Estelle

Thanks for your review, Calliope. I'm sorry that you had to shorten your stay... It isn't easy to be in the second seats in the boxes (and in the third row of seats one basically has to stand up for the whole performance, and to hope that the people in the first two ranks are quiet!) Actually I even prefer the amphitheater (that's were I was for that performance): the seats are very uncomfortable, especially in the last rows, and it's very far from the stage, but at least one can see the whole stage from there. About "Pulcinella": it's hard to remember who was dancing what (all the more are the roles all were as boring ;-) ) but it might have been Mirentchu Battut or Myriam Kamionka. Good recovering from the jet lag! And see you next fall perhaps (I don't know if I'll still be living in Paris then...)

Thanks for your review, Viviane! And now I regret even more not having seen Legris... About Nathalie Riqué: I was not extremely impressed by her either, but perhaps I'm more indulgent, knowing that she's been absent for three years for severe health problems, and that she's about 37- so it might take her some time to recover fully, and it's already quite an accomplishment to come back on stage after such a long absence. But perhaps another role would have been more suited. Emilie Cozette is a very young dancer (she's 20) and has been cast a lot recently. I wasn't entirely convinced by her Queen of Dryads, which was technically OK but a bit cold in my opinion, and from what I've read the level of her performances varied quite a lot, some were very good and some weren't... Perhaps it was a bit too much pressure for her? I agree that the toreadors might not have been "Spanish" enough... Perhaps it's a bit too hard for the POB dancers to forget their usual style?

That's not ballet, but Robert Louis Stevenson had created "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" before Freud was active...

Maxime Thomas danced Alain in "La Fille", and he was very good. I hope that next season he'll be given an interesting role in the POB school program! By the way, here's a link to the previous POB school discussion started by Katharine after their program in Paris: http://www.balletalert.com/forum/showthrea...=&threadid=4675 To the people who attended: what did you think of Jean-Guillaume Bart's "Peches de jeunesse"? Bart, who is a principal of the company (unrelated to ballet master Patrice Bart), had created it two seasons ago for the school, and I had enjoyed it: I didn't like much the costumes (too much pink and purple), and the music could have been more interesting, but I liked the choreography (and since Bart is one of the only French choreographers I know who is firmly interested in the classical vocabulary, I think he needs encouragements ) But I don't know how much rehearsal time this year's cast got, it might have been quite different from the cast on which it had been created two seasons ago (which was a good year for the school, with dancers like Dorothee Gilbert, Aurore Cordellier, Claire Bevalet, Audric Bezard, Adrien Bodet, Sebastien Bertaud who are considered as quite promising). PS: I found the cast sheet for the performances of "Peches de jeunesse" that I had attended in May 2000, and some of the present dancers already performedit in the corps de ballet (Marie-Laetitia Diederichs, Charlotte Ranson, Emilie Hasboun, Vincent Chaillet), also Josua Hoffalt (who was in 3rd division) had danced a pas de deux in "Sept danses grecques". (Also, David Hallberg who is now in the ABT corps de ballet had danced that year).

I saw Laura Hecquet in "Western Symphony" (second part) in April, and really enjoyed her performance (see my review in the POB part of the board), I found she had a lot of charm, class and humor. I think that it's worth noting that two of the girls who were supposed to dance some of the main roles had to cancel their participation because of injuries: Mathilde Froustey (whom I had seen in "La fille mal gardee") and Laurene Levy (whom I had seen in the first part of "Western Symphony", but I think she also was supposed to dance "Coppelia" in NYC). So it's likely that some of the performers you saw didn't have much time to rehearse their roles... britomart, one reason why they looked better in "Western Symphony" in your opinion might be that it was a work they had already danced in the school's annual program a few weeks earlier. The other works were danced only a few seasons ago, and perhaps they have less time to rehearse it... It must be a bit stressful for them to perform abroad (probably their first performance outside of Paris for most of them, and on a different kind of stage- it is raked?), and also there probably is more pressure on the girls, as they are more numerous than the boys, and only one fraction of them will be accepted in the company.

Lillian, there are some posts in the "American Ballet Companies" part of the board. Here's the URL for the list of the threads: http://www.balletalert.com/forum/forumdisp...p?s=&forumid=54 The board is so big now that it's easy to get a bit lost...

I saw that program yesterday (May 21st). I share Katharine's opinion about "Pulcinella"- in my opinion, it could have remained among the forgotten works of the POB's repertory without any regrets... It had been premiered by the POB in 1980, with the principals Jean Guizerix and Wilfride Piollet in the main roles (Guizerix was involved in the staging). I guess it must have looked very experimental to the POB audience then, but now there have been so many contemporary works added to the repertory that it doesn't even have the advantage of novelty, and I don't think it aged well. It featured a couple of leading dancers (but those were rather unsubstantial roles), plus a corps de ballet of 7 male and 7 female dancers, all of them in rather unflattering costumes in various shades of pink, red, blue and black which generally looked like pajamas (and for some of them, pajamas having suffered from some unfortunate shrinking when they were washed)- those costumes, by Olivier Beriot, were new for that production, but given the result, it didn't seem to me that it had been worth changing... The music was pleasant, and I enjoyed the singing by Louise Callinan, Francois Piolino and Yuri Kissin, but I found the choreography itself quite uninteresting, looking like some sub-sub-Cunningham, with a lot of things happening on stage simultaneously but none of them being especially interesting (and a somewhat repetitive vocabulary). In the main roles, Laetitia Pujol (replacing an injured Clairemarie Osta) and Lionel Delanoe did their best, with some occasional amusing, rhytmical movements, but on the whole there was little to do with such roles. That work lasted for 38 minutes, so it left plenty of time to look at the dancers and to try to identify them. It was good to see some relatively senior dancers of the company who are not cast very often these days, like Cécile Sciaux and Jean-Christophe Guerri, and also some young "surnumeraires" (dancers with a temporary contract) like Sarah Kora Dayanova, or a charming young tall, brown-haired young man who probably was Gregory Dominiak and displayed much enthusiasm. My fiance, who had had plenty of time to think about it, tried an English pun at the end, wondering if the choreographer's name was in fact "Dull"... Fortunately, the rest of the program was much better. Unlike Katharine, I'm a fan of Balanchine, and I was looking forward to seeing "Violin Concerto", which I had seen only once in a "Balanchine-Stravinsky" program in december 1996 (and, given the current programming, I'm afraid we might have to wait another six years at least before seeing it again). I was disappointed to see that Manuel Legris, who was supposed to dance the second pas de deux with Aurelie Dupont, was absent because of an injury (he got injured last friday in "Don Quichotte")- I haven't managed to see him yet this season, and am feeling withdrawal symptoms But Stephane Phavorin, who replaced him, was very good, and partnered Aurelie Dupont very well. As Katharine, I regret that he isn't cast much (a partial explanation might be that he has suffered from several injuries in recent seasons). The first aria was danced by Marie-Agnes Gillot and Jean-Guillaume Bart; I was not entirely convinced by Gillot, who looked a bit absent sometimes (but I think that casting her in three different roles in "Don Quichotte" plus that role wasn't very wise), and her partnership with Bart, who was his usual excellent self (and great partner), was a bit cold. I preferred the second aria, with the lovely Aurelie Dupont and Phavorin. The corps de ballet was excellent. Pina Bausch's "Rite of Spring" had made a strong impression when it had entered the POB's repertory in 1997, and has been programmed regularly since then. It is one of Pina Bausch's earliest works (it had been created in 1975 for her company), and, judging from the excerpts of other works of her I've seen, probably is more "dancey" and less theatrical. It begins with some technical people putting a lot of soil on the stage of the opera, with the lights on (they were applaused by the audience when they left ). Then, from the first minutes, it is a very violent and striking work (of course, the music helps!), with 16 male and 16 female dancers on stage. The female dancers have rather transparent beige short dresses (a bit like night gowns), while the men have dark blue trousers and bare chests. There is a red piece of cloth at the middle of the stage- which is in fact a red dress, which will be worn by a female dancer (the "Chosen one"). The roles are not very differentiated, except two at the end (the "Chosen one", danced by Eleonora Abbagnato with much talent, and a "chief", danced by the wonderful Wilfried Romoli). The dancers all become quickly dirty, and it becomes more and more exhausting for them to dance on that ground... It was interesting to compare the way Balanchine and Bausch used the corps de ballet. In Balanchine's work, there is a fascinating way to use symmetries, to rearrange the dancers on stage, or to have some groups of 4 or 8 dancers follow the soloists (and the black and white costumes make the stage look a little bit like an animated text or musical score...) In Bausch's work, the dancers almost always move in a unison way, but, while in general I tend to find unison quite boring after a while, in her work it remains interesting because it is the shapes formed by the groups of dancers which change: the steps are the same for all of them (with a lot of almost Grahamian contractions), but sometimes they move in a large circle, sometimes diagonal lines, sometimes the men and women are in two big groups and sometimes they are united or grouped by two, etc. The transition steps between the shapes are not very interesting (a lot of running), but it is composed in a clever way, and reflects well the mood of the score. Not surprisingly, Bausch's striking "Sacre" was the most applaused work of the evening. The Paris Opera Orchestra, lead by Vello Pahn, had its share of the applauses too. Now one part of the company is preparing a tour to Southern America with Balanchine's "Jewels", while another part will dance Bejart's "Le Concours" in Bastille in June and July.

SABkid, there have already been two threads about the upcoming SAB workshop: http://www.balletalert.com/forum/showthrea...=&threadid=4988 and http://www.balletalert.com/forum/showthrea...=&threadid=4989 As you can see, some people already are looking forward to seeing your performances! Some reviews of the previous workshops had been posted in previous years, but I don't know if it still is possible to read them on this site. I have never seen any SAB workshop (I live in France ) but have seen several school performances (Paris Opera Ballet school, Paris Conservatoire, Lyon Conservatoire) and each time the audience was enthusiastic, and very admirative of the students' hard work.

Oh, sorry, I didn't know that there were such bad seats in Bastille. So far I had never had a restricted view- I guess I was lucky! Sorry for the misinformation. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your comments.

That does souns like Simone Valastro. Or it might have been Martin Chaix, they look a bit the same.

Viviane, the problem with Bastille is that one always feels far from the stage! (On the other hand, even from the cheapest seats one can actually see the stage, which is not the case in Garnier...) Could you tell us a bit more about the Legris- Pujol performance? And also about the dancers in the secondary roles?

I haven't seen any of the Russian ballerinas which are discussed about, so can't offer any comment... But thanks to Calliope for her initial review- and I'm looking forward to reading your comments on the Stravinsky program (I attended it yesterday)! Terry, I see what you mean about Martinez and Legris. I prefer Legris too (and really regret not seeing him yesterday, as he got injured in his last "Don Quichotte"... I haven't seen him since the beginning of the season :) ); it's hard to explain but for me Legris just has a special kind of joy in his dancing. However, Martinez is an excellend dancer too, and I especially admired him in some modern roles, for example in Ek's "Giselle" and "Appartement". About Myriam Ould-Braham: I haven't seen her so often yet, but found her lovely when I saw her. But unfortunately the careers at the POB often are quite unpredictable, and sometimes there are dancers who were considered as very promising and who get stuck as quadrilles and coryphees for their whole careers. She was promoted to coryphee at the last competition, and has been given a few interesting roles (such as Cupid in this "Don Quichotte"- by the way, it's interesting to notice that that role was danced by premieres danseuses, sujets and coryphees) so, so far, things are good for her, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed! But among the younger POB dancers, I'm also fond of the young quadrille Dorothee Gilbert.

I'm not really sure I understand well the word "glamorpuss", but among the former POB dancers, I wonder if Francoise Legree would qualify.

Thanks for that link, that was very interesting. She mentions some upcoming performances by the Graham Company in January. Does anybody know if there are any plans to tour in other countries (and especially France)?

I'm not sure if it's what your book is talking about, but in general the words "baby ballerinas" refer to three female dancers, Irina Baronova, Tatiana Riabouchinska and Tamara Toumanova, all of them born around 1916-1919, and who started their careers very early with the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo in the early 1930s (Toumanova was only 13 when she created her first big roles). They created several ballets by Leonide Massine, George Balanchine, Bronislava Nijinska, Michel Fokine, David Lichine... I think that one of them (Baronova or Riabouchinska) is still alive, but am not sure. Among them Toumanova had the longest and richest career, dancing with several companies, creating important works such as Balanchine's "Palais de Cristal" in 1947 with the Paris Opera Ballet (which is basically the same as "Symphony in C"), and also appearing in several movies.

I had not seen her, but I have been told that Delphine Moussin (premiere danseuse of the POB) kept on dancing until she was about 4 or 5 months pregnant. Her husband is the premier danseur Lionel Delanoe, when their daughter was born he has stopped dancing because of a serious back injury, but a few months after came back on stage again. Also in the documentary "Tout pres des etoiles" about POB dancers, there's a coryphee Amelie Lamoureux who talks about her pregnancy: she says that some of the teachers she had as a kid were rather bitter people who told her that if she wanted to become a professional dancer, she couldn't have a child (and more generally should not have a personal life); when the documentary was filmed she was at the beginning of her pregnancy, and said how wonderful it was to know that she was pregnant while dancing on the stage of the Paris Opera...

Thanks for the link, Morris Neighbor. But I didn't see any former POB dancer among the NDT3 dancers (the only French one, Gerard Lemaitre, danced in Petit's company and with the NDT). I think that the question of constructive roles depends a lot of the age of the dancers: among "older" dancers, there is quite a difference between those who are barely above 40 and those who are 70... Also a related problem is career-shortening injuries (which has already been mentioned in other threads); it's a pity to see that some dancers have to stop very early because their bodies are not in a good enough shape after repeated injuries... Of course there is also the fact that nature in unfair, and some people might be in a better shape for genetic reasons.

Thanks for the link, Morris Neighbor. But I didn't see any former POB dancer among the NDT3 dancers (the only French one, Gerard Lemaitre, danced in Petit's company and with the NDT). I think that the question of constructive roles depends a lot of the age of the dancers: among "older" dancers, there is quite a difference between those who are barely above 40 and those who are 70... Also a related problem is career-shortening injuries (which has already been mentioned in other threads); it's a pity to see that some dancers have to stop very early because their bodies are not in a good enough shape after repeated injuries... Of course there is also the fact that nature in unfair, and some people might be in a better shape for genetic reasons.

I saw it once, three years ago, with Manuel Legris and Elisabeth Maurin. Most of the audience loved it, but I was not really convinced: the music was great, the costumes and scenography were good, but I didn't like much Preljocaj's choreographic style... Here's a link to a review of it that I posted in the newsgroup alt.arts.ballet: http://groups.google.fr/groups?q=%22le+par...40mimosa&rnum=1

There is a well-known poem of Voltaire decidated to Marie-Anne Cupis de Camargo and Marie Sallé: "Ah !Camargo ! Que vous êtes brillante ! Mais que Sallé grand Dieu, est ravissante ! Elle est inimitable et vous êtes nouvelle. Les Nymphes dansent comme vous Mais les Grâces dansent comme elle !" Which means more or less: "Ah! Camargo! How brilliant you are! But Sallé, great gods, is ravishing! She 's inimitable and you are new. The Nymphs dance like you But the Graces dance like her!" By the way, I've found the following site about dance history: http://nelly.johnson.free.fr/Page80.html

As a viewer, I do hope that Manuel Legris won't retire too soon- I'd be happy to be able to see him for a few more years... But if he is to become an artistic director someday, then I hope he'll stop dancing, because being both an artistic director and an active dancer rarely has given good results... I love Legris as a dancer, but I don't know much about his choreography tastes, except that, as all POB dancers apparently, he seems to enjoy a lot Nureyev's productions and also a lot Neumeier and Kylian. Also there might be quite a lot of other factors (and especially financial ones...) But so far, my problem with Brigitte Lefevre is that I don't get the feeling that she has real ideas about artistic policy- just putting a bit of everything in the repertory, some classics to fill Bastille and some modern stuff because it looks cool (and I'm afraid it's the only way to get some French newspapers to talk about the POB ), etc. Marc, you're right- when compared to many new additions to the repertory, I realize that there are reasons to cherish Nureyev's productions after all (and at least there the dancers got some real ballet to dance, unlike, say, that awfully boring stuff by Blanca Li last winter...) I was thinking about Balanchine, Robbins, Tudor (but it has been absent from the repertory for quite a lot of time and so most young dancers haven't had opportunities to perform it), Fokine for example. Leigh, in French we would say "avoir à choisir entre la peste ou le choléra" (having to choose between the plague and cholera).

I'm not sure, but it seems to me that they get a pension only after they turn 60, and have to find a job between 40 or 45 and 60 (but I'd have to check it).

I'm not sure, but it seems to me that they get a pension only after they turn 60, and have to find a job between 40 or 45 and 60 (but I'd have to check it).

Thanks for the information about Tivoli. The last time I heard about her was when she performed in "Notre-Dame de Paris" with the POB last fall. She was supposed to dance in "La Bayadere", but eventually didn't, probably because of an injury. She seems to be a bit fragile now, in her last POB season she got injured several times and didn't perform much...

Actually, I think that there still are differences about "The Nutcracker": it isn't as strong a tradition in France as in the US, the POB doesn't do it every season, and neither do the (very few remaining) other French ballet companies... I, for one, would be quite happy to see a bit more of "token Balanchine repertory" (and I don't think "Divertimento n.15" has been performed in France in the last decade...)- rather than, for example, the "token Blanca Li/ Jean-Claude Gallotta/ Regine Chopinot repertory" for a ballet company... When having a look at the season programs of companies of Northern Europe (Germany, Netherlands, Denmark), it seemed to me that John Neumeier was ubiquitous in the programs of the National Ballets of Anywhere in Those Regions.