silvermash

I'm going to raise what might be an unpopular opinion here, and say that this isn't necessarily a bad thing. These contemporary works seem to need dancers who are trained to a very high level in classical techniques, and if we agree about nothing else, we agree that the French school does just that. It would take a significant investment of resources to create a separate, sister institution for contemporary work -- if it's possible to run a kind of conjoined twins company, perhaps that's a solution to the difficulty.

I was under the impression that the Lyon Opera Ballet functioned as a national contemporary ensemble, but perhaps I'm not understanding their mission.

My concern is that the POB doesn't seem to tour much at all, which leaves much of France without ready access to their "national" company.

POB is not a touring company (there is also Paris in the title of the company)... They travel a little though. this year they are doing a visit to Brittany and the past years, they have gone to Grenoble, Montpellier, Biarritz, Créteil.

I think that behind the idea of certain people to create a contemporary dance group is to focus on the classical group

I do believe it’s interesting to have a repertoire of different nature when you have a company of 154 dancers and about 150 shows a year. If all the dancers entering the corps at 18 can believe they can make their way to the top of classical ballet, they’re not going to become all soloists! It’s a good way to diversify your activity, sometimes at the top of a certain repertoire while you are a cygnet or a character artist the rest of the time. It may also be that being a cygnet sometimes, that is practicing classical technique at a very high level, makes you better in contemporary, or at least gives you that particularity (that some don’t like but I do) to be a “special” contemporary dancer because of your classical background. It gives you also some rewards employs people at their best.

Paris Opera Ballet has an obligation of diversity in its repertoire anyway in its mandate.

that was actually brilliant!

The Millepied/Parreno creation programmed in July 2017 has disappeared from POB website and withdrawn from annual subscription which may well mean it’s not going to happen

https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-16-17/ballet

The new issue of Dancing Times has a lot of content about Millepied's departure and the present state of French dance more generally. One thing that caught my eye was contained in a short news item about the 2016-17 season:

"The company acquires three works by George Balanchine: A Midsummer Night's Dream, with new designs by Christian Lacroix, . . ."

I don't think I've seen this reported anywhere else. I loved his designs for Jewels and Palais de Cristal!

It's on POB www since the announcement of the season https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-16-17/ballet/le-songe-dune-nuit-dete

I was wondering about that costume -- doesn't really look like the Dowell designs for the Robbins.

Well they did In the Night earlier, but the last bit of the evening was from The Parc.

Benjamin Pech, dancing with Dorothée Gilbert in Robbin's In the Night, says good bye to the POB:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCBOZTQNabs/?taken-by=balletoperadeparis

Well in fact, his last dance of his farewell evening was the third pas de deux of Preljocaj's Le Parc with long time friend Eleonora Abbagnato

The next season is online

https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-16-17/ballet

Letizia Galloni was well cast even before Millepied but mostly in contemporary rep. But she was Amour in Pina Bausch Orpheus and Eurydice which is one of the three soloists role of this ballet. She also danced in Brown's Glacial Decoy or Ek's Appartment...

In fact, Marie Agnès Gillot was one of the first dancers who alerted about the situation. In a December interview in Paris Match (December 5th, 2015), when she was asked about her absence on Paris stage, she said “Je l’ai subie plus que je ne l’ai choisie (rough translation: "I suffered more than I have chosen"

In 2014-2015 season in Paris she danced in the first bill which was still under Brigitte Lefevre casting. Afterwards, she only danced the McGregor Tree of code in Manchester and New York, but that’s all.

Sounds like Parisians were going to hate him no matter what.

No, I don't think so. I think people were waiting for changes but his manners and his proposals were not up to par.

There's a lot I would want to see -- a new work by Crystal Pite absolutely, all that Forsythe and Cunningham (should make a fascinating mixed bill), the Ratmansky Beauty and the Balanchine evenings just to start.

me too but not in Paris...

In today's Press Conference announcing his departure, it was said Millepied will remain in charge until the end of this season

Lissner just annouced during the Press conference that Aurélie Dupont will take over in September

Head of the Paris Opera will hold a Press Conference at 15:00 this afternoon on the topic

Stéphane Lissner head of Paris Opera is holding a Press conference tomorrow about the topic!

has the new season(2016-17) been posted?Hoping there will be more classical ballet.

it will be out February 10th on POB website

Well of course this is just my impression but I think it was the case at the beginning of December but both Garnier and Bastille were pretty full at the end of December. I think French audience at least is back. But Paris Opera has sent a lot of huge discount offers the past weeks for both operas and ballets and most of them are still available. I even received another one for Werther this morning. I think the past years, they used to sell a lot to tour operators and that is maybe the problem cause I've heard the tourist industry is still suffering cancellations.

However, you can't disregard the fact that the ballet programme is not very exciting this season. I know quite a number of friends who have given up subscriptions this season and are not even coming just for one show...

Yes but, tell me if I’m wrong, I had understood Kylian withdrew his works to NDT for some special reasons but not to the other companies (and Lyon Ballet still performs them as well as Cunningham) while Mats Ek doen’t want his works to be performed anymore at all.

French musician Pierre Boulez has died

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/07/arts/music/pierre-boulez-french-composer-dies-90.html

It is worrying as his work is quite unique...

Perhaps I should start a thread but accoding to POB website, this evening Iolanta/Nutcracker is produced by Bel Air Media and will be live in cinemas March 17 with a following broadcast on Culturebox March 19, 2016.

We will see… the idea when it was presented last year by Lissner and Millepied was to reunify Iolanta and Nutcracker as when they were created in 1892 in St Petersburg. The staging of both works is to be done by Dmitri Tcherniakov.

However, I remember Millepied said it didn't mean it would replace Nureyev Nutcracker, even when he was still involved in the project

The new Nutcracker will Premiere March 9 with only three choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Edouard Lock and Arthur Pita. Millepied and Scarlett have disappeared from the cast on the POB website without any announcement.