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silvermash

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Posts posted by silvermash

  1. 1 hour ago, volcanohunter said:

    Final bow for Hurel and Thibault. :flowers:

     

     

    It was nice. Mélanie's little daughter brought her the bouquet and Mélanie gave it to Emmanuel who had his own thrown from the audience.

    Premiers danseurs are not given proper farewells but theirs were particular because their cararacters just appeared in the first act and don't bow at the end of the ballet. But they had two curtain calls at the end of the first act, which is not common.

  2. 5 hours ago, miliosr said:

     

    Yes, especially since quite a few dancers are new in the roles (La Sylphide) :o

  3. Well what was exactly reported in a Figaro article was that Dupont needed the dancers and that she couldn't let them take time for the "Academy" that Millepied had established. This academy was already closed this year. Only the four dancers in the quadruple bill had the opportunity to participate. The public never knew exactly what was the "Academy" and what means were given to the dancers. However dancers from POB had from time to time participate to smaller events to show their choreographic works, and a long time before Millepied. I hope it's going to continue even if they won't work with the same conditions, time off, budget for the staging, and dancers (Etoiles and Premiers danseurs). 

  4. 43 minutes ago, miliosr said:

    Have any of our French correspondents seen the Bertaud/Bouche/Paul/Valastro (the four sujets) bill?

     

    I did. Quickly because I’m just getting ready to go back tonight. A too long evening up to me, it should have been split in two, all pieces were about more than 30-35 minutes, with a long interval. 
    The Bertaud, Renaissance, was uninspired which is regrettable because it was supposed to be the neo-classic of the evening and morevover all the press communication has been done on this piece, presumably perhaps thanks to the Balmain group which designed the costumes (looking more like ice skating costumes than ballet costumes though) and the fact that Dorothée Gilbert’s husband is a fashion photographer who made a short promotional clip used by POB for the quadruple bill with only the piece his wife was in… Anyway, from most of the comments and mine, the piece itself was boring and more like a copy of a Millepied’s ballet… with less talent… 
    It was followed by The Little Match Girl Passion (from David Lang eponymous piece) by Simone Valastro which was the opposite. A lot of imagination, perhaps too much sometimes, but a brilliant piece from the staging point of view with live singers moving on stage and off stage, and percussions, special effects completely in tune with the narrative, and with imaginative choreography in which Eleonora Abbagnato was fantastic as the little match girl. 
    The piece by Bruno Bouché, Undoing world, was about migrants and how being a fugitive can be in relation to the world. It was ambitious, sometimes not really fully accomplished but as for the Valastro, with a lot of poetry, especially with Aurélien Houette touching singing the eponymous song by the Klezmatics. 
    The main piece of the evening was by Nicolas Paul, an already experienced choreographer who delivered up to me a masterpiece, Sept mètres et demi au-dessus des montagnes, inspired (from far) by the deluge. The poignant and powerful choreography was supported by a video of the dancers slowly drowning with the use of their images and their reflects in the water. In addition, the dancers were coming from below the stage and disappearing under the video screen at an increasing speed which sustained the feeling of oppression. It was strongly danced by Stéphane Bullion and Josua Hoffalt, with a very supportive cast. 
     

  5. 3 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

    I am a little surprised that Neumeier should have chosen Letestu to rehearse these ballets, as she never danced in Song of the Earth. Neumeier created it for the Paris Opera Ballet, but after Letestu had retired from performing. Had she acted as an assistant during its creation?

     

    Yes, Agnès Letestu was the repetitor already at the creation

  6. 8 hours ago, naomikage said:

     

    But Bolero was first performed by a female dancer (Duska Sifnios), and Maya Plisetskaya is one of the most famous interpreters as well as Sylvie Guillem.

     

    You can see how different the work looked when you see the Duska Sifnios performance that pops up on YouTube.

     

    I support this! I've seen Boléro perfomed a lot of times, and it can be just great both with either a male or a female dancer. It a masterpiece and I can't help to see it again next year with new dancers... 

     

    As regards to other comments on Béjart, well it's not my favorite choreographer, I think he often belongs too much to his time (a bit like Cunningham in fact). I haven't seen Le Sacre du printemps for a while but I have fond memories of this work. Firebird is also a powerful piece. 

  7. Well it’s not strictly about triple bills but about mixed bills that all looks more or less the same for the French audience. Roland Petit, Maurice Béjart, Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, Angelin Preljocaj, etc. can all be accommodated in mixed bills and this is the diversity which is welcome. What I think is boring  is having so much of Balanchine, Forsythe, Robbins thrown in the seasons and repertoire (because much of it are new to it). It would be the same with the other choreographers even if it looks worse with those who are not familiar to the Parisian audience. 

  8. Yes, Cunningham was booed at the Première and the following shows as well. I think this Cunningham in particular (compared to Un Jour ou deux which was created for the POB)  doesn't fit the French audience because even the regular ballet goers, if they didn't boo of course, were very critical. I think also that the POB audience (if it exists as such considering there is a lot of tourists in it)  is very tired (well I am in any case) of the triple or quadruple bills programmed by Millepied. This not a critic of the works (and I personally really liked Walkaround time) but it doesn't fit the company, it doesn't belong do its tradition. I’m not sure how to interpret the fact that nearly only very young dancers from the corps are dancing the Cunningham but well, it’s striking 

  9. The absence of anything from Giselle is difficult to undesrtand. Yvette Chauviré was named Etoile with the ballet Lifar created for her, Istar. Both ballets were part of the homage POB paid to the dancer in 1998, so perhaps Dupont wanted something different? Yet, 1998 is nearly 20 years ago...

  10. 1 hour ago, Syrene Hvid said:

    Giselle (w/ Ida Praetorius and Andreas Kaas in the leads) was broadcast on DR K yesterday and seems to be available from the DR K website here:

     

    https://www.dr.dk/tv/se/opera-og-ballet-det-kgl-teater-tv/-/giselle-ballet-fra-det-kgl-teater

     

    I'm watching this from Denmark, so I don't know if there will be any issues with watching it from other locations around the world...

    Thank you! I'm in France right now and it's available :)

  11. 6 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

    Jérémie Bélingard's farewell performance will take place on May 13, apparently by improvising rather than performing someone else's choreography.
    http://culturebox.francetvinfo.fr/danse/le-danseur-etoile-jeremie-belingard-fera-ses-adieux-a-la-scene-le-13-mai-254325

     

    Yes. I was thinking he might dance in one of the Forsythe but perhaps it's better, then he will improvise according to his physical condition. He has cancelled so many appearances the past years that it's a secure choice.

  12. 1 hour ago, volcanohunter said:

    Thank you very much for the information! I am glad to see a number of dancers who are nearing retirement in the cast. It will be very sad to see them leaving the stage, but I am glad for one more video record of their performances.

     

    I notice that the POB has not followed the usual New York City Ballet practice of pairing a tall Titania with a short Oberon. Marchand must be among the tallest Oberons the role has ever had.

     

    Well POB has very few short principal dancers except Mathias Heymann and Jérémie Bélingard, both unavailable for different reasons.  The two other Oberon of this run are shortest but they are "only" Sujet, Paul Marque and Fabien Révillion. However up to me they were both better than Marchand, perhaps because they are shorter, lighter and quicker.  

  13. Balanchine's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by POB has been broadcasted live in cinemas last Thursday and will be available on French TV channel Culturebox from Monday March 27th . I don't remember if it's geoblocked or not but I do remember some of you can have access to. 

     

    It was introduced by Sandra Jennings 

    Cast :

    Titania : Eleonora Abbagnato
    Obéron : Hugo Marchand
    Puck : Emmanuel Thibault
    Hermia : Laëtitia Pujol
    Lysandre : Alessio Carbone
    Héléna : Fanny Gorse
    Démétrius : Audric Bézard
    Hyppolite : Alice Renavand
    Thésée :  Florian Magnenet
    Bottom : Francesco Vantaggio
    Cavalier de Titania : Stéphane Bullion
    Papillon : Muriel Zusperreguy
    Divertissement - Sae Eun Park, Karl Paquette
     

    http://culturebox.francetvinfo.fr/opera-classique/opera/l-opera-de-paris/le-songe-d-une-nuit-d-ete-par-le-ballet-de-l-opera-de-paris-253861

     

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