12 replies to this topic

[Alexandra]

Ismene Brown on Hurlevent:

Surging orchestral winds, gales of testosterone

WUTHERING HEIGHTS was written in 1845, only four years after the creation of Giselle. It was considered monstrously shocking, and Catherine Earnshaw seems so modern in her uninhibited ideas about loving two men at once that she feels as contemporary to us as innocent Giselle seems remote.

read review

[ March 04, 2002, 08:37 PM: Message edited by: alexandra ]

[Alexandra]

A review in Le Monde:

Sur la lande du Yorkshire, Catherine vole la vedette à Heathcliff

  

quote:

---

l'Opéra Garnier, le danseur-étoile Kader Belarbi chorégraphie, sur une partition de Philippe Hersant, "Les Hauts de Hurlevent", le roman publié par Emily Brontë en 1847.

---

http://www.lemonde.f...rticle&periode=
30&ordrepertinence&debutjour=&debutmois=&debutannee=&finjour=&finmois=
&finannee=&G_NBARCHIVES=714+683

(Another long link, alas.  Either copy this into your browser, or go to www.lemonde.fr and search for "ballet" or "Hurlevent")

[ March 04, 2002, 08:40 PM: Message edited by: alexandra ]

[Estelle]

Alexandra, I've found a shorter link:

http://www.lemonde.f...5159-VT,00.html

[Alexandra]

Thank you, Estelle!  How did you do that?  I've been checking LeMonde for reviews, and always do it by searching for "ballet"  Is there a faster way? And have there been other reviews?  I checked Figaro and a few others but found nothing.

[Estelle]

I clicked on "culture" at the left of the page, and then there was a list of titles, including it.
Well, actually I had first clicked on "version texte" at the left, because I find that format more convenient (and easier to load- the web site of "Le Monde" often makes my Netscape crash...),
and then on "culture" (the difference is the "VT" or not in the URL).

By the way, for once I agree more or less with Dominique Frétard on some points, but I find the beginning of her article quite questionable (insisting once again on Belarbi's Algerian origins on his father's side- Belarbi himself seems quite fed up with the fact that so many journalists insist on it).

[Alexandra]

Thank you, Estelle.  I'll remember that for the future.

I can sympathize with M. Belarbi -- it would get old.  However, since there is at least occasional comment on how the Paris Opera Ballet does not include dancers of other ethnicities, I'm afraid he's doomed to continue to read it.

[Estelle]

Well, what I found a bit ridiculous in Frétard's article is that, more or less, she insists on it while saying that Belarbi doesn't want people to insist on it...
Also she makes a rather silly and inappropriate pun on "beur"
(a term used for French people whose parents are from Marocco, Algeria
or Tunisia).

And from what I've read in interviews, Belarbi is a bit fed up with being considered as a symbol, especially by people who imagine him as a stereotypical example of "Algerian boy from a poor suburb who managed to succeed in spite of hard conditions", while in fact his mother is French, and his father was an officer in the French army- so he considers he was in a rather privileged background, and such comments are embarrassing.

Well, perhaps it's just that I have read quite a lot of articles and interviews by/of him, and perhaps Frétard mentioned it because she thinks that the average reader of "Le Monde" isn't aware of it (and there are a lot of stereotypes associated to people's names. Had his father been French and his mother Algerian, it'd have been different). But I wish the articles about him would focus more about him as a dancer and choreographer.

[ March 05, 2002, 07:06 PM: Message edited by: Estelle ]

[dmdance]

Did Belarbi choreograph "Cassanova" for POB 2-3 years ago? I saw it while I was in Paris. Has anyone else seen it? I would love to hear any other comments. I was overwhelmed by his ability to so fully develop a theme of movement and intent. If anyone else has seen it, I would love to dicuss it.

[Leigh Witchel]

dmdance, Casanova was not choreographed by Belarbi, but by Angelin Preljocaj (and I'd discuss it with you, but alas, I have not seen it).

[ March 09, 2002, 01:51 AM: Message edited by: Leigh Witchel ]

[dmdance]

Mr. Witchel, thank you for correcting my mistake. I wasn't certain about that after having mispalced my program. I wish that you had seen it, I would love to be able to discuss it with someone who has seen it.

[ March 09, 2002, 07:09 PM: Message edited by: dmdance ]

[Alexandra]

Piece about Belarbi and Hurlevent in Telerama:

http://spectacles.te...02085548&srub=1

[Alexandra]

A review by John Percival in The Independent:

http://enjoyment.ind...sp?story=279318

[Estelle]

A review by Paul Ben-Itzak on the Dance Insider web site:

http://www.danceinsi...02/f0305_1.html