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Juliette

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About Juliette

  • Birthday 12/26/1982

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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    Avid balletgoer
  • City**
    Paris, France
  1. Yes, excellent for him, but for the company ? I don't see the point of this nomination. Anyway, congratulations to him.
  2. Next season is announced on POB Website. Very disappointing and worrying !
  3. I attended five performances : Tuesday 6, Wednesday 7, Thursday 8, Friday 9 and Saturday 10 (evening), and I really had a good time ; the last two were particularly good ! - Tuesday 6 : The first night was probably the less successful, especially La Bayadère, but even so I enjoyed both Dark Elegies and Fancy Free, two ballets I had never seen before. In Dark Elegies, I liked Michele Wiles, Julie Kent and Carlos Lopez, they were very moving and so true in their part. In Fancy Free, Herman Cornejo, Ethan Stiefel and Jose Manuel Carreno were great (and funny). - Wednesday 7 : It was a very interesting show, The Green Table is a great ballet and David Hallberg was amazing in it. I liked the dancing and the contrast between politicians sequences and the war was really striking. I had read about this ballet before the show and couldn't really picture it ; it was great to see it at last. I liked Symphonie Concertante very much, although I found that Julie Kent (beautiful dancer) and Paloma Herrera (she lacked lyricism I thought) were badly-suited. In Diana and Acteon, Jose Manuel Carreno and Xiomara Reyes did a great job (both had a wonderful technique) and Sinatra Suite was lovely. Angel Corella displayed a lot of charm and Misty Copeland, which I understood danced the role for the first time, had a great presence on stage. - Thursday 8 : La Bayadère was better that night. I'm not a big fan of Veronika Part's dancing, but she was rather good comparing to Paloma Herrera. The three shades (Lane, Kajiya and Riccetto) were also better ; I found Sarah Lane a lovely dancer. Mark Morris' Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes was a charming ballet [if someone is interested, the cast was : Bystrova, Stearns, Golladay, Tanatanit, Carmen Corella, Gomes, Wiles, Cornejo, Murphy, Stappas, Butler, Matthews]. I didn't know it and enjoyed the performance. I especially liked Michele Wiles, Marcelo Gomes, Herman Cornejo and Cory Stearns. Then once again Fancy Free ; I didn't grow tired of this ballet. The three sailors - Craig Salstein, Sascha Radetsky and Marcelo Gomes – were as good and interesting as the other cast and Julie Kent had great acting. - Friday 9 : In Symphonie Concertante, the two leads, Michele Wiles and Veronika Part, were better matched and therefore I thought I liked the ballet even better. It was a pleasure to see Dark Elegies again. Kristi Boone was as moving as Michele Wiles, Sascha Radetsky seemed more involved than Jared Matthews and Carlos Lopez was as impressive as the first night. I missed Julie Kent in the pdd (although Melanie Hamrick was good too), but overall I thought it was a better performance than the first night. And then, In the Upper Room, what a ballet ! [Cast : Abrera, Murphy, Stiefel, Hoven, Stappas, Copeland, Butler, Kajiya, Salstein, Paris, Cornejo, Herrera, Hallberg]. It's such a feat and very, very impressing. Ethan Stiefel was awesome in it (great dancing, great presence and great acting too ; he made the show), as was Gilliam Murphy, who had that special way of moving, I loved it. David Hallberg and Paloma Herrera (I found she was at her best in that kind of ballet) were amazing too, as was in fact all the cast. The audience loved the show and there was a big standing ovation. - Saturday 10 (evening) : It was nice to see Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes again [Cast : Boone, Stearns, Easter, Lane, Carmen Corella, Gomes, Herrera, Salstein, Riccetto, Stappas, Butler, Mathews]. Great performance from Herrera, Gomes, Stearns, Butler and Salstein. In Le Spectre de la rose, I found Herman Cornejo amazing ! I understand now why everybody's talking about him in this role. Black Swan Pdd was delightful : such virtuosity. Gillian Murphy was awesome (great fouettes !) and totally won the audience's admiration. And to finish, The Green Table. I saw new details in the ballet, which was definitely worth seeing. Isaac Stappas gave us a great rendition of the Death, but on the whole I perhaps preferred the first cast.
  4. Unfortunately I've only seen Monique Loudières once on stage (it was for the Nureyev gala and she made a big impression on me) and therefore I can't really compare. It's true that Dorothée looks like Monique Loudières (she has the same physical features), but that's all I can say. But all the people who have seen Monique Loudières are saying that Dorothée makes them think of her. I think Françoise could tell you more about it.
  5. Yesterday was the performance of Don Quixote everybody was expecting, since it was the debuts in the title roles of Dorothée Gilbert and Emmanuel Thibault. First, congratulations to Dorothée Gilbert, who really led the performance! Her Kitri was amazing: great technique, great acting, nothing was missing. Since her entrance she is Kitri, with all the vivacity, piquancy, musical quality and humour required and she offered us great moments, such as her act I variation and above all her Dulcinée variation in act II, one of the most beautiful I've ever seen, with lyricism, poetry and something magic (and she made such beautiful balances!). Dorothée is for the moment the best Kitri I've seen this year and already an Etoile; I hope she will be promoted very soon. I can't imagine what a great performance it would have been if she had had an other partner. Indeed and unfortunately, Emmanuel Thibault's Basilio was disappointing and not really interesting. Of course his technique was brilliant, but what a bad acting! He didn't care for her Kitri and there was no couple in act I, he was only dancing, that's all. The pdds, and especially the mill pdd and act III pdd, were really laborious and we have to congratulate Dorothée Gilbert to have do such a good job during them. Thibault is definitively a brilliant soloist and... a bad partner! As Espada, Christophe Duquenne made a very good job (the best I've seen this year), in spite of some little mistakes. Eve Grinsztajn was a beautiful street dancer, although she lacked some vulgarity (Nathalie Riqué remains the best in this role this year). Juliane Mathis' Cupidon was really cute and Laurence Laffon's Queen of the Dryads was a little disappointing; her entrance was good, but she made mistakes in her variation. Anyway, it was really an interesting performance and I hope Dorothée Gilbert will dance a lot of big roles very soon; she is really the most promising young ballerina of the POB at the moment! And a complete artist!
  6. After the performance of Don Quixote tonight, Mathieu Ganio has been promoted to Etoile! Congratulations!
  7. I saw Mathieu in Basilio yesterday and he was really great! I expected him to be very good, but his Basilio was just wonderful. Of course, not everything was perfect (especially the portés), but his acting really impressed me and all his variations were good (I particularly liked his entrance). He has the perfect style, a lot of humour and is very charismatic. As everybody says, a future Etoile is born! Like Naoko, I didn't find the couple was working, except in the mill pdd. Although Agnès Letestu was very good in Kitri, with great acting (she was really funny, whereas she wasn't two years ago) and beautiful technique, she is not the Kitri I dream of (despite her efforts, she remains too "royal" for me) and she was, as it was said before, too tall for him. I would have liked to see Mathieu with somebody else (and especially with Dorothée Gilbert); I'm sure it would have been better. But it was a great night and I was very happy to see a young dancer making his debuts in such a role and with such brio!
  8. Unfortunately I couldn't see Mathieu last Friday, but will see him tonight. All the people I spoke to told me he was wonderful. And, Naoko, Mathieu will dance another lead part next July; he will dance James.
  9. I am sorry Alexandra; I haven't seen your post while I'm writing. I hope mine won't mind. (According to me, and I know it will sound unbelievable for some people, Thibault is a good "sujet" but he is far from being a "premier danseur" (a "premier danseur" has to be able to dance anything). Of course he's good when he's dancing alone and in brilliant variations , but I don't find him a good partner and he is not a good actor too (do you really see him in dramatic parts?). I am not sure Basil is the perfect part for him, but well, let's see! And, according to me, the two main events during these performances of Don Quixote will be Gilbert as Kitri and Ganio as Basil.)
  10. I'd have really liked to see that night! I've never seen Dupont and Legris in Sonatine (I hope they will dance it in Paris next September), but I find them particularly well-matched in Balanchine's pieces and there is a real chemistry between them. But I have to admit that the first time I saw them together I also found she was a little bit too tall for him (and still think it sometimes), but I think it's more obvious in great classical parts than in Balanchine's ones. About Aurélie, she is according to me the best female principal at the moment in the POB and as Françoise said, her Giselle was wonderful!
  11. The casting is available on the Paris Opera website: Don Quixote's casting
  12. I only saw Alina Cojocaru twice: the first time during a gala where she danced Giselle act II pdd and two months ago when she danced Giselle with the POB here in Paris. The first time I saw her I found her really amazing (especially her lightness), but it was only a short pdd. In the videos I saw, I also found her really great, but the parts really fitted her (Clara and Cinderella). From what I've heard and read about her Giselle, I really was eager to discovering her in the title role. But I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. She is of course a lovely Giselle and she is dancing very well, but her interpretation didn't move me especially. I particularly found that she lacked some dramatic weight in act II, where according to me she was too "light" (she made me think of a "sylphide" rather than a wili). Some people told me that she was better in London some days before and perhaps she was too intimated or tired when I saw her (and the couple with Legris didn't work very well) But, although her Giselle didn't convince me, I liked the ballerina and I hope to see her in other parts very soon.
  13. The next Benois Prize will be held in Moscow on the 27th of April. I've heard Tamara Rojo was nominated for her Juliet; does somebody know who are the other nominees?
  14. Battement Cloche, indeed, as GWTW said, the French way of teaching is "old-fashioned". The professor makes a frontal lecture and students usually don't participate during his class (anyway we often are too many). But, beside the professor's class (1 hour, sometimes two), you are attending a TD class ("Travaux dirigés"), which last two hours and complements the professor's lecture. You are in a small group, with a less-qualified teacher, and you are expected to participate: we are studying documents and it is the students who are explaining them or who are making an oral presentation about a specific aspect. I don't know how American universities are exactly working (during the classes)and how different it can seem.
  15. Sophia, have you seen the documentary "Dancer's Dream"? It's very interesting and you can see Manuel Legris as Romeo and Elizabeth Maurin as Juliet (the best Juliet I saw on stage! She will give her POB last performance in this part next season). But Legris/Loudières still remain my favorite couple! There is also a full-lenght version of Grigorovitch's Romeo and Juliet, with Bessmertnova as Juliet (I don't remember who was playing Romeo), which was broadcast on French channel Mezzo a few months ago.
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