Estelle

Yes, Jean-Marie Didière is an interesting dancer. I think he is a bit older than Vu An (Vu An is about 35-32 and Didière was at the POB school with Dupond, so must be about 40-42). He's one of the senior members of the company now, but still is very active, he got good reviews for his role as "Monsieur de GM" in "Manon" a few months ago, and also danced the Rajah in "La Bayadere" during the American tour of the POB, and Don Lopez in Paquita. There also was Raphaëlle Delaunay, who left the company in 1997 (she was 21) when she was a coryphee: she joined Pina Bausch's company, and last year joined Kylian's Nederlands Dans Theater. Here is a page with a photo of her: http://www.ndt.nl/English/NDT1/Delaunay.html I wish I had had more time to see her when she danced in Paris. I have a good memory of her in a video of some EBU competition in the early 90s (Zenaida Yanowsky had won the gold medal, and Ms Delaunay had had a bronze medal).

Now he is the director of the Ballet de l'Opera d'Avignon et des Pays du Vaucluse, a small (state-funded) company associated to the Avignon Opera. In 1995, he had become the director of the Ballet du Grand Theatre de Bordeaux, a much larger company, but stayed there only for two years (it seems that there were a lot of local conflicts there), and also during that period he suffered from a severe injury (broken Achilles tendon). The Ballet d'Avignon is a small company with limited financial means, but he seems to be quite active there (and also choreographing for the company). I remember reading an interview of Vu An in which he said that his father is from Vietnam, and that people were surprised to see that when he was a kid his hair was very curly, until they remembered that his mother had ancestors from the Antillas... There's a photo of him at the following URL: http://www.galadesetoiles.com/bios/vuan.html

Marc, do you know when the Kirov will dance at the Theatre du Chatelet next season (there's nothing about it on their web page), and what programs they will dance?

Poor Laurent Hilaire is very bad lucky indeed! He had already got injured around september 2000 during a POB tour in Milano and almost didn't dance this season (I think he just danced in the Robbins program and in "Romeo and Juliet", and now he's injured again! (And Nicolas Le Riche is injured too, and won't be dancing until september. Not a good period for POB principals...)

Drew, I'm not sure, but if I remember correctly, Rene Blum actually was a brother of the French Prime Minister Leon Blum, and died in a nazi death camp.

Drew, I'm not sure, but if I remember correctly, Rene Blum actually was a brother of the French Prime Minister Leon Blum, and died in a nazi death camp.

I was told by a POB dancer that every time they dance that ballet, there are a few dancers who had stopped smoking who start smoking again... There's also a cigarette in Petit's "Le jeune homme et la mort". Probably smoking was fac, back then. Actually, it's French, not Italian (it's some lyrics from Bizet's opera). I don't remember it exactly, but I think what sounded like "ka-boom" probably was "l'amour" (in the song "l'amour est enfant de bohême"). Carmen looks a bit outdated now, but it also depends a lot on the interprets. I appreciated it quite a lot when I saw it last season at the Paris Opera (with Gaida and Belarbi), and also a few seasons before in Marseille (with Assylmuratova and Broeckx).

Leigh, you're right: Neumeier uses some music from Mendelssohn and also some from Ligeti (and also some music played by an orgue de Barbarie- sorry, I don't know the English word for such an instrument). I don't remember which works are used exactly (and don't have the program notes at hand). Actually, I found the parts of the ballet on Ligeti's music extremely boring (musically and choreographically).

Jeannie, actually, if *I* had to choose a premiere danseuse, Abbagnato would surely not be first on the list. However, it seems that the direction likes her very very much: she has been given big roles when she was only a coryphee, ranked first among the sujets at the latest inner competition (and everybody knew that it would be like that one year before, just after she was promoted as sujet)... Well, perhaps one should not trust gossip too much, but everything I've heard gave me the impression that Brigitte Lefevre was impatient to promote her. In my opinion, she's a cute dancer, but what I have seen from her so far didn't really convince me (but I admit I haven't seen her so often). Her boyfriend Jeremie Belingard became a premier danseur at the latest competition too, and he too seems to be appreciated a lot by the direction. About the other premieres danseuses: there have been many discussions among the French posters of ballet.co.uk about the chances of promotion of Osta. She has danced quite a lot of big roles with talent, and saved the premiere of "Paquita" as a last-minute replacement of Dupont, but she's about 30 now, and seems less and less likely to be promoted. A pity, in my opinion (she was lovely in "In the Night" a few months ago, and also in the pas de trois of "Emeralds"). Gillot is about 26 now, has danced quite a lot of roles, and I think you wouldn't lose your bet (the only problem with her might be her height: she's very tall, like Letestu, but also large-shouldered, so it's hard to find a partner tall and strong enough for her). Pujol is about 25, but was promoted more recently (and her promotion was quite unexpected); so far she's had mostly the reputation of being a strong technician, but recently she had good reviews in more "artistic" roles. A great cause of regret among the POB fans is Ghislaine Fallou: she was a very bright dancer, who entered the company when she was only 15 and was considered as very promising, but about 2 or 3 years ago she started suffering from depression and eating disorders, and since then she has disappeared from the stage. A real pity

Yes indeed. That was already visible during the performances of "Paquita" a few months ago: Aurelie Dupont and Agnes Letestu bot were injured for the first performances, so that the premieres danseuses Clairemarie Osta and Marie-Agnes Gillot danced most of the performances. There are now 8 premieres danseuses: Moussin, Osta, Gillot, Laetitia Pujol (all 4 of them are very active), Nathalie Rique (who has been absent for more than 2 years for health reasons, and seems unlikely to come back), Ghislaine Fallou (also absent for a long time), Karin Averty (very active, but she will retire within about 2 years) and Eleonora Abbagnato (promoted recently, and probably the most likely to become a principal soon). The premieres danseuses dance both principal roles and less important ones. There are now 6 male principals (Hilaire, Legris, Belarbi, Le Riche, Bart and Martinez). But Hilaire and Le Riche have suffered from injuries this season (and also Le Riche dances a lot with other companies), and Belarbi dances more and more character roles or modern works.

The POB principal Fanny Gaida had her farewell performance in Nureyev's "Romeo and Juliet" on June 26, partnered by Laurent Hilaire as Romeo, Lionel Delanoe as Mercutio and Kader Belarbi as Tybalt. Nicolas Le Riche was supposed to dance Romeo, but he was injured (he'll probably be absent from the stage until September). Actually, Gaida's farewell performance was planned on June 23rd, but Sylvie Guillem, who was supposed to dance Juliet on June 26, got injured and Gaida had to replace her. That must have been frustrating for her fans who had booked seats in advance for June 23rd- all the more as June 26th also was the date of the premiere of Neumeier's "Midsummer night's dream" at the Opera Garnier ("Romeo and Juliet" was danced at the Opera Bastille). Gaida, who was born in 1961, studied at the POB school, and joined the company in 1978. She became a sujet as soon as 1981, and then a premiere danseuse in 1989 and a principal dancer in 1993. I attended the performance when she was promoted (on the same day as Carole Arbo and Nicolas Le Riche), in July 1993 in the Arenes of Nimes (it was her first "Giselle"). I wish I could have attended her official POB performance. She might be invited again as a guest principal, but it seems a bit unlikely. She's danced a large repertory with the company, ranging from "La Sylphide" and "Giselle" to Forsythe (she was in the first cast of "In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated" in 1987) and Kylian. I appreciated her a lot as Roland Petit's "Carmen", in the first pas de deux of Jerome Robbins' "In the Night", in the "Emeralds" part of George Balanchine's "Jewels"... As Carole Arbo, her promotion as a principal was a bit late (both were 32), but they had already danced many big roles of the repertory, and though it is not everyone's opinion, I think her promotion was fully deserved. Some time after her promotion, she was absent for one season because of the birth of her son (she's married with Fabrice Bourgeois, a former POB soloist who now is assistant ballet master) but came back quickly. Now there are only four female principal dancers in the company: Isabelle Guerin (40- she will retire next fall- she was supposed to have her farewell performance in "Romeo and Juliet", but got injured and so it was postponed), Elisabeth Maurin (38), Agnes Letestu (30) and Aurelie Dupont (28). That is really not much, given the large size of the company and the large number of performances. I can't help feeling somewhat old when remembering all the principals who retired or left the company since I started attending POB performances in 1993: Monique Loudieres, Francoise Legree, Elisabeth Platel, Marie-Claude Pietragalla, Carole Arbo and also Jean-Yves Lormeau, Patrick Dupond, Charles Jude for the men. Brigitte Lefevre repeatedly declared in interviews that she didn't want the company to have too many principals, but I think I'm not the only one wondering if the present figure might not be too small... The present premiere danseuse Delphine Moussin might be a suitable replacement for Gaida, as their repertories are quite similar (and they also look like each other physically, as was obvious in the recent performances of Kylian's "Doux mensonges", in which they created the two female roles), but Moussin already is 32 and her chances to get promoted now seem unfortunately close to zero. I don't know if Fanny Gaida plans to continue dancing, or will turn to teaching or coaching, but anyway I wish her good luck in her new career.

Actually, from the reviews, the main references for Jude's version seem to have been "On the town" and "West side story"... See for example that review by Sirvin: http://www.imagidanse.com/francais/cadres_acceuil.html

I've posted the following review in alt.arts.ballet: Since 1998, the Paris Opera Ballet has organized regularly some "Young dancers" programs, which feature dancers from the corps de ballet in short works. The content and style of such programs have varied quite a lot (sometimes there was a general theme, for example "Homage to Petipa" in 1994); in general, the choreographies and the casts are announced quite late. This time, the program included 8 works, featuring a total of 26 dancers, all of them coryphees or quadrilles (three of them being "surnumeraires", i.e. quadrilles with a temporary contract- indeed it is quite rare to see them on stage with interesting roles). It began with Anton Dolin's version of Perrot's "Pas de quatre" (coached by Ghislaine Thesmar) danced by Christine Peltzer, Peggy Dursort, Myriam Ould-Braham and Miho Fujii. It was interesting to see such a rarely staged romantic work, but it would probably have had more impact with more experienced dancers. I especially liked Myriam Ould-Braham, a small blonde 19 years old quadrille who entered the company recently, and danced the "Cerrito" role with lyricism, grace and lightness. Miho Fujii, a surnumeraire, was quite charming in the Lucile Grahn role. The ensemble parts were good, except some rather shaky balances by Christine Peltzer and Miho Fujii. The second work was a "Pas de trois" from Lacotte's version of "La Sylphide". That pas de trois wasn't included in the first version of "La Sylphide", it was added later and came from Taglioni's "L'Ombre", on some music by Maurer. In general, I don't appreciate much such pas de deux or pas de trois when they're taken out of their context: it's really hard to appreciate such works without the rest of the story, with no sets... It works well with virtuosity pas de deux like that of "Don Quichotte", but with romantic works much of the atmosphere is lost in general- or it requires excellent dancers with a strong stage presence. In that pas de trois, the dancer I appreciated most was Dorothee Gilbert (17), a quadrille who joined the company last fall: she was excellent in the role of Effie, very moving and technically very strong. I was far less impressed with Juliette Gernez (18), a newly promoted coryphee, whose Sylphide was not especially expressive and quite icy. Julien Meyzindi (22) was elegant and expressive, and showed great partnering skills. The following work was the White Swan pas de deux from "Swan Lake" (Nureyev's production), danced by Aurore Cordellier (17, another newly promoted coryphee) and Stephane Bullion (21, coryphee). I'm afraid I was not very impressed with what I saw: the steps were there, but there was no emotion. (However, I've been told that they improved quite a lot on the following performances). The next work was by Nureyev too: it was the balcony scene from "Romeo and Juliet", danced by Myriam Kamionka (27, coryphee) and Nicolas Paul (22, coryphee). I've never appreciated much that pas de deux, and those contrived male variations... Nicolas Paul and Myriam Kamionka both were quite good, but there was little interaction between them. The second part of the evening started with a pas de six by the POB principal Jean-Guillaume Bart, "Le diable a quatre", on a musical score by Adolphe Adam. That work had been created in 1997 for the Jeune Ballet de France. It is an abstract pas de six, which looks like a nice pastiche of romantic style, with many virtuoso variations. Not a masterpiece in my opinion, but a very pleasant work, joyful and musical. All the dancers who performed it (Aurelia Bellet, Ninon Raux, Nathalie Vandard, Severine Westermann, Pascal Aubin and Bruno Bouche) were excellent, with a heart-warming enthusiasm. The following work, Petipa's "Carnaval de Venise", was a new work in the repertory of the company. It was danced by Lise-Marie Jourdain (23, quadrille) and Jean-Sebastien Colau (23, quadrille), which had won some medals in Varna and Paris with that pas de deux. Jourdain, a thin blonde, looked lovely in her white and silver tutu, and their pas de deux was warmly applaused by the audience (actually a bit too much for my taste- I find it annoying when people applause in the middle of the variations!) Such a pas de deux seems more suited to such a gala than the White Swan one, for example- here there's only virtuosity and joy, and the lack of context isn't a problem. I wish those dancers had more opportunities to dance interesting roles; as quadrilles they dance mostly corps de ballet roles. Colau had been excellent as Rothbart in the previous "Young dancers" program, and while his long line might seem more suited to prince roles, I'm more likely to see him in demi-caractere roles. It was followed by a pas de trois from "Reversibilite" by Michel Kelemenis. "Reversibilite" was created for the POB in 1999, and seems unlikely (as many contemporary dance works created in the last few years for the company) to be danced again in its entirety. The pas de trois was the second part of the work, set to Ravel's "Pavane pour une infante defunte" (the first part was on the "Concerto for the left hand"). I had appreciated that work when it was premiered, especially in contrast with the hollow new work by Jose Montalvo which was just before, and it also benefitted from the great talent of Kader Belarbi, Wilfried Romoli and Elisabeth Maurin in the main roles. Now, I found that pas de trois a bit too agressive and acrobatic; nonetheless there were interesting moments. It was performed with much intensity by Caroline Bance (23, coryphee), Jean-Philippe Dury (22, quadrille) and Pierre Retif (23, quadrille). I was especially impressed by the great stage presence of Retif, and hope to be able to see him again on stage. And Yves Cassagne's costumes deserve a special mention (nice short green dress for the girls, and black sleeveless suits for the men which really made them look very elegant). The program ended with Jacques Garnier's "Aunis". That work, which seems to be the only work of Garnier (who died in 1989, aged 47) regularly performed, had been part of some previous "Young dancers" programs in 1996 and in 1993. I've seen that work quite a lot of times (on video -it has been filmed with Kader Belarbi, Wilfried Romoli and Jean-Claude Ciappara-, in Marseille, in Paris...) and still find it as moving, especially thanks to the beautiful score for two accordions by Maurice Pacher (played on staged by himself and Gerard Baraton). Aunis is a region of western France (around La Rochelle), where Jacques Garnier was born, and some of the music is inspired from traditional music from that region. It was first created by Garnier himself as a solo in 1979, and then in 1980 as a trio (also inspired by Garnier's childhood with his two brothers). The steps are relatively simple, but the structure of the work is quite subtile, with many games of symmetry and dissymmetry between the three dancers, and I find it fascinating. It was danced beautifully by Simon Valastro (20, quadrille), Martin Chaix (20, surnumeraire) and Alexandre Carniato (20, surnumeraire). My only regret is that the audience ruined the end: it is supposed to be somewhat circular (the music getting slower, less and less loud, and the dancers returning to their initial position on the ground) but people started applauding very loudly before the end of the music and one couldn't really feel the nostalgic atmosphere of the end. It was an interesting evening, in spite of a few unfortunate choices. I regret that some other very young members of the company (Emilie Cozette, Julie Martel, Adrien Bodet...) were not cast, and hope that the young dancers of the program will have more opportunities to shine in the future.

Well, the web site of the Grand Theatre de Bordeaux is not very easy to use (www.opera-de-bordeaux.fr) but yes, there seems to be only three programs. There are also invited companies (Ballet Biarritz, with three choreographies by Thierry Malandain, some flamenco...) I wonder to what extent such small seasons are influenced by financial reasons. Both companies depend on theaters which mostly program operas and concerts (I know little about that field, but it seems that the Orchestre du Capitole is said to be one of the finest French orchestras), and probably most of the money goes to the Opera productions. Before Glushak's arrival, the Ballet du Capitole was a small company, which performed mostly in operas and operettes(I don't think the dancers perform in it any longer). It's a pity that those companies don't tour much in France (and that the critics of the French dance magazines rarely write reviews of their performances- as if 3 hours of train between Paris and Bordeaux were really too much ). However, the Ballet de Bordeaux performed a few weeks ago in Paris, in a bizarre "americanized" version of "Coppelia", and seems to have been quite successful.

The Ballet du Grand Theatre de Bordeaux (one of the few remaining ballet companies in France, lead by the former POB principal Charles Jude) has announced its 2001-2002 season: -"Homage to Serge Lifar and Alexandre Kalioujny (nov.2001), including Fokine's "Petrouchka" Nijinsky's "Afternoon of a faun", Lifar's "Icare" and "Suite en blanc" -"The Nutcracker" (dec.2001, Charles Jude after Petipa) -"Swan Lake" (May 2002, Charles Jude after Petipa) The Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse (lead by Nanette Glushak) also has announced its next season. The URL of the web site of the Theatre du Capitole is: http://www.theatre-du-capitole.org/sommair...ire/accueil.htm The season will include: -"Coppelia" (choreography by Enrique Martinez) -a mixed bill with "Brel" by Ben van Cauwenbergh, "Na Floresta" by Nacho Duato, and "Fearful symmetries" by Peter Martins -a mixed bill with "Rubies" by George Balanchine, "Before nightfall" by Nils Christe, and "Black Cake" by Nils Christe The programming of the Ballet du Capitole looks a bit less interesting than in some of the previous seasons, in my opinion (for example Nanette Glushak had staged some Balanchine works which are rarely seen in France, like "Scotch Symphony", "Raymonda Variations", "Allegro Brillante", "Liebeslieder Walzer" or even "Stars and Stripes", and also Tudor's "Lilac Garden", De Mille's "Rodeo", Ashton's "Illuminations"...)

The 2001-2002 season is announced on the Royal Danish Ballet website (unfortunately, the English pages still are under construction, so that there are only pages in Danish). http://147.29.40.184/dkt2001/ballet/frame.htm The season seems to include three Bournonville works: "Napoli" (sept. 7-29), "La Sylphide" (oct. 25- nov. 23) and "A Folk Tale" (Jan. 11- Mar. 10) The rest of the season includes: -a mixed bill for the opening evening on Aug. 19 (Martins' "Hallelujah junction", Balanchine's "Stravinsky Violin Concerto", and excerpt from "Napoli" act III and an excerpt from "The nutcracker" -Neumeier's "Romeo and Juliet" -a mixed bill with Martins' "Hallelujah Junction", a new ballet by Kevin O'Day and Jiri Kylian's "Stepping Stones" (by the way, I wonder why so many companies choose to dance "Stepping stones" now. The POB danced it a few months ago, and while there are some works of Kylian I like a lot, I found that one absolutely dull and boring). -"Den rode ballon" (The red balloon?) by Tim Rushton -"Amors og Balletmesterens luner" (The Whims of Cupid?) by Vincenzo Galeotti, staged by Flemming Ryberg and Anne Marie Vessel Schluter -a new ballet by Anna Laerkesen (apparently on the same bill as "La Sylphide") -"The Nutcracker" (choreography by Aage Thordal Christensen) -"Tornerose" (Sleeping Beauty), staged by Helgi Tomasson -a mixed bill with Balanchine's "Violin Concerto", a new ballet by Tim Rushton, "Corsaire pas de deux" and Peter Martins' "Fearful symmetries". -John Cranko's "Onegin" -John Neumeier's "Nijinsky" (by the Hamburg Ballet) Alexandra, what do you think of that season?

Leigh, sometimes there are hostels with single rooms. For example, the hostel where we stayed last summer in Edinburgh had only single rooms, and they were not too expensive (around 16£)- actually we did the opposite of what you suggested, i.e. booking two single rooms and using one! I've read that there are also hostels in Paris, and some of them have double or single rooms (price around 115F, breakfast included). In Paris, it might be interesting for travelers to buy "L'officiel des spectacles" or "Pariscope", both are small weekly guides (costing respectively 2FF and 2.50FF) with lists of cinemas, theaters, museums, exhibitions, etc. I often learnt the existence of some dance performances thanks to that guide (especially modern dance performances in small theaters, or performances in suburbs like Nanterre, Massy, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Bobigny, Evry...) Also it's quite useful if one is interested in cinema, as the choice in Paris is very large, with a lot of old movies being shown in the small cinemas of the Quartier Latin, and often a tenth of small festivals at the same time (and even sometimes ballet documentaries )

The only travel that I've done mostly for ballet was a four-day trip last summer to Edinburgh, to see the New York City Ballet. There were some not too expensive plane tickets for Paris, and since most hotels are pretty full and expensive during the Edinburgh festival, we stayed at a youth hostel in the center of Edinburgh (URL http://www.syha.org.uk, in case anybody would like to go there this summer). We managed to see four performances in three days, and did some tourism- the weather was very rainy (worse than Marseille in february), but well, who needs sun when you can see Peter Boal dance? ;) There are quite a lot of places where I'd like to go, but I'd need a bit more time and money...

As Steve, that wonderful first image of "Serenade". The beginning of Swan Lake act II, and also some part of a waltz in act I. Seeing Manuel Legris appear on stage, most of the times. Peter Boal in "Dances at a gathering" and "The Four Temperaments" in Edinburgh last summer.

I've had a look at Guest's "Le ballet de l'Opera de Paris": Madame Dominique is mentioned a few times, but there's no more information that what Alexandra mentioned in her first post.

Bruce Marriott has posted on his site a ROH announcement about the next season: http://www.danze.co.uk/dcforum/news/846.html

As Lovebird, I've read that Jose Martinez was born and raised in Spain (and he still has a light Spanish accent), he came to France to study at Rosella Hightower's school in Cannes. He might have acquired the French nationality since then, I don't know (I don't think that there are conditions of nationality to dance with the POB, as there has already been principals from many countries: Marjorie Tallchief, Flemming Flindt, etc.) I often read "Ballet 2000", which is the French version of the Italian magazine "Balletto Oggi". It also has a Spanish version (also called "Ballet 2000") and so often includes some articles about Spain (and some of its reviewers are Spanish). But most of the articles about Spain deal with either Spanish ballet dancers dancing with foreign companies, or non-ballet dance (modern, flamenco...), or non-Spanish companies touring to Spain. The most active Spanish companies seem to be the Compania Nacional de Danza and Victor Ullate's company. The Compania Nacional de Danza is directed by Nacho Duato, and its repertory includes mostly works by Duato himself, Kylian, and a few other choreographers (Ek, Van Manen...). Before Duato's arrival, it had been directed by Maia Plisetskaya for a short while, but it doesn't seem to have been successful. As Lovebird wrote, Ullate's company has included some classical ballets in its repertory recently. I've seen them once in Lyon a few years ago, and while I liked the dancers, I really didn't care for their repertory (three Ullate works which focused only on virtuosity and speed). Terry, she's not very active now, but I'd add Trinidad Sevillano to your list. Some other names I remember are Amaya Iglesias and Arantxa Arguelles. It seems that many of the Spanish ballet dancers who have became famous recently (Lacarra, Corella...) come from Ullate's school. Also I remember reading that a very famous Spanish ballet teacher was Maria de Avila had trained most Spanish ballet dancers (including Ullate himself).

I've seen it for the first time a few weeks ago at the Paris Opera, danced by the POB school. It was a production by Pierre Lacotte after Albert Aveline. By the way, here are the performances and productions which took place at the Paris Opera: -first performance on May 25, 1870 -danced again in 1875, 1879, 1882 and 1885 in a production adapted by Louis Merante (with Leontine Beaugrand and Julia Subra) -in 1899 and 1911 in a production by Joseph Hansen (with Emma Sandrini, Aida Boni, Carlotta Zambelli) -in 1936 in a production by Albert Aveline (with Camille Bos), and again in 1941 with Solange Schwarz, and then Lycette Darsonval, Christiane Vaussard, Yvette Chauvire, Micheline Bardin (who danced Swanilda after dancing Frantz a few years before!) -in 1966 in a "modernized" production by Michel Descombey (with Claude Bessy) -in 1973 in a production by Pierre Lacotte (with Ghislaine Thesmar, Noella Pontois, Christiane Vlasssi). It was danced again in 1978-79-80 (with Wilfride Piollet, Dominique Khalfouni, Claude de Vulpian) and then in 1983 and 1991 (Vulpian again, Monique Loudieres, Francoise Legree, Elisabeth Maurin, Karin Averty) -in 1996 in a version of Patrice Bart.

About Act III: from an article by Gautier published on May 30 1870, there were some divertissements about (successively): "Le Temps, l'Aurore, la Prière, le Travail, l'Hymen, la Discorde, la Guerre, la Paix, le Plaisir, représentés par les plus jolies danseuses de l'Opéra". It was omitted as soon as 1872 (the ballet was shown after an opera then, and so it was considered as too long). About the performing tradition at the POB: the 100th performance was in 1885, the 300th one was in 1911, the 600th performance was in 1941.

It was revived a few months ago for the POB school by Pierre Lacotte (by the way- it was filmed for the French TV). Lacotte had already staged a version for the POB in 1973, after Aveline's 1936 production (supposedly very close to the original one) but he had added a third act. For the POB school, he just staged the first two parts (with a male variation which had been added in 1983 when it was performed at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees). In 1996, Bart staged his own production for the company (I haven't seen it, but have read that it is quite different from the traditional one). It seems that now, Bart's production has replaced the traditional one. The POB brochure also says that the last female dancer who danced the role of Frantz was Paulette Dynalix in 1950. The first male dancer who danced that role at the Paris Opera was Jean-Paul Andreani in 1951 (partnering Micheline Bardin).