Naoko S

Estelle, Paris Opera being heavily subsidised by the state means that the most important and the "biggest" patron is, needless to say, French public. As a tax-payer your voice should count more than anyone else's! >>And the AROP association seems to focus mostly on opera and not on ballet Well the situations are mostly the same across Europe, aren't they - for instance Covent Garden is no exception..... >>(and most French critics are interested only in modern dance, so they probably think such a programming is a genius idea)... !!! It's very interesting to know that French critics in general don't care about classics - maybe we should be thankful for having Clement Crisp over here?

Come along to London, folks (and the dancers too!) - you're all *very* welcome. But be warned ticket prices are even higher here..... ....well I share your grief. Too few classical works, total absence of ballets blanc and Balanchine (nearly!) has made me speechless - surely the choice of repertoire is not dependent on financial reasons? (I've been led to believe POB is the wealthiest ballet company in Europe.....)

Thanks everyone for the feedback! Estelle, >>I guess its beautiful music and costumes have some role in this success. Yes, yes - I totally agree with you on this. As a matter of fact, when I saw a live performance of Le Parc back in February 2002, I wasn't too impressed with the choreography or whatever movements displayed on the stage; some peculiar aspects such as "musical chair" or "invader game" like movements by gardeners mostly caught my eyes, and I was far from being carried away..... even some meaty choreography seemed to be marred by much-too-acrobatic movements (as seen in the last PdD). Looking back, the only positive impressions I got from the performance were heavenly beautiful music (and on the day I attended the orchestra and the pianist did a magnificent job), no less ravish and stylish costumes, and the extraordinary passions and excitements Laurent Hilaire brought to the stage. So I didn't have much to look forward to before watching the filmed version. But repeated viewings made me a convert - now I'm almost addicted to the world POB troupe created in this work. As you said, yes, Preljocaj certainly was not a ballet choreographer - let me just say that I love this as a dance work and would like to regard the philosophy and poetry behind the choreography are not million-miles-away from some of the best ballet works. It's not always a case for modern choreography that music doesn't clash with movements - but here Preljocaj takes advantage of some of the most charming and beautiful music by Mozart and adapts his choreography brilliantly. His movements are unpretentious and looked as if they come very naturally from dancers, who not only master his dance vocabulary but add their own distinguished flavour to the work. (My particular favourites are "Observation" scene and a sentimental "Rencontre" PdD in Act I, as well as a sensuous "Resistance" PdD and an angelic tableau of the ladies in Act II - what a charming coquetry!) But most of all I admire Preljocaj's originality - I think he succeeded in putting together the idea of presenting "a course of emotinal & physical state one has to go through when in love", which he took an inspiration from 17th century French literatures, with artistic temperaments and characteristics of POB troupe. In fact it's almost impossible for me to imagine other companies take on this work - it's SO french and so unmistakably made for POB..... Cygneblanc, Why have they not released this in commercial DVD/video - not much interests for contemporary dance in general? I wonder if you saw many performances of Le Parc since its premier in 1994 - if you did, please tell us about how you thought! Juliette, Thanks for a precision! It's interesting to hear that you were much more convinced by later performances of the two dancers. I did see a live performance once in 2002 with Hilaire and Dupont in the leads but couldn't see much rapport between the two - energetic and passionate Hilaire looked far younger than his partner, who, to my eyes, failed to abondon herself to passions.... (but I know if she did this now, she would be able to tell quite another story!) In this film Hilaire is absolutely irresistible although he often seems to be shadowed by somewhat monstrous Guérin - surely her artistry must have been at a prime when this was shot......

Recently there was a rerun on a Japanese satelite TV channel for POB's "Le Parc", filmed in 1999. Someone gave me a copy and since then I've been watching it over and over again; the more I see it the more I get convinced this is a masterpiece by Preljocaj - actually I feel like calling it a genuinely "romantic ballet" of our times. I suspect it's not yet published as commercial video/dvd - in France was it only televised as in Japan? Is the ballet popular among French balletomane? (Incidentally I saw two performances of Giselle last week, with Hilare & Zakharova in the leads. As a huge Hilaire fan I was rather dissappointed - so I am conforting myself seeing this precious film of Le Parc!)

Thanks Françoise for your thoughts! From what you wrote I gather you are the same person who leads the French forum on other website - it's very nice to have your contributions here in English! (Incidentally that forum is very informative, and I always enjoy struggling to comprehend what French readers have to say - despite a huge language barrier!) I've read your accounts with enormous interests, particularly on Aurelie Dupont, after having found her utterly enchanting in Balanchine's pieces back in October and December. It seemed as if she had been reborn as a ballerina after the injury break..... If I get lucky I could catch a glimpse of her this weekend (unfortunately I've been unable to book a ticket so far) - please keep fingers crossed for me! >>Delphine Moussin is perfect as dancer, but she is not Myrtha, she is not too cold to be the rude Queen of Wilis, we feel in her a woman who suffer but not a woman who wants to revenge of all the men. Oh good - that's a kind of Myrtha I'd love to see. I'm really tired of seeing yet another blood-thirsty queen of zombies, rather than willis....

Hi silvy - in case you're not aware of this..... I have a delightful DVD called "Dancer's Dream - The Great Ballets of Rudolf Nureyev: Raymonda". It's not a complete ballet DVD but a documentary featuring scenes from live performances and interviews of POB dancers who closely worked with Nureyev. You should be able to buy from Amazon - at least UK amazon do stock them. Knowing that they've kept numerous treasure films like these in the company's archive, I sincerely wish someday we'd be able to buy a complete Raymonda DVD (with Elisabeth Platel in the title role!).

Cygneblanc - thanks for a confirmation! Mark - thanks for the link. Looks like you did interview with quite a few of POB étoiles - I've wondered if the one with Laurent Hilaire is in the pipeline?

Thanks all for your views/thoughts! Cygneblanc - can I interpret your comment as: There are allocated number of posts for étoiles (6 for female & male respectively), and currently there's one post available for a female dancer? Estelle - many thanks for taking time to put this. Your comments are so interesting and educational that I'd like to put a link in the Japanese site to this thread (hope you won't mind!). Now it's more clearer to me that étoile is robustly built into the company's hierarchy and is a formal rank. Given that they work on contract basis I presume they are given more freedom than other dancers of different ranks, for instance on choice of roles and guest-appearance outside the company? I once read Agnes Letestu's interview in a Japanese dance magazine which took place immediately after her nomination to étoile. Asked by the interviewer how she saw the future would fold for her, she commented that first and foremost her relationship with the company's management should change as being étoile meant you were finally given a right to dispute/challenge them - on choice of roles, etc. I wonder whether this relationship between top dancers and management is unique to POB or rather common among highly aclaimed ballet companies. One other point - although I concur with your views that "in general people tend to translate "étoile" as principal (and premier danseur becomes something like "first soloist")." - when you look at realities, I'd resist to accept the definition that POB's premier danseur may be called "First Soloist" elsewhere. In general terms, it appears to me some of POB's premier danseurs take on more principal roles and responsibilities attached to it than first soloists of other companies. (Incidentally when I say "other" companies what I have in mind are Mariinsky & Royal Ballet, two of the companies I'm most familiar with.) Maybe I'd better forget a mere comparison of hierarchy/strucuture of POB with other companies, which seems rather useless.........

Hi - I wondered if someone could enlighten me on something.... What's the definition of "Etoile" at POB? My Oxford Dance Dictionary puts it bluntly as: "The highest rank of dancer at Paris Opera." I have long thought POB's Etoiles are dancers who reign on top of the hierarchy but have added-value to being "Principal Dancer" and therefore are above them. I also seem to remember having read somewhere that "Etoile" was an honourary title, rather than a rank (thus they are nominated by Director; no audition). The reason my asking this question is - whilst discussing a prospect of next Etoile-hopefuls in a Japanese ballet fan site someone pointed out currently there's a post available for Etoile, which I found rather odd - if my memory is correct and Etoile were honourary title, there should be no such thing as fixed posts? Or maybe I've been totally wrong and Etoile are equivalent to "Principal Dancer" for other companies (like Mariinsky; Royal Ballet). I've referred to my French-Japanese dictionary but it's only made things tangled - it translates "premiere danseuse" as "prima ballerina"! (My apologies in advance if this is an utterly pointless question......)

Cygneblanc, thanks for your impressions on Mlle Cordellier - I'm so glad to hear that you thought a talent was clearly there.... Another question from me - how can we book a ticket to view the competition?

Thanks Cygneblanc for your complete and most interesting report! I just wondered how did you think about Mlle Cordellier in the competition - she was the one who had caught my eyes in the all-Balanchine-programme back in October... Last weekend I managed to see 3 programmes at Garnier & Bastille - what a treat that was! Of the 9 works/pieces (by 6 choreographers) my best 3 were: 1) Balanchine (Concerto Barocco & Liebeslieder Walzer); 2) Balanchine (Tchaikovsky PdD); 3) Preljocaj (Un Trait d'Union). POB does Balanchine like a dream, I thought - they enrich and bring out characters from his works with very delicate nuances and unrivaled sophistication..... (sigh)

Thanks Dale - Have enjoyed reading your views/comments in the 1st thread immensely. So about 75% of choreography in Adagio is different, in your opinion..... Interesting but with my very limited experiences for the ballet (have seen only 5-6 times with Kirov and RB), even though POB staged Palais...., I would certainly not be able to tell the difference. I'm sure I'll enjoy seeing them in Symphony in ut though - can't wait!

Hi guys - don't want to sound too stupid to ask this question, but.... I'm coming to Paris to catch the opening night of Balanchine pro. on October the 2nd. Much has been talked about here on "Palais Crystal" and "Symphony in ut". Is there any difference between the two? I've always thought it's exactly the same ballet apart from the titles. Some accounts on POB's website doesn't help very much in clarifying the matter..... I've searched on this website for the related topic and found a thread discussed earlier this year, but mostly the point of discussion was on costumes/design. Is choreography different?

Mark, thanks for alerting us Londoners on Sukhorukova - it appears this season will see quite a few debuts some of which may turn controversial? Well we'll see... About the state the dancers are in right now - it's very worrying, as you wrote. Out of curiosity I've asked for casting info. from Ravenna Festival the other day, and to my horror I found many a name discussed in this thread to appear as soloists. They are: Golub; Gumerova; Pavlenko; Sheshina; Sologub; Zhelonkina; Fadeev; Ivanov; Kolb; Korsakov; Merkuriev; Sarafanov. Looks like at least Zakharova has been given off but for the rest of the dancers - I just want to wish them well......

Just back from a short trip to Paris - I'm still enraptured with the excitement of Friday evening! Yes, it was Hilaire and Guillem who finished up the Manon run in a great spirit - all I want to do right now is to thank them; it's one of those evenings which will stay with you for a long time - they did give their all, literally, to the performance. I must confess I've never been convinced by this work of ballet, Manon, and have actually been an unashamed Manon-hater for quite some time. Having been introduced to this ballet just 6-7 years ago, by its authentic inheritor Royal Ballet, at first I loathed everything about the ballet; the choreography, the story and the music - but most of all its idea and attitude what irritated me - to me they were so anti-ballet. I even suspected that McMillan aimed to degrade the form of art only to make it look like more "modern" and "approachable" by introducing sex and violence, two of the subjects I personally never wanted to see in ballets. As an old fashioned, overly classically orientated ballet fan, I've not yet been converted but on Friday I was so moved by the performance it led me to tears at the very end. I saw Laurent Hilaire as Des Grieux in several occasions in the past, both at Garnier and Covent Garden. His partner was always Sylvie Guillem, and with her in this ballet I couldn't think of any dancer who could escape from a risk of sinking behind her shadow - Hilaire was no exception, I thought. In February this year when he guested with RB together with Guillem the pair was so self-complacent among RB troops (meaning that there's a slight uneasiness felt by Hilaire perhaps for being in "away" camp) and perfect as an item. They showed us a mature reading and instead of young, reckless lovers whose bond primarily were in the flesh, there were tender feelings between them to care for each other - almost like a brother & sister. So it was a great surprise (and a nice one) to see Hilaire, in autumn of his career, looked younger & passionate than ever before, truly in love with this femme fatale, who eventually destoyed his life. In the first solo scene after an encounter with Manon he attracted our eyes with refined and elegant movements - the way he courted Manon was so fresh and sincere, giving us great expections for things to come. As the evening proceeded the tensions on stage got higher, and most memorable moment came in a sequence in the bedroom scene in Act II where the pair was about to leave the town. In contrast with an innocent looking and rather care-free Manon, De Grieux's struggles inside him was gradully apparent. He knows there's no way out for them and yet he can't stop wanting her - his yearning to make her of his own was so painful to watch as Hilaire's portrayal was so genuine. Watching Hilaire made me think, for the first time, this could mean to be a tale on Des Grieux, not Manon. We're supposed to see things from Des Grieux's point of views? Previously it never occurred to my mind, but now I want to know more about the ballet.... (I never read the original book and absolutely ignorant on the subject matter so am grateful to enlightenments by readers.) It's always only great dancers who can give us more than a good time - they not only give us a pleasure to see ballets, but they demand us to think and explore more and more about this form of art. That's what happend to me in Paris, to which I am so grateful to Hilaire. On other main roles: I saw Wilfried Romoli in the role of Lescaut for the first time and am afraid to say he was not too convincing. Curiously, a dark & evil mind, the character he gave to the role of the gang boss in Mandarin Merveilleux, which made him stand out in the piece, would have been very useful but was not there; too much stress on clowning, and it didn't work for me. His mistress was M. A. Gillot - as always her dancing was a delight to watch, and she appeared to acquire more of a touch for the character over the years; a few years ago I found her too majestic and not suited for the role.

Tracey, as a regular 'slips' goer, I just wanted to say a word - it's not really bad as long as you can get earlier numbers in the slips. For instance this time round I could book Nos. either 1, 2 or 3 in the front row of the slips and am convinced this is the best value seat at 8.5 quid (remember even Standing area costs 15 quid?). You can get a pretty good view from there - only losing the side of the stage you're on. All the same it's a shame you won't be able to make it.... About casting info. - it's very odd indeed; even 'reinstated' Vishneva (I'd say so as in Japan she officially pulled off the scheduled performances for the very reason of joining Kirov's London tour!) will not be dancing on the first night. Makhalina's absence now is rather dissapointing although she's not my particular favourite, to be replaced in Scherazade by another promising (?) Coryphee, Tkachenko (who's she?). With this line-up all my expectations are on Pavlenko; as long as she's coming there's something to look forward to.....

Cygneblanc, was her Chevalier Laurent Hilaire as scheduled? I hope it was - I'm coming to Paris this Friday to see him. Very much appreciate all your contributions so far - but more thoughts/views wouldn't hurt, please keep them coming! I'm particularly interested to hear from those who saw Dupont or Osta.

At last a programme to justify a ridiculously expensive TV license was shown tonight on BBC2! For those of you not as lucky as we were to catch this, here's what was shown (in order of performance; all excerpts except Dying Swan). * Khovanshchina (S. Alexashkin/Kirov Chorus) * The Demon (Kirov Chorus) Queen of Spades, Act III (D. Hvorostovsky/T. Pavlovskaya/Kirov Chorus/Corp de Ballet) * Evgeny Onegin (R. Fleming) * La Bayadere, Act III (D. Vishneva/Sarafanov/Corp de Ballet) * Boris Godunov (O. Borodina/V. Galudin) * Polovtsian Dance (Corp de Ballet) * Vocalize (A. Netrebko) * Dying Swan (U. Lopatkina) * Queen of Spades, Final scene (V. Galudin/D. Hvorostovky/Kirov Chorus) * Le Corsaire pdd (S. Zakharova/I. Zelensky) * Classical Symphony (Kirov Orchestra) * Iolanthe (Kirov Chorus) The highlight of the evening was, needless to say, Lopatkina's Dying Swan. To me she appeared to be in a great shape - certainly better than the troubled state of the summer of 2001. Let's hope this is just a beginning of finer things to come....

**Attentions all knitters** No disrespect to anyone of you - I described it as 'usual or boring' as it was the way the ladies were depicted with the attribute in the ballet (or at least that's how I took it). Leigh, for your reference, I could tell it surely was wool, yes, of paprika red! Su-lian, Thank YOU for your kind help some time ago - I hope to read your thoughts when you manage to see a performance. Please note I didn't mean at all the first two pieces were 'bad' - it's only that they did not leave strong impressions on me. Please tell me how you think when you see them with your own eyes! For the record, main casts for the evening were: * "L'Oiseau de Feu": Le Riche (title role); Paquette (Phenix) * "Webern, Opus V": Gillot; Bart * "Phrases de Quatuor": Legris; Cozette; Cordellier; Grinsztanj; Mallem * "Le Mandarin Merveilleux": Hilaire (title role); Romoli (le chef des truands); Carbonne (la fille); Cordier (Siefried); Palacio (un jeune homme) Estelle, I just hope your concerns will not turn realities.... I must admit if it had not been Legris things would have been very much different. About the female role in Bejart's ballets - it's just typical Bejart, isn't it? As we all know in essence he's a choreographer for male dancers.....

Has anyone seen the programme? I was there, luckily able to catch the performance on the 14th - as to the aftermath of the strike - no pain in exchanging the ticket for the cancelled first night, to which I'm very grateful. (Thanks Parisian friends for a kind advice on French strike!) The programme consisted of 4 pieces: "L'Oiseau de feu"; "Webern, opus V"; "Phrases de Quatuor" (world premiere); "Le Mandarin merveilleux" (new repertoire to POB) Here're my quick thoughts - in a nutshell, it was, essentially a 'Legris' evening'. I'm afraid I have to skip the first two as I didn't get any strong impressions from them except an obscure thought crossed my mind that the concept of using Partisans in Firebird seemed to have lost its momentum; it rather looked aged. The third piece, a world-premiere and presumably choreographed solely to Legris, turned a hightlight of the evening. Without a copy of the programme at hand, I cannot tell you what's the conept behind the piece, or indeed what was all about - I must admit I couldn't comprehend very much! In the space of 14 minutes Legris danced, danced and danced in between an occasional screaming and speaking (he uttered some words on 'dance' which I couldn't make out) with 4 female dancers serving as a background (or a wall-paper really). Interestingly these 4 ladies appeared on stage with their knitting kit handy and most of the time they were so into it - knitting. From the title of the piece ("Phrases of Quartet") it might look as if they were centre of things - but not. You can tell they bore a far less importance in the piece as no substantial choreography was given to them. At one stage Legris tried to disturb the knitting ladies by pulling down from their chairs yet they never ceased to do the habit... I may be able to interpret that 4 knitting ladies a symbol of "usualness (or boredom)" and a man in the shape of Legris a rebel, but hmm.... I may be wrong. Watching the piece reminded me of one reason I've been attracted by Bejart's ballets so much - that in essence his dance vocabulary is purely classical (please do correct me if I'm wrong!). So even with some bizzare/odd movements central parts stay classical, intact - as seen in this piece. It provided a great showcase for Legris; he displayed his more-than-perfect classical techniques to which all I could do was gasp, sigh and watch - intensely. The other thing I never previously saw in Legris, but apparent and very moving in the evening was a sort of "power of will" or his strong intentions to dance. Dance is fragile art in that all the beautiful movements dissappear almost as soon as they are done. But in this piece Legris appeared to attempt to seize the moment THEN let it live as long as it could - literally every movement of it although of course it's impossible. His intentions, passions to dance was very visibly present there, and it was incredible. Lastly, here's what I found very fascinating - towards the end of the performance Legris appeared to be increasingly liberated, his facial expressions lighten up as if getting freedom by dancing. That reminded me of the feeling I got when I saw Bejart's masterpiece (so I believe!), "Seven Greek Dances". As the piece went on it gave enormous pleasures to my senses that I had this strange feeling, liberation - the experience totally new to me and has not happened ever since. If it actually happened that Legris got a freedom by dancing the piece, it would be fantastic.... The last piece of the evening, "Le Mandarin merveilleux" or "Astonishing Chinese Beaurocrat (?)", a new repertoire to POB, was somewhat a marriage between agressive play and violent musical or, more precisly a rock video-clip (the beginning of the piece almost reminded me of Michael Jackson's "Bad" !), but no space for memorable balletic moments. My frustration largely was on a lack of substantial choreography for the leading role danced by Hilaire. As a Mandarin he repeated Ta-i-Chi like movements most of the time whilst his counterpart, la fille danced by Alessio Carbonne (a male dancer looking like a drag queen!), fared little better. To me the night turned a typical Bajart experience; a mixture of something terribly absurd and amazingly beautiful, and I loved it. One thing's for sure Bejart never fail to bore us audience. As a Londoner, my chances for seeing Bajart's ballets are very limited - you may remember the famous myth that London doesn't love Bejart - well, in my views it's not audience but critics, in general, who hate Bajart! But having seen his works this time round I am now convinced that I need to see this more often - "something different" in London. More Bejart, please!

Thanks Cygneblanc and Su-lian for kind advice. Air France has still insisted no change/cancellation should occur to the flight I'll be taking. Naturally I'm not thrilled to fly on the day if no means to get into central Paris are secured. I'll check with Air France about their bus services linking Roissy- Paris will be available as usual on the day. Su-lian, what a horrible experience you had to go through - as for me I am staying in central area of the town (an advantage of tourists!) so can rely on my foot moving about the town.... About the ticket - Have been unable to get throught to POB so will have to try again tomorrow.... Their recorded message is saying that on the day of a strike they will be there to exchange tickets, etc. Could this be true?

Oh no-ooooooo! Just when I felt relieved to obtain a ticket for the first night of Bejart pro., the news came in! Due to a scheduled national strike there'll be no performance on the 13th May! I am still hoping to catch a performance on the following day, the 14th though.... I'm aware this question is not about ballet, but would any one advise me whether or not I should travel on this day at all? As, if Air France cannot refund my ticket then I should fly on the 13th anyway - on a day of a national strike does Paris become an absolute no-go-area? No public transport; national institutions and all the shops will be closed and so forth?

Hi Su-lian, thanks muchly for a very detailed tip! >>-If you don't get any before the performance, no panic: they WILL sell some just before the performance. They always have more tickets, the people from the opera selling the tickets told me so. Does this mean that generally more tickets are available at the last minute? If so that's all the more better for me - I wouldn't mind queuing for longer hours if I could get a better seat... I'll print out your message and bring it with me to Paris!

Estelle, many thanks for your very quick reply. At the moment there seems to be quite a few choices left for us (according to the website), so I may be able to get a ticket one way or the other.... It's a relief to hear that general view is better at Bastille, but with luck I'd rather stick to the front rows in Orchestra Stalls. Bastille is too huge - once I sat in the area slightly rear from centre and still felt like left behind, as if things happening on the stage too remote and irrelevant....

Hi Paris friends, your advice is desperately wanted! Having had any luck with the POB's website to book on-line for the Bejart pro. for quite some time, I may have to go to paris without a reserved seat. I doubt it very much Bejart pro. will be a sold-out even on the first night, if so can I simply turn up at Bastille and buy a ticket on the day? I seem to recall for a sold-out performance return tickets were sold from one & half hour before the performance, some years ago. Can I presume that as long as the Box Office has something to sell they will be on offer any time of the day - or will they withheld tickets at some stage? Would any one kindly advise how the system works right now?