Estelle

I really wonder how cats are trained to perform in a circus. Recently my husband and I tried to imagine what a corps de ballet of cats would look like. "Oh, that left ear does itch, doesn't it ?" "I really MUST catch that fly- OOPS, the orchestra pit!" "What about stopping here and licking the most private parts of my anatomy?" "The conductor always agitates that little stick, that must be a new game, let's try to catch it" "I'd like to have a little walk on the piano" "Perhaps if I sit down right at center stage and look cute enough, someone will give me a bit of tuna fish" "I'm fed up with the entrance of the Shades, what about playing with the tail of the cat before me" "I've climbed on the stage curtain and now I have no idea how to get down, could someone help pleeease ?"and so on... By the way, are there some feline roles in ballet, besides Puss in Boots and his partner in "The Sleeping Beauty" ?

Thanks for all those lovely memories, Paul. Our cat Venise doesn't seem to be a pas de deux person, but she definitely loves to jump (she loves flying things), however she often isn't especially careful about her landings (as some plants painfully remember). I came across the following quote by Bernard Taper: "Balanchine has trained his cat to perform brilliant jetes, and tours en l'air; he says that at last he has a body worth choreographing for." -- Bernard Taper" and the following photographs: http://www.humanesocietyny.org/auction/photos/037.jpg http://www.danceumbrella.co.uk/images/O.gif

Also they performed "La petite danseuse de Degas" until Dec 30, so the end of december probably was a busy period... Sophia, thanks for the information about the Forsythe program. Here's the page on the POB web site about that program: http://www.operadeparis.fr/Saison0506/Spectacle.asp?Id=841 They forgot to update the following page: http://www.operadeparis.fr/Saison0506/Alire.asp?Id=841 which still lists "Herman Schmerman".

Giselle05, unfortunately the link to Bocca's interview doesn't work for me. If you still can access the original article, perhaps you could post a short excerpt mentioning the ABT direction ? So perhaps a Spanish-speaking poster could clarify the meaning of that sentence...

Thanks for your review, cygneblanc. Is it usual for students of the POB school to perform in the corps de ballet for "Swan Lake", or is it because too many dancers are injured and they needed substitutes ?

Thanks for your comments, sophia. Since I haven't seen any POB performance in a while (alas) I didn't know that Mr Mortier often was in the audience... so probably one shouldn't trust too much what he said to the press. The POB now has officially announced the results of the competition on its web site: http://www.operadeparis.fr/Accueil/ALire.asp The list also includes the dancers' ages. The only thing that worries me a little bit about the competition's results is the age of some of the promoted male dancers (the new premier danseur is 34 and the new sujet is 32). I'm really happy about Phavorin's promotion, as he's a very talented dancer, but he should have been promoted years ago, and he seems unlikely to be promoted to étoile someday. And his most serious competitor was Christophe Duquenne, who has the same age (again, a strong and reliable dancer who probably should have been promoted years ago). Among the present premiers danseurs, the only ones under 30 are Karl Paquette (and except if he's improved a lot since I last saw him, I really don't see him as a potential étoile), Hervé Moreau and Alessio Carbone, and one might wonder about whom the next male étoiles will be, especially as three of the present étoiles are over 40 (Legris, Belarbi and Romoli) and perform fewer and fewer roles.

An article (in French) by René Sirvin in "Le Figaro" about the competition: http://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/20051226.FIG0156.html?081153 In general, the Figaro articles remain online only for a short time. René Sirvin sounds happy with most of the results of the competition, and also praises among the male sujets Christophe Duquenne, Gil Isoart and Nicolas Paul, and among the male coryphées Grégory Gaillard and Sébastien Bertaud (for him, Bertaud's raking as 6th is unfair).

As a side note: it seems to me that the promotion system has changed quite a lot at the POB in recent years in terms of age. For example, two of the recently promoted étoiles (Wilfried Romoli and Delphine Moussin) were, as far as I know, the oldest new étoiles in the POB history (more than 40 for Romoli, and about 36 or 37 for Moussin). Also, people used to say that when a dancer had been in a category for several years, s/he was very unlikely to get promoted, and that promotions after 30 were almost impossible, especially for women, but Emmanuel Thibault was promoted to premier danseur at 30 after about a decade as sujet, Isabelle Ciaravola was promoted to première danseuse as about 32- and now Stéphane Phavorin has just been promoted to premier danseur as 34, and Céline Palacio to coryphée at 33 (her first promotion since she joined the company in 1989 !) The direction of the dance hasn't changed (Brigitte Lefèvre as director of dance and Patrice Bart as main ballet master) but the direction of the opera has changed (from Hugues Gall to Gérard Mortier) and I don't know if it has had an influence, and if Mortier perhaps wanted to promote some people he considered as unjustly forgotten by the previous direction (on the other hand, from his interviews, Mortier doesn't pay much attention to ballet and always said he gave all power to Brigitte Lefèvre...) Also a difference with the situation some years ago is that the number of premiers danseurs and premières danseuses has inflated a lot. There are as many as 9 premières danseuses (Abbagnato (27), Ciaravola (33), Cozette (24), Daniel (31), Gilbert (22), Hurel (30), Ould-Braham (23), Riqué (40), Romberg (30)) and 7 premiers danseurs (Bélingard (30), Bridard (34), Carbone (27), Moreau (28), Paquette (28), Phavorin (34) and Thibault (30 or 31)), which is much more than it used to be (and there now are 6 female étoiles (Dupont (32), Gillot (30), Letestu (34), Moussin (36 or 37), Osta (35), Pujol (30)) and 8 male étoiles (Bart (33), Belarbi (43), Ganio (21), Legris (41), Le Riche (33), Martinez (36), Pech (31) and Romoli). But I've never understood how the number of positions of étoiles and premiers danseurs is calculated...

Here are some links to the results of the previous competitions (2004, 2003, 2002 and 2001): http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=18179 http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=15274 http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=8741 http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=4072 It always is a somewhat heated topic... sophia, I this that this system is very "French" also because a lot of things depend on competitions in the French society (e.g. to have a civil servant job, to get into the most prestigious schools, etc.) Except that of course it is a very special kind of competition, as it is not anonymous and the judging is more subjective than for, say, a competition to get a teaching job. In my opinion, the negative sides of the competition are: - it often isn't objective, as the company's direction has a very heavy weight in the ranking, and there often has been questionable decisions (e.g. some years two positions of premiere danseuse were open and only one was filled, which seemed to mean than nobody was good enough, but some of the dancers who competed then were promoted on the following years...) But I guess it's a problem with every mode of promotion, anyway. - being injured on the day of the competition means no promotion for one year, so it can slower the career of a good dancer who has the bad luck to be injured just at the wrong moment - probably a lot of stress for all the dancers, especially as the competition generally is at the end of December, in the middle of long series of performances (on the very evening of the competition, there were performances of "Swan Lake" in Garnier and "La petite danseuse de Degas" in Bastille) and its positive sides are: - it forces the dancers to keep a good enough shape to be able to participate in the competition (however, now the participation isn't compulsory. But not participating in the competition would be seen quite badly from the direction, at least for dancers young enough) - it can be an opportunity for them to perform some variations which haven't been danced for a while by the company (e.g. some dancers regulary choose variations by Lifar, while Lifar has been sadly absent from the company's performances for years) - it gives them some opportunities to perform soloist variations on stage, and to show what they can do And indeed, as sophia wrote, the dancers themselves insisted on keeping the competition when Nureyev wanted to suppress it, so even though they often criticize it a lot, a majority do want to keep that typical POB tradition.

Here's a link to an article about the new premiers danseurs: http://actu.voila.fr/Depeche/ext--francais...4.0gbnfa16.html It also lists the promoted male dancers, most notably Stéphane Phavorin as premier danseur. I'm happy for Phavorin, even if a bit surprised as he has been a sujet for more than 10 years and so was not very expected to be promoted (but his career was slowed by several problems of injuries). Congratulations to all the newly promoted dancers ! I'm a bit sorry for Fanny Fiat, a talented sujet who also deserved to be promoted, but Myriam Ould-Braham and Dorothée Gilbert both are young gifted dancers who already performed quite a lot of important roles and their promotions were somewhat expected. And also I'm looking forward to seeing Laura Hecquet in bigger roles; she had impressed me a lot in Jean-Guillaume Bart's pas de deux "Javotte" a few years ago in a "Young dancers" program. I haven't seen yet if there is a page about the competition's results on the official POB site (I haven't found it yet, but now I'm on vacation and only have a slow connection so finding things on the POB site isn't very easy). It was a relatively good year for the POB dancers in terms of positions. (Actually, I feel a bit sorry for some dancers of a previous generation like Nathalie Aubin, Laure Muret, Miteki Kudo or Delphine Baey, who happened to be sujets in a period with very few available positions of premiere danseuse, as I feel they could have been promoted if only they were born a bit earlier or later...)

A long series of performances of Nureyev's production of "Swan Lake" started yesterday. Unfortunately, there's little to expect about it from the French press (as it seldom publishes reviews of ballet performances, except when it's something "new")... The casts are listed there: http://www.operadeparis.fr/Saison0506/dist...tion.asp?Id=838 but one has to be cautious, as there have already been numerous changes... The main couples will be: Letestu/ Martinez, Gillot/ Moreau, Cozette/ Bart, Dupont/ Legris, Letestu/ Le Riche, Abbagnato/ Pech, Dupont/ Ganio, Zakharova/ Bart and Vishneva/ Pech. The Rothbarts will be: Romoli, Paquette, Phavorin, Belarbi or Bullion. As far as I know it will be the first "Odette" for Eleonora Abbagnato and Emilie Cozette (actually, probably Cozette's first big role) and the first Siegfried for Mathieu Ganio. Laetitia Pujol previously was announced as Odette, and Bridard as Rothbart, but their names aren't in the cast lists any longer (however, Pujol still is listed in the main role of "La petite danseuse de Degas" in the same period, alternating with Clairemarie Osta, Mélanie Hurel and Laure Muret.)

Just a short note to say that my husband and I finally managed to get last minute tickets for "Le Corsaire" last Saturday, and we enjoyed it very much; the company was very good indeed (and especially some of the soloists, I'll post more details later when I find the cast sheet) and the production was very good-looking.

Thanks for your post, but there already is a thread about that topic in the "dancers" subforum, so I'm going to close this topic to avoid duplicate threads. http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...topic=20797&hl=

Buddy wrote: Yes indeed, and Nureyev had commissioned another work from Forsythe a few years earlier (France/Dance, but it never became as famous as "In the Middle"...) I wish I could go to Paris to attend some Kirov performances, especially the Balanchine evening as "La Valse" and "Ballet Imperial" have seldom been performed in France- but unfortunately it is not possible for me to travel at such dates and it is quite frustrating bart, I sympathize with your experience in 2002. I saw them once at the Chatelet in a Fokine mixed bill, it was sold out too but I had the luck to be able to buy a ticket for a cheap seat from a person who had an extra ticket.

Thanks a lot, Marga ! Actually the name used in French by the Maison de la Danse is "le Ballet de l'Opéra National de Riga" and I didn't know what was their name in English- but it definitely is the same company. That definitely sounds like a worth seeing company (and it will perform with its own orchestra), so if I can I'll try queuing to get a ticket ! Do you know their version of "Le Corsaire" ? The Maison de la Danse web site lists Aivars Leimanis as its choreographer.

The Ballet of Riga will be performing soon "Le Corsaire" in Lyon, at the Maison de la Danse, and I was wondering if some people here have already seen that company, or have some interesting information about it. Actually, I'm not very likely to see it, as all its performances already were sold out when I called (the good news is that there is an audience for ballet in Lyon... alas, there is so little of it to see !) and I'm not sure I'll be courageous enough to wait early enough before the beginning of a performance in the hope of getting a last minute ticket, especially with the probably snowy weather... But anyway, knowing more about that company would be interesting.

Welcome on Ballet Talk, l321385 ! Since you have opened another thread about the same dancer: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...topic=21060&hl= I'm going to close this one, in order to avoid having two threads about the same topic.

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Juliet 2417 ! I'm going to echo Marga's advice: the best place to discuss such costume questions is Ballet Talk for Dancers, in its "Pro Shop" section: http://dancers.invisionzone.com/index.php?showforum=12 And I'm going to close this discussion (but encourage you to post in other threads if you wish, e.g. to introduce you and tell us about the ballet performances you've seen).

Dale, thanks for the information ! If I remember correctly, it was filmed around 1993 and the dancers were: -for "Le Train Bleu": Nicolas Le Riche (Le beau gosse, Anton Dolin's role), Elisabeth Maurin (Perlouse), Karin Averty (the tennis player) and Laurent Quéval (the golf player). -for "Le Tricorne": Kader Belarbi (the Miller), Françoise Legrée (his wife), Fabrice Bourgeois (the bad guy- Corregidor, if I remember correctly. Bourgeois was a sujet who performed a lot of "bad guys" roles in the last years of his career, and anecdotically he is the husband of the former principal Fanny Gaïda). It was part of a "Picasso et la danse" program which also included Roland Petit's "Le rendez-vous", but as far as I know Petit's work was not filmed (or at least the film was never shown on TV). It was one of the interesting programs of the Patrick Dupond era (from what I've read, it was an idea of Jean-Albert Cartier- the kind of ideas which is sorely lacking now at the POB in my opinion... ) Sadly, those works haven't been danced by the POB for quite a long while. It's great to know that those ballets will be released on tape, all the more as most of the dancers in the main roles have retired since then (only Le Riche and Belarbi still are part of the company, and Belarbi will retire soon) and some of them were not filmed much during their careers. Ah, to think I used to have those ballets one tape, and that my mother used the tape to record some soap opera...

The photos don't work for me either. [Edited to add] Now the site works again. Thanks, drb, the Enguerand photos really look great. By the way, one also can see photos of older POB performances of "Jewels" (in 2000 and 2003) on the same site. What a pity Manuel Legris wasn't filmed in "Rubies", he was so wonderful in that role (even if I'm sure Alessio Carbone was very good too).

Not in the Paris operas (Garnier and Bastille), as far as I know... The only problem for the bathrooms there might be that it tends to be quite crowded at the intermissions (as in many theaters). Helene, will you have enough time for some visits besides just attening a performance ? I think that, as it is your first trip to Paris, a visit of the Opera Garnier would be interesting (and also of its Bibliiothèque-musée if it is possible). koshka, I never attended the school's demonstrations, so I don't know how long it is (and the show's duration isn't announced on the POB web site yet). However, as the morning ones start at 10:30 AM and the afternoon ones at 2:30 PM, I guess that there should be enough time to have lunch between the performances. The Opera Garnier zone generally is a bit expensive in terms of restaurants, but there are a few interesting things on the Boulevard des Capucines (which crosses the Avenue de l'Opéra in front of the Opéra, between the two exits of the metro station) and in the streets nearby.

Yes indeed, tips are not expected at all, I even wonder if they are forbidden (they are in some theaters- anyway, I don't remember seeing people tipping at the Paris Opera... In general, the "tip" culture in France seems to be quite different from the US; e.g. in most restaurants, people are not expected to leave a tip except if they are especially happy with the service). The cast sheet given inside the auditorium is free, while the full programs tend to be more and more expensive (it depends on the ballet, but most were around 11 euros last time I attended a performance). I hope you have an enjoyable trip !

His most famous novels were, as far as I know, "Le roman de la momie", "Le capitaine Fracasse" (which was adapted into several films, the latest one was by Ettore Scola in 1991) and "Mademoiselle de Maupin", and also some short stories like "La morte amoureuse". Besides "Giselle", he also wrote libretti for "La Péri" (1843 Coralli/ Burgmueller), "Pâquerette" (1851, Saint-Léon/ Benoist), "Gemma" (1854 Fany Cerrito/ Gabrielli), "Yanko le Bandit" (1858, ?/ Deldevez) and "Sacountala" (1858, Lucien Petipa/ Reyer), I don't know if there are some others. He was (platonically) in love with Carlotta Grisi, and had a long time affair with her elder sister Ernesta (who was a singer), who was the mother of his two daughters, Judith (who became a writer) and Estelle. Here are a few links in English about Gautier: http://www.mta.ca/faculty/arts-letters/mll...tier/engbio.htm http://www.bartleby.com/65/ga/GautierT.html http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/...ile_Gautier.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophile_Gautier http://www.association-gauthier.org/anglai...theophilea.html http://www.nndb.com/people/190/000025115/

About Daniel Auteuil, it is quite interesting to realize that the French audience mostly knew him at first because of his roles in some movies by Claude Zidi "Les sous-doués" and its sequels, and it were some really bad movies (about some silly and lazy students who are in a special high school and have to graduate from high school, and use any possible way of cheating); it is fortunate that he had such a more interesting and richer career later. I'd say that Gérard Depardieu was a great actor... but alas most of his choices in the last 10 years or so have been quite dreary.

bart, there are a few pages about Tetley's "Pierrot lunaire" and its 1968 production by the RDB in Copenhagen in Alexandra's book about Henning Kronstam, there also is a photo of Kronstam as Brighella (pp. 299-302).