silvermash

Do you mean in Lady of the camellias last October? There is some (mine) report here and a couple of videos in Agnès thread... http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/31848-agnes-letestu/ She gave another one in Japan though in March.

There is no general (admitted/Legal) age rule at POB, but the past years have seen some kind of regularities in promotions. I guess that independently from the concours system, it comes also from the AD politics. No maximum time as well, you can compete each time positions are available in the next level until your retirement age (42,5) Due to the age pyramid, position are quite frequent (although not always numerous) in the lower ranks (coryphées, sujet), of course less often as Premier/première Danseuse, but positions are more or less still available every one or two years... Some time, "older" dancers are not competing because the imposed variation doesn't suit them, sometimes because there are just a couple of positions and obvious younger talents in the ranks. But usually, it seems dancers like to compete even if they have few chances to be promoted because it means for them the possibility to work on solo variations and to perform on the main stage alone, even if conditions are not the best. It's different for the competition to be Premier Danseur/Première Danseuse. It is quite rare that you can be promoted after you reach your mid-30s, mostly because they are the "stock" to become Etoile. However, I think Christophe Duquenne was promoted very late as well as Stéphane Phavorin, perhaps because few positions were available in their age group before. As for Etoile, technically gifted are named fairly young and it feels like -recently at least- artistically brilliant are named later, when you don't expect a dancer to dance physically demanding classics and also they seem artistically needed for the company repertoire.

He remained on the roaster until last year but took time off before retirement age to start studies... He hasn't been seen on POB stage since 2010 I think.

The reason why there is a lot of strikes in France is because there is no culture of dialogue between the employers and trade unions... That's when they are face to difficulties that employers think about the people...

Just two things. I don't believe the opera went on strike to support Greek economy. It was not a General strike but a sector strike of the artistic trade unions. The Opera went on strike because employees believed their art is threaten. To go on strike is never done lightly especially in the artistic domains where it's all about giving yourself to the audience. The high quality delivered by the artists of POB is a product of a system and perhaps we can trust them to know what to do to keep going this high quality. As for the direction of the Opera, French law offers the right to strike and they have no say on this! Usually, they inform people as soon as they know. The cancellation of the 27th show has been known pretty late but the one of the 12th was known the day before ( I received a sms and an e-mail to inform me the 11th).

the only other Etoile dancer who has little repertoire who is coming to my mind is Ould-Braham... Dorothée GIlbert is little cast in contemporary but ventures in neo-classical.Abbagnato has danced the repertoire when she was younger and it seems Renavand is likely to try classics as well. Among male dancers, Ganio and Heymann are mostly doing classics but they are still the youngest so it may change. I think what is required to be Etoile is to have this high level in classical repertory and that's why the Premiers danseurs who are likely to become Etoiles have to prove they can. But in the meantime, artistic and acting skills are required at a high level too and it's diffcult to show a wide range of talent when you're not cast in contemporary and neo classical. Each year there are huge discussions around the concours but this is difficult to find another way of promoting dancers which would be that fair. And although some complain about the concours, overall they are attached to this way of promotion. Afterall from what I can remember of the past ten years, there are very few dancers who has been left over by concours with blatant injustice... Perhaps Fanny Fiat would had deserved to be Première Danseuse (she left the company in her early 30s) but all the others, even if it took a long time managed to pass that level.

What you tend to forget is that there are many dancers at this level in POB and they can't be all Etoiles and not even Premières danseuses. Besides, she has always been cast in specific kind of soubrette roles that are limited in POB repertoire and I would say most of the time because Etoiles don't want to dance them. She's very rarely seen in contemporary nor chosen by living choreographers...

This is a general movement in the arts right now. Dancers are not the only elements in a show, this is the entire profession which is threaten. As Millepied, he probably knows the trade unions are strong in the Paris Opera, it's well known!

I’m not fully aware of all the details but there are big threats over the unemployment compensation regime of people working in the arts (artists and technicians). Two De Mille/Cullberg shows have been cancelled, February 27 and March 12.

the official video of Amandine nomination http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1f06d9_amandine-albisson-nommee-danseuse-etoile-de-l-opera-national-de-paris_creation

Congratulations to Amandine Albisson, a beautiful dancer!

Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Anatomie de la sensation will be performed in Bastille opera

Additionally the company will bring Paquita (Lacotte) on tour in Montreal (October 16-19) and Copenhagen (May 29-31)

yes, this is the last season she programmed and she will leave the head of the company October 4th.

POB 2014-2015 season is online http://www.operadeparis.fr/saison-2014-2015/ballet Etudes (Lander) /Woundwork 1, Pas./Part (Forsythe) Rain (De Keersmaeker) La Source (Bart) Nutcracker (Noureev) Repliques (Paul), Salut (Rigal) creation, AndreAuria (Lock) Le Chant de la terre (Neumeier) creation Swan Lake (Noureev) Manon (MacMillan) Paquita (Lacotte) Children of paradise (Martinez) La Fille mal gardée (Ashton) Anatomie de la sensation (McGregor) Guest companies Tanztheater Wuppertal: Three cigaresttes in the dark (Bausch) Royal Swedish Ballet : Julia og Romeo (Ek)

Fall River Legend is danced first

Well I’ve seen all the casts and this was far from being my favorite. I found them both too much predictable and there was little suspense in the love story. Moreover, the last pas de deux was a bit messed up all. It’s supposed to be the acme of the ballet and I just found they were too slow and too affected to be touched. I’ve seen them with different partners few years ago and I thought it was more enjoyable by then. My favorite cast was Pujol/Bullion and her cambré in the “kiss scene” was a pure wonder, I’ve actually never seen such a wave of emotion with so little. Otherwise, she dances with delicacy and he was very moving in the second pas de deux. The last one was, as said very emotional with an amazinf flying kiss. I found him less emotional with his other two partners (well in fact he had to replace two other dancers so he mostly did half of the shows). However, the shows with Alice Renavand were very enticing from a dance point of view, up to me less from an acting one.

The official video on POB web site http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x18rk63

Alice Renavand is atypical. She is a real creative artist and has a very intelligent way of dancing and using of her qualities. Most of the choreographers creating for POB wants her and despite she remained Sujet until 2012, she may have the longest list of creations of the company and solist roles in contemporary repertoire. She’s up to me an essential artist in a large company which deserves a vast range of types of Etoiles.

Congratulations to Alice, one of the most interesting artists of the company

Well, from what I understand of the competition system, the jury has to vote for the first one, then for the second one, and so on. As they couldn’t get a majority after 4 rounds on the second one to promote, they stopped the voting. It happened in 2010 at the level of Première danseuse, the position available wasn’t filled for the same reason.

Results for the ladies Quadrilles competition 1. Hannah O'Neill 2. Léonore Baulac are promoted Choryphées Choryphées competition 1. Sae Eun Park is promoted Sujet Sujets competition 1. Amandine Albisson is promoted Première Danseuse Congratulations to all!

Today was male internal competition. This year, 2 positions in each class Quadrilles competition 1. Hugo Marchand 2. Germain Louvet are promoted Choryphées Choryphées competition 1. Axel Ibot 2. Sébastien Bertaud are promoted Sujet Sujets competition 1. Pierre-Arthur Raveau 2. François Alu are promoted Premier Danseur Congrats!

There is no such thing as a pure farewell performance... Agnès will come back in June on Paris stage to dance Balanchine "Palais de Cristal" as a guest, just like in Tokyo...

Did you try to phone? They don't have the same allocation of tickets so perhaps they have some tickets left. There are English speaking operators. They will probably release some more tickets, especially nearer the time of the shows, but it's a week end so it might be more complicated to get tickets and if you're not checking on the website when it happens, it's just difficult. Alternatively, you can check on the official exchange tickets www. You have to pay fees but it's secured. http://boursechange.operadeparis.fr/ballets-onp