning a silver medal  in NYIBC a few years ago. If she is promoted to Etoile-status, she would be the ist foreigner to be promoted, i think. The Parisian fans do not seem to be thrilled with this possibility.

[silvermash]

Why not, she's only 26... let's see.
(Besides, Première danseuse is a very high level in the company and not all of them will be Etoiles)

[cinnamonswirl]

Who are the foreign dancers (regardless of where they were trained)? Pagliero, Jose Martinez, Alessio Carbone, Eleanora Abbagnato. Any the lower ranks I'm missing?

[Estelle]

bingham, on Nov 19 2009, 04:21 PM, said:

I don't recall of any recent foreign-born dancer who has risen so fast in POB.

Première danseuse Eleonora Abbagnato (Italian) was promoted to première danseuse very quickly
(in 2001, aged 23, in a period when there were far fewer available positions of première danseuse than now), and at some time she was expected to be promoted to étoile, but since then it seems
that the POB direction is less interested in her, and I have no idea if she will be promoted to étoile someday (she's 31, which used to be considered a bit "old" to be promoted to étoile, but with the recent "late" promotions of Delphine Moussin at 36 and Isabelle Ciaravola at 37, who knows...) She took a one-year leave one season ago.

Quote

I remember her winning a silver medal  in NYIBC a few years ago. If she is promoted to Etoile-status, she would be the ist foreigner to be promoted, i think. The Parisian fans do not seem to be thrilled with this possibility.

I don't think that the fans reactions is related to the fact that she is a foreigner. There have been indeed several foreign principals: at least José Martinez (Spanish, promoted in 1997), Peter Van Dijk (German, promoted in 1955), Marjorie Tallchief (American, promoted in 1955)... I think that Serge Peretti was Italian (he was born in Venice), but maybe he had both citizenships.
The criticisms I've read were about her dancing, not her citizenship.

cinnamonswirl: besides Abbagnato (Italian), Carbone (Italian), Martinez (Spanish), and Pagliero, there also is Simon Valastro (Italian, sujet), Miho Fujii (Japanese, quadrille), Sophie Parcen (Hungarian, quadrille) and Francesco Vantaggio (Italian, quadrille). However, since they have been living in France for quite a lot of time, maybe some of them now have both citizenships, or have switched to French citizenship, I don't know...
And until recently, there was Kim Young Geol (Korean, sujet), and but I think he left the company recently.

[silvermash]

As far as I'm concerned, I think that it's not so easy. I think the people who disagree with her promotion have in mind not only that she is a foreigner but that she has studied abroad... and also because a couple of dancers are expected for some years to be promoted and have not. It's also a lot in comparison with those dancers.
I think Yannick Bittencourt is from Switzerland and he suffered the same kind of criticisms when he has been promoted.

[Estelle]

cygneblanc, will you attend the men's competition today ?
I'm looking forward to your reaction (and also to your comments about the women's competition).

silvermash: indeed, the fact that she didn't study at the POB school might cause some of the criticism (but that's a whole different matter than citizenship... and for example, there are some étoiles like Emilie Cozette or Jérémie Bélingard who are French and former POB students and whose promotion was much criticized...)

One thing which makes me feel really sad is the fact that sujet Fanny Fiat left the company this year. I don't even know if she will continue dancing...   I hadn't seen her that often, but had always loved her performances. Unfortunately, she didn't seem very appreciated by the company's direction.

[silvermash]

well I think it's part of the French identity to be highly critical and voiced it... which is not that bad in a way.
A lot of Etoiles have been critized when they have been chosen with more or less strength and not only the ones you mentioned. Laëtitia Pujol, Delphine Moussin, Wilfried Romoli, Hervé Moreau, Benjamin Pech... Art is always subject to taste... but the level of violence here is far above some preference... I'm sceptical...