silvermash

This will be the third version of the ballet created in 2005. The second version presented in 2008 had important changes so we will see next week how much Nicolas Le Riche has worked on the third one (less than from v1 to v2 I heard) I felt Nicolas Le Riche had a rather more human than political approach of the character and that’s why the moon and the horse are introduced in the narrative as well as Mnester, the pantomime, who’s a very important figure in the ballet. The horse moment was pure poetry!

well I can't really give any advice but to come the earliest you can. When I went to the afternoon show yesterday around 2:15, people were already queuing for the evening one which was at 8pm. Of course this was a Saturday so it might be different on Tuesday. The show is at 7:30. If you can afford a higher price, you can also try the box office, as early of course (fewer tickets) but you can wait inside...

I think they probably tried to make the most of what they had filmed considering what happened during the following day with two changes of cast. Agnès Letestu, José Martinez as Siegfried and Karl Paquette as Wolfgang-Rothbart were supposed to dance the Première so they started the Dress Rehearsals but but José Martinez got injured and Karl Paquette replaced him in the 3rd and 4th act and Stéphane Phavorin took over as Rothbart (he’s in the Emilie Cozette/Karl Paquette cast and was dancing one of the character’s dances). They set a new cast for the Première with Agnès Letestu and Karl Paquette calling on Stéphane Bullion for Wolfgang-Rothbart but at the end, Agnès Letestu couldn’t make it as well to the Première and it was danced by Emilie Cozette, Karl Paquette and Stéphane Bullion. José Martinez gave an interwiew the next day and told he could be on stage as soon as the 12th with Agnès.

Well I don’t know if it answers your question but Paris Opera Ballet is dancing right now Roland Petit’s Le Loup. And while it's not the Beauty and the beast story, it's a story about a beauty and a beast!!! It tells about a young bride who’s husband interchanged with a wolf in order to cheat on her with a gypsy and when she discovers she’s with a real wolf, she still loves the wolf and prefers to die with the beast when the husband and the villagers wants to take her bak and kill the beast. it is staged in beautiful sets and costumes by Carzou.

I fully agree that not all ballet dancers can dance contemporary works such as a modern dancer, and yet, what contemporary works? What does it mean really? Preljocaj is not the same than McGregor, Bausch than Lock, Paul than Millepied etc. but, most of the choreographers of these contemporary works in POB repertoire are alive and some of them are creating for the POB. They don’t create the same way with POB dancers. I just remember Preljocaj talking about that somewhere and POB is acquiring works that are suitable for his dancers. Not all the contemporary choreographers will make it to POB. In any case, you will notice that it’s always the same dancers that are dancing contemporary works. They are the ones who wish to explore in this direction... some of them are even quite specialised in it... and some are pretty good at it … so why not?

Spirit and rhythm is exactly what you felt in the last sentence of your post but as a matter of fact, given the some 25 bills that will be presented of in the Théâtre de la ville this season, this is not comparable with the some 12 ones only and of different types presented by the Paris Opera Ballet. The spirit of theatre de la ville is anchored in the novelty, which doesn’t prevent to present classics such as De Kersmaeker or Bausch, the timeline is shorter in modern repertoire. During the season, it’s like rhythm is such as you look at the next one rather than the past one… but this is because it’s a place and not a company. It's a theatre programming just like Sadler's wells in London. As you stated, perhaps the style of the company is more in the dancing style than in the company repertoire. That is the fixed variable. Perhaps you don’t like the way they danced Balanchine or some of other contemporary works but what would be the point of dancing it like just any other ballet company? The Mariinsky or Royal Ballet isn’t dancing it the same way either. As for me, I’m very eager to see the way they will dance De Kersmaeker Rain next year... Anyway, coming back to the repertoire, it has always been very mixed and that’s why when Rudolf Noureev came in Paris, he could introduce the versions that they are still dancing… This diversity in the repertoire is not coming from nowhere or from an unsecure AD that would have lost confidence in everything. Perhaps it seems very bureaucratic but POB is a State institution and it’s State funded. As such it has duties fixed in a legal provision of the French public administration rule. One of its duties is “to create and diffuse contemporary works and to develop the creativity of choreographic art”.

No, I would say programming of le Théâtre de la ville is of another spirit and rhythm

no, distance in programming

And yet completely irrelevant. If you were a contemporary dance fan, you would notice the distance.

you can find an interview in english (and in spanish in the spanish edition of the same journal) in the current issue (143, Ausgust/September) of Dance Europe

I think he looked a litle bit puzzled how to work in a big company like POB. I found Brigitte Lefevre quite open, just trying to give him a hint on how to manage the dancers, a each level of the hierachy... By the way, when she proposed to name few dancers, he didn't jump on that so he's probably not so flexible... One thing puzzling me is, I don't really know when the filming was made but, she hesitates quite a few times to say "danseurs" and finally always uses "danseuses" and only once she introduced "and danseurs" . But Hark! was presented as to conterbalance the fact that the other ballet on the same bill was Angelin Preljocaj MC14/22 which is a piece for 12 male dancers... And in fact, it ended Hark! was for 13 female dancers... So I wonder how the story was made, I mean at which stage...

Well, as far as I can perceive through his career and previous interviews, Mr. Bullion is a rather modest and sincere man. His way to the top has been rather hectic due to his serious health problems which is driving his way of looking at life probably. Premier danseur is already a high grade in the company. This is the highest to be reached by a contest (at the end of each year if a position is available) and Premiers danseurs and Etoiles belong to the same “numerus clausus”. Anyway, since he's fully back, Mr Bullion remained less than 3 years at the Premier Danseur level and he has been dancing all the Etoiles roles already since then (and even before he was Premier Danseur). In fact, he has nearly danced every lead roles the past two years. He probably hasn’t feel the difference that much between the Premier Danseur and Etoile level which might exist for others.

For those who can read French, there is an interesting interview Entretien Stéphane Bullion in ResMusica magazine

it has been mentioned in the news thread already. Patricia Boccadoro's comments on the event in Culture Kiosque NUREYEV'S BAYADÈRE CONFIRMS NEW MALE STAR

Many thanks for this interesting review. I quite felt the same at this show, very unfortunately, it was the Premiere and Agnès Letestu and José Martinez improved a lot technically, especially in the lifts, in the two others. The 25th being was their best up to me where José Martinez did the last Solor variation as written by Nureyev, which wasn't the case the two others shows. This is rather disturbing when you're familiar with the ballet because you're expecting this variation, which is nearly concluding the ballet. It is often assumed that Solor's role is just a technical role, mostly because of this last variation which is extremely difficult. Only Stéphane Bullion and Mathias Heymann made it shone this time around anyway and to the merit of the first one I think because it's not fit for tall dancers. José Martinez is tall and rather a danseur noble. He didn't make his career on acting skills. He did his best but hardly looked like an Indian Warrior! Personally, I find that good actors can give another dimension to Solor and in the meantime to the story. Obbviously as I said before, this was only done by Stéphane Bullion and Nicolas Le Riche. About the slow tempo of some parts, I must say that the dancers are asking for it. Nureyev choreography is full of steps and sometimes it can looks like a fight to have it rightly, so perhaps it's better when the music is slower. I'd rather have a slow tempo and the real choreography than the right one and something up to what the dancer can do at the moment he's on stage... I think Karl Paquette asked to slow down the last Solor variation for example to manage all the doubles assemblés and we noticed different tempi with the three shades depending the dancers. This was more obvious last Christmas with the Nutcracker and the usually called "Sugar Plum" variation.

I think you have to wait a while to get the culturbox clip, it was the same for me in Paris yesterday but it seems to wok a lot faster this morning

Aurélie Dupont danced with Nicolas Le Riche. They like to dance together and the partnership is perfect, technically speaking, but very “professional” in a sense it’s too much dancing a ballet called La Bayadère than telling the story of Nikiya and Solor. Everything that is happening on stage is expected. They smile when they must, look away at the perfect moment, are always in the right place, it lacks spontaneity and also inspiration. I haven’t been drowned into the story like with Bullion/Moussin or Bélingard/Osta. I found it lacked an emotional aspect in different parts of the ballet which is very important for me. Even Nicolas Le Riche who was astonishing from an acting point of view in the first two acts was a bit lagging behind in the third and it didn’t render the “dream aspect”. They were too earthly grounded. But a very good show for sure, my favourite couple for different reasons with Bullion/Moussin and Bélingard/Osta. The latter one lacks also that emotional third act. I think Jérémie Bélingard has a lot too much charisma compared to Clairemarie Osta who gave a chiselled Nikiya but a lot too modest with this partner. But this is my opinion of course and I have friends who found them matching perfectly. Having said that, I must say that having seen all these couples a few times and in a row (POB piled up all the shows in just a little bit more than 2 weeks) is a lot different from only seeing one performance. You inevitably have the eve performance in your mind when you seat in the theatre and expecting a lot from the next one. You’re expecting something more and that something more was for me brought by Bullion/Moussin, but if you attended only Dupont/Le Riche, that was probably a perfect evening.

I attended all the different casts of this round. Well, I disagree with the review quoted on first post on most of the points. As a matter of fact, I rather prefer the ballet taking place in Opera Bastille where the stage is larger, where the set is on stage and not in the aisles, and where you can see well from everywhere. In the Nureyev version, I found that the collapse of the temple is lacking to understand what is happening in the storyline, the ballet finishing in peace in Solor’s dream. Personally, I found the Bullion/Moussin cast the best mostly because of… Stéphane Bullion. He has his own particular style that you may like or not, but his characters are always well defined. He’s not very demonstrative, more of a very subtle actor and up to me he was the only one with Nicolas Le Riche to be able to give a depth in Solor thoughts and behaviours. Both of them chose to love Gamzatti as well as Nikiya and the moment they felt she was going to confront them with this, they were both so moving. I didn’t find any technical issue in his dance. He’s a powerful dancer and Solor’s role is suiting him very well, especially in the last variation which was very impressive. The partnership with Delphine Moussin was very emotional and with Stéphanie Romberg very joyful. Delphine Moussin is not a very technical dancer but she really has the talent to give life of any role with subtlety, something sincere than can become magic when she is in line with her partner. That was the case. Their two shows were excellent evenings which concluded with the inevitable, Mr Bullion being promoted étoile. The other casts, although at a very high level, suffered from dramatic consistency and also a discrepancy between the dance and the acting, with most of the time one or the other main role being not tuned at the same level. The main roles are very demanding, especially in the Nureyev version and this is difficult to reach the emotional level Stéphane Bullion and Delphine Moussin gave. Bart, I found Agnès Letestu and José Martinez not at their top form and I was quite disappointed with their shows, but as said, this was still good shows.

After a stunning performance of Solor in La Bayadère, June 2nd, 2010, on the stage of Paris Opéra Garnier, Mr. Stéphane Bullion has been apppointed Etoile by the Director of the Paris Opéra. Congratulations

The new ballet by Angelin Preljocaj on Bruno Mantovani commissioned score premiered in Opéra Bastille March 18. It’s a very interesting ballet, quite beautiful on the life of Siddharta Gautama. Pure Preljocaj but with some classical references. There are some really brilliant male pas de deux and staging is quite stunning. It will be aired live on Mezzo channel April 9.

I'm afraid that unless they changed their policy, there's nothing you can do. Even for sold out events, they don't take return tickets. It happened to me last year I couldn't come for a sold out Premiere and what they told me was to come at the box office some days before to try to sell them myself!!! I think the return tickets queue is only for the tickets returned from official agencies and the quota that is kept each evening in the event of important last minute guests...

silvermash, this is confirmed by others. I'll try, but will probably do what I've done in the past: go to the box office in person a week or so before the performances. Yes Bayadère has been difficult to book compared to the two other ballets on sale the same day. Still I found everything I wanted but as said, during the whole week. I personally don't mind buying single tickets, even sometimes it's nice so you can change your angle of view after the intermission.

The ordering by internet has been recently a hot topic as POB website kind of crashed down last Monday and it took about two or three hours for customers to reach the booking area. What I can say and even if it's really annoying, it's what has been happening this year, they don't release all the tickets in one stock, so if you can't find any left the opening day, you have to check regularly for new stocks the following days. Those released the first day are presumably better but it depends from your point of view. I must precise that you can't choose you seat, only the price range and the area (stalls, boxes, balcony, etc.). It's a lot more satysfying by phone where you can deal where you are seated, but there is less tickets released, especially if the programme sold well by the internet. There are English speaking operators if you do worry about that. Paquita has been shown two years ago so maybe it will be easy but not sure as for example, The Lady of the Camellias is shown mostly every year and it's always fully booked in one day...

It depends which ballet you want to see. you can check at the following url. First colomn is starting date on the internet, second one by phone and last one at the box office. http://www.operadeparis.fr/cns11/live/onp/...hp?〈=en

well it doesn't really matter how long is the ballet if it's good but of course, we don't know as it is a world premiere!!! Tribute to Robbins has more works so you can probably find your taste. La Petite Danseuse de Degas will be filmed for a DVD release, but of course, it's different from a live show. However, I must tell that the Robbins bill has been fillmed too last year and though have been broadcasted on TV, is not out in DVD so you can't really rely on that too.