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Concours de Promotion 2015


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I hope our French correspondents report back to us how the Concours, which started today, is going.

I've seen the competition program online and it's interesting to see how many of the male sujets chose something by Jerome Robbins (whose protégé just so happens to be the current Artistic Director) for their free variation. Five of the nine competing sujets picked Robbins.

Company members who are on the jury: Benjamin Pech, Laura Hecquet, Ludmila Pagliero, Lucie Clement, Sabrina Mallem, Alexis Renaud, Muriel Zusperreguy (alternate)

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On Facebook the POB is reporting that Hannah O'Neill and Léonore Baulac have been promoted to première danseuse. :flowers:

https://www.facebook.com/BalletdelOperadeParis/photos/a.294562217399275.1073741828.293848657470631/427165860805576/

O'Neill's story is an interesting one: http://www.pointemagazine.com/issues/februarymarch-2013/dancer-spotlight-underdog

I wonder just how many "stagiaire" have made it to Première Danseuse?

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Ludmila Pagliero, a current étoile, did not attend the POB school and was initially hired with a temporary contract. I am not sure of any others.

I did not attend the concours, but reports can be read (mostly in French) on Danses avec la Plume. Many dansers chose Balanchine or Robbins for their free variation, a little Millepied inspiration?

The complete list of promoted dancers (the men's concours is on Friday)

(names from the Paris Opera Ballet official twitter account, info on variations from a copy of the program)

As a reminder, the Paris Opera Ballet has five rankings, three that form the corps de ballet (Quadrille, Coryphée, Sujet/demi-solist), Premier(e) Danseur/euse (first solist), and Etoile.

Quadrille to Coryphée

-Required varation: Grand Pas Classique, Victor Gsovsky

Roxane Stojanov

Katherine Higgins (American and former stagiaire, hired with a full contract earlier this year)

Sophie Mayoux

Leila Dilhac

Alice Catonnet

Coryphée to Sujet:

- Required variation: Raymonda, pizzicati variation, Nureyev

Marion Barbeau

Ida Viikinkoski

Fanny Gorse

Lydie Vareilhes

Sujet to Premiere Danseuse:

- Required variation: Spring variation from the Four Seasons, Robbins

Hannah O'Neill

Leonore Baulac

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"Danse avec la plume" is citable here as an official source, as it is much like Dance Tabs, a group of professional writers and journalists. "Dansomanie" is not an official source, as no other discussion boards are on Ballet Alert!

This is the link to "Danse avec la plume"
http://www.dansesaveclaplume.com/a-la-barre/35919-concours-interne-de-promotion-2015-du-ballet-de-lopera-de-paris-resultats-des-danseuses/

Be sure to provide links for online sources.

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"Danse avec la plume" is citable here as an official source, as it is much like Dance Tabs, a group of professional writers and journalists. "Dansomanie" is not an official source, as no other discussion boards are on Ballet Alert!

This is the link to "Danse avec la plume"

http://www.dansesaveclaplume.com/a-la-barre/35919-concours-interne-de-promotion-2015-du-ballet-de-lopera-de-paris-resultats-des-danseuses/

Be sure to provide links for online sources.

https://twitter.com/BalletOParis

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Here are the links to the promotion announcement tweets, which will quickly disappear down and off the page after new tweets push them down the list:

Premier danseuses:

l CONCOURS l Hannah O'NEILL et @LeonoreBaulac sont promues Premières danseuses du @BalletOParis.

Sujets:

l CONCOURS l Marion BARBEAU, Ida VIIKINKOSKI, Fanny GORSE et Lydie VAREILHES sont promues Sujet du @balletOParis.

Coryphees:

l CONCOURS l Roxane STOJANOV, Katherine HIGGINS, Sophie MAYOUX, Leïla DHILAC et Alice CATONNET sont promues Coryphées du @balletOParis.
Congratulations to all of the dancers on their promotions :flowers:
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If you compare the names of those who advanced to what they chose for their free variation, you begin to see quite a pattern:

Stojanov (Robbins)

Higgins (Robbins)

Mayoux (Balanchine)

Dilhac (Balanchine)

Catonnet (Robbins)

Barbeau (Hightower)

Viikinkoski (Vaganova)

Gorse (Balanchine)

Vareilhes (Robbins)

O'Neill (Nureyev)

Baulac (Robbins)

The Rosella Hightower and Agrippina Vaganova picks for free variations were inspired given what everyone else picked. The handwriting is on the wall, that's for sure!

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O'Neill's story is an interesting one: http://www.pointemagazine.com/issues/februarymarch-2013/dancer-spotlight-underdog

I wonder just how many "stagiaire" have made it to Première Danseuse?

Hopefully, she's stopped having nightmares about that dropped arabesque. I've heard audiences let out implacably unforgiving gasps when things like that happen, so it's nice to know Mme Lefèvre was more understanding and that it didn't destroy O'Neill's POB career.

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If you compare the names of those who advanced to what they chose for their free variation, you begin to see quite a pattern:

Stojanov (Robbins)

Higgins (Robbins)

Mayoux (Balanchine)

Dilhac (Balanchine)

Catonnet (Robbins)

Barbeau (Hightower)

Viikinkoski (Vaganova)

Gorse (Balanchine)

Vareilhes (Robbins)

O'Neill (Nureyev)

Baulac (Robbins)

The Rosella Hightower and Agrippina Vaganova picks for free variations were inspired given what everyone else picked. The handwriting is on the wall, that's for sure!

The dancers can attempt to make a statement with their choreography choice, but the Concours judges aren't dumb - they are not going to discount a great performance just because the program choice was predictable. I think the dancers are trying to demonstrate that they are "with it", and capable of dancing whatever Millepied programs for them, and that is fine: they will need to be ready for a challenge. O'Neill's choice of Nureyev also seems calculated to show respect for the POB and its traditions (since she is coming form the outside), and that makes sense too.

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I have attended the concours yesterday and it was so boring, all these Robbins variations, that I didn’t feel to write about it… Well thanks to Hannah O’Neill, who deserves her promotion, she was the best with Sae Eun Park and the Nureyev choice was a relief as she didn’t bother with sycophancy :wink:

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the Concours judges aren't dumb - they are not going to discount a great performance just because the program choice was predictable.

I don't necessarily disagree with you. But I don't think that's the lesson the coaches for the free variations will take from these results. I think the takeaway will be, "Eight of the eleven advancing dancers picked something by Robbins or Balanchine. That's where your focus needs to be with your free variation. Lifar and Lander and Petit and Bejart and even, potentially, Nureyev are things of the past. You've got to play the game and understand that half of the jury comes from the Director's side of things. And the Director wants to move things in the direction of the New York City Ballet."

The men's competition will be interesting on the 6th. There are fewer men competing (25 compared to 39 for the women) and the free variations breakdown reveals more of a split between the old POB and the new: 8 Robbins variations, 6 Nureyev variations and 3 Pierre Lacotte variations. (For those of you keeping score at home, the two "it boys" among the sujets, Germain Louvet and Hugo Marchand, both picked Robbins.)

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From Paris Opera Ballet:

l CONCOURS l Hugo MARCHAND est promu Premier Danseur du @BalletOParis.
l CONCOURS l Jérémy-Loup QUER est promu Sujet du @balletOParis.
l CONCOURS l Paul MARQUE et Pablo LEGASA sont promus Coryphées du @balletOParis.
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