Estelle

Still about the POB competition: there's an article about Eleonora Abbagnato and Jeremie Belingard in the latest issue of "Pont de vue- Images du Monde" (a weekly magazine dealing mostly with royal families). It is the usual "they're nice and beautiful and successful and happy" kind of article, but something striked me. The journalist wrote that unexpected things could happen in the competition, and that before the competition everybody expected the "wonder kid" Emmanuel Thibault to get promoted, while he ranked only 3rd and Belingard ranked 1st. Well, perhaps the journalist is misinformed, or the balletomanes he know have opinions very different from the other ones, but I think that everybody paying attention to the POB knew far before the competition that Abbagnato and Belingard would get promoted whatever they would do, and that Thibault was not at all among the favorites of the direction. This is not meant to criticize Abbagnato and Belingard (anyway, I haven't seen them often enough), but I find the way the journalist wrote that was somewhat biased, and that it was unfair towards Thibault.

Leigh, Isabelle Guérin was injured for all the last performances (and unfortunately, she has also cancelled all her "Manons" so far and it is not sure she'll be able to dance her last performance next Saturday), but she danced some of the first performances, fortunately for her and for the audience who had the luck to see her. She did the company premiere of the role of the novice in "The Cage", and also danced the third pas de deux of "In the Night" and "Other dances". I don't remember if she also danced the ballerina role in "The Concert" (she had danced it in the previous seasons). Thanks for the Robbins quote about "The Cage", so the similarities weren't a coincidence! Well, I think I prefer the usual Giselle. Romoli won't become a principal dancer, but he still dances quite a lot. He danced Des Grieux in "Manon" a few days ago (there were some comments on ballet.co.uk). Giannina, I understand your feelings- all the more as I feel the same when reading reviews about companies such as the NYCB, the Kirov... It's a bit depressing to know that Peter Boal is at the end of his career and that I will only have seen him a few times (in Edinburgh last summer).

Here is a copy of a message I posted in the newsgroup alt.arts.ballet. Forgive the error on the dates in the title of the thread- I can't edit that! ----------- On February 24 and 28, I attended two performances of a Robbins mixed bill at the Paris Opera. Between 1974 and 1996, twelve works of Jerome Robbins entered the repertory of the Paris Opera. Some of them, like "Circus Polka", "Scherzo Fantastique", or "In memory of", were not danced in the seasons after their respective premieres, but many of them were very successful and now have an important place in the POB's repertory. In 1999, "Other dances" also entered the repertory, but it was danced only once, in a special homage to Jerome Robbins). The program I saw included four works: "In the Night", "The Cage", "Other dances", and "The Concert". All of them were staged by Jean-Pierre Frohlich. "In the Night" had entered the POB's repertory in 1989, at the end of Rudolf Nureyev's directorship. It mades me feel a bit nostalgic to realize that four of the six dancers of the original cast (Monique Loudieres, Jean-Yves Lormeau, Elisabeth Platel, Jean Guizerix) have retired, and that Isabelle Guerin is going to leave the company at the end of the season. The only remaining member of the original cast will be Laurent Hilaire. I was supposed to see Guerin and Hilaire in the third pas de deux, but unfortunately Isabelle Guerin was injured and couldn't dance. The casts I saw were a mix of "old" and "new" dancers: Fanny Gaida and Laurent Novis (first pas de deux) and Wilfried Romoli (3rd) had already danced the roles shortly after it entered the repertory, Jean-Guillaume Bart (2nd) had danced it two seasonswhile Clairemarie Osta and Benjamin Pech (1st), Agnes Letestu (2nd) and Aurelie Dupont (3rd) were new to the roles. The first pas de deux never was my favorite, I find it a bit too acrobatic (however, it might be a problem of interpretation, a dancer told me that in her opinion the interpretation had lost some details since the company premiere, and so lost some of its magic). Both Fanny Gaida and Clairemarie Osta were superb, very musical and flowing. It made me regret that Gaida is going to retire soon- and made me wish to see Osta more often in the Robbins repertory. It was nice to see Benjamin Pech back on stage after a long injury, but I find the male role not very rewarding in that pas de deux. In the second pas de deux, Agnes Letestu and Jean-Guillaume Bart were supremely handsome and elegant (and their beautiful lines were emphasized by the costumes), but I found that they were a little bit too cold, some chemistry was lacking when compared to the previous casts I saw (Arbo- Belarbi, Platel- Bart). I had been used to see mature female dancers in the third pas de deux (Arbo, Guerin, Vayer) and so it had a different tone with Dupont, who is quite younger. But she was quite effective in that role, especially in the second performance, and Wilfrid Romoli was great; the last moment of the pas de deux was very moving. "The Cage" was the only non-Chopin work of the program, and the contrast with the other works was quite striking. After the romanticism of "In the Night", I almost had the feeling I was seeing a Martha Graham version of "Giselle" act II, from the same period as "Errand into the maze", "Cave of the heart" or "Night journey": the Wilis have given up the tutus and the buns and become amazons, Myrtha really isn't happy, and this time Albrecht won't save his life! Am I right in assuming that the similarities (for example, the novice having a veil on her face at the beginning of the ballet) are not a coincidence? There were some aspects of the work which looked a bit outdated to me (especially the costumes), but on the whole in was an interesting work. Laetitia Pujol danced the Novice both times, and though she looked very tiny next to the Queen of amazons (Delphine Baey on the 24th, Agnes Letestu on the 28th), she managed to have some great stage presence. She often is cast in roles requiring a strong technique but little interpretation, and it was interesting to see her in a different kind of role. The two men were danced by Jean-Christophe Guerri, and Wilfrid Romoli- Nicolas Le Riche. Romoli was impressively strong and virile, while Le Riche was more juvenile and soft. One of the strongest point of the ballet was the excellence of the corps de ballet, which was perfect from the beginning to the end; all 12 dancers deserved to be praised. "Other Dances" was for me the best moment of the program. I had planned to see two casts (Hilaire- Guerin, Legris- Arbo) but, because of Guerin's injury, saw only one. However, Legris and Arbo were so perfect that it would be unfair to complain. I think that Robbins' works are among the ballets which suit them the best: Arbo was wonderful when I saw her in "In the Night" (third pas de trois) and "The concert" two seasons ago, and Legris' "Suite of dances" last fall was one of the most enjoyable moments of the season for me. (The more I see Legris, the more I like his dance. I'd probably even enjoy seeing him just brushing his teeth...) Both were wonderfully musical in "Other dances"; I especially admired Arbo's precise feet and flowing arms, and Legris's joyful presence. Since then, Carole Arbo has made her farewell performance (she'll turn 40 next fall). While I find the direction has been very mean in not allowing her to make her farewell performance in a full-length ballet, I think that her beautiful performances in "Other dances" were a last proof of her qualities- and given the very long applauses she received, I was not alone in thinking that... "The Concert" was very successful, as usual. It was an opportunity to see two new dancers in the "ballerina" role: Delphine Moussin, and Eleonora Abbagnato (who has just become a premiere danseuse). I enjoyed very much Moussin's performance, but wasn't really satisfied with Abbagnato's: she danced well, but she is and looks very young, and her "baby doll" look seemed somewhat unsuited to the role. I especially appreciated Nathalie Aubin as the wife on Feb 24, and Lionel Delanoe as the husband on Feb 28. Muriel Halle did a fine job in the role of the "girl with glasses", which had been danced only by Laure Muret (now on maternity leave) so far, and Eric Quillere was very funny as the "shy student". Much of the success of that program was due to the excellent pianist Henri Barda, and to the Paris Opera orchestra lead by Hugo Fiorato. [This message has been edited by Estelle (edited March 15, 2001).]

It's really interesting to read that. Do you think that with some coaching he could acquire that "weight"? (Unfortunately, it seems that people as gifted to coach dancers as Volkova or Kronstam are not exactly common...) Martinez is very tall (he's one of the only POB dancers tall enough to partner his girlfriend Agnes Letestu), but I think that his "physical" weight must be quite low, because he's very slim. By the way, though he dances mostly "prince" roles, he can be very good in more demicaractere roles, sometimes showing more warmth and humor in such roles... As CygneDanois, I'm looking forward to the rest of your classification.

Jeannie: find Bridard handsome too I wonder why he's cast so often in "villain" roles (or dull contemporary new works), is it that the direction finds that he's especially good at it, or that he might have weaknesses in prince roles? I don't know. My best memory of him is in Petit's "Le jeune homme et la mort", he was especially moving. Alexandra: I understand what you mean. But it seems that so far, the premiers danseurs often are cast in roles requiring partnering, and it doesn't seem likely to change... I agree that not all principals dance prince roles, and that there could be demicaractere principals. Actually, among the present principals, the closest one to a demicaractere one is Kader Belarbi: he seems to have given up most prince roles now, and dances mostly roles like Rothbart, Lescaut, Tybalt, the Roland Petit repertory... And also contemporary works. (I realize also that when you have only 6 male principals and a lot of prince roles in the repertory, nearly all the principals have to dance prince roles...) I also think that Pietragalla mostly was a demicaractere dancer, and got most of her early successes in demicaractere roles, but later she insisted on dancing more roles such as Giselle, Nikyia, etc. (and most critics didn't find her very successful in that repertory). Leigh: at least there are two people disagreeing with Patricia Boccadoro's unfair statement "hearts do not beat faster when Jean-Guillaume Bart arrives on stage"... He's got great proportions, and so far his repertory includes mostly prince roles and abstract works (while dancers such as Hilaire, Legris or Martinez dance demicaractere roles too). By the way, I wonder if "Jewels" could be a way to characterize the dancers (whether they'd be cast in Emeralds, Rubies or Diamonds. Bart definitely wouldn't be cast in Rubies, for example). Some critics (and some people on ballet.co) sometimes blame Bart from looking a bit too much like a "nice boy", but that really isn't a problem for me. By the way, there is now a thread in French on ballet.co on "danseurs nobles" (in the "naive" sense of the word). For example, Catherine categorizes Bart, Legris and Martinez as "noble", and Hilaire, Belarbi and Le riche as demi-caractere. [This message has been edited by Estelle (edited March 15, 2001).]

As a post-scriptum to my previous message: among the present premiers danseurs, it's hard to say if some of them will ever become a principal. I'd say that the answer is very likely to be yes for Gillot (and I'd find it really deserved- the only problem for Gillot might be her tall height, which makes it more difficult for her to find suitable partners), and for Abbagnato (the direction likes her very much, I've yet to understand why), and very very likely to be "no" for Romoli (38), Delanoe (34), Averty (38), Quillere (35), Rique (36), and perhaps Moussin (32). I don't know about the others: Fallou was considered as a very very promising dancer, but personal problems seem to have broken her career (if only she could recover!), Osta (30 or 31) as proved her qualities in many roles but might be considered as a bit too old, Pech (27- sometimes cast in prince roles, but I think he's better in demicaratere roles) unfortunately has been injured most of the time since he became a premier danseur), Bridard (30) isn't cast often, and Pujol, Belingard and Paquette (all 25) became premiers danseurs too recently for me to know what to think... Jeannie, I agree about Delanoe and Romoli's partnering skills. Actually, both are very versatile dancers, and dance prince roles as well as demi-caractere ones. I don't think they are "danseurs nobles" in the original meaning of the word- but in fact, even among the principals, I doubt there is a real "danseur noble" in that sense... I think you're right about Pech dancing the Bluebird in the "Sleeping Beauty" video (by the way, I hope it will be released too, as my parents forgot to record the Prologue and I missed my friend Delphine as the sixth Fairy). I saw him as Desire, he was not bad, but not very well suited to Elisabeth Maurin's Aurore, and I think that he'd be better in dark demicaractere roles. You didn't mention Bridard- is it because you never saw him? His line could be good for prince roles, but he's cast mostly in roles like Rothbart, Lescaut, the Roland Petit repertory... Really I haven't seen Thibault enough to say anything about his partnering skills... But you might be right about the fact that his face might a reason why he wsn't promoted; I remember some people mentioned it on ballet.co.uk. It might have been a problem for Romoli too.

I agree about the "nor able to dance every role" part of your sentence. Actually, I think it's true for principal dancers too... But I'm not really convinced about the "good partner" part: it seems to me that the premiers danseurs have a lot of pas de deux and pas de trois to dance, and also principal roles with much partnering, and so a premier danseur with bad partnering skills would have a much reduced repertory... I realize that it's not easy to define the status of a premier danseur or premiere danseuse (and also I wonder if it has changed much during the century). Presently, there are 8 premieres danseuses and 6 premiers danseurs (while there are 6 female principals and 6 females principals); actually the number of premieres danseuses is not really significative as two of them (Ghislaine Fallou and Nathalie Rique) have been absent for health reasons for at least two seasons. There were periods with more premiers danseurs than principals, and periods with less. Brigitte Lefevre always says in her interviews that she wants to reduce the number of principals, so it's likely that they will become more numerous than the principals... Some people become premiers danseurs as a step before becoming an etoile, and for some others it is the last step of their careers. Sometimes it is clear from the start that someone won't become a principal (I think it was the case with Quillere, for example- but I'm not sure, as I became interested in dance after he was promoted to premier danseur), but often it seems to be at least as much a question of bad luck, lack of positions or inner politics than a question of abilities of the dancer... For example, Karin Averty (now 38) has danced most of the great roles of the repertory, and I think a promotion would have been deserved, but she was in a generation with so many other bright dancers that she never was promoted. I think that among the present premiers danseurs, Delanoe and Romoli also are in that "almost principals" category- and that Moussin (now 32) might be there too, unfortunately (and perhaps Osta). From the point of view of the direction, the requirements probably are not the same for a young dancer who is considered as promising and "potential principal material", and for a dancer who will end his/her career as a premier danseur. One difference between the premiers danseurs and the sujets is that the premiers danseurs never dance corps de ballet roles. But the direction has no obligation to cast them- it seems to be what is happening to Quillere... Most premiers danseurs dance quite a lot of principal roles (this season, Osta and Gillot surely danced more big roles that Elisabeth Maurin, for example), but rarely in the first cast (the big difference at the POB between the first cast and the other ones is something I don't understand well...) and also some less important roles (for example, in "Paquita" Osta danced the main role and also the pas de trois in the first act, which was also danced by some sujets; Delanoe and Romoli danced the role of the husband in "The concert" and also some of the pas de trois of "In the night" in alternance with some principals...) Among the other differences between the principals and the premiers danseurs, there is the salary (the premiers danseurs, as all the other non-principal dancers, have a fixed salary, the principals have a contract negotiated every season), and also the fame. I think I could list by memory all the POB principals since the 1960s, but listing the premiers danseurs would be far more difficult.

leibling, there have been discussions about it- but finding it in the archives is not easy for me... But I think there were some posts about it in the "Emploi" threads: http://www.balletalert.com/ubb/Archives/Ar...0-7-000326.html and: http://www.balletalert.com/ubb/Archives/Ar...0-7-000334.html

I agree with Gianninna: Lukayev, welcome, and thanks for your post! I think that there are many, many people on this site who agree with you about the fact that "veterans" like Assylmuratova are vital for their companies. Sometimes I think too that I was born too late to see so many great dancers- but every ballet fan probably thought that at least once, the people who saw Nijinsky and Pavlova perhaps regretted not having seen Grisi and Taglioni, those who saw Grisi and Taglioni regretted not seeing Vestris, etc.

About "danseurs nobles": I had forgotten to add in my previous post that I thought that Manuel Legris was not really a danseur noble in my opinion, but rather a "demicaractere classique" (one of the definitions that was posted long ago). But well, are there any present dancers who would really be considered as "danseurs nobles" in the original meaning?

I agree that there are many POB dancers who could dance better roles that what they are given to dance now. Well, that ensures a good level of the corps de ballet and soloists- but perhaps it would be better to give them opportunities to dance bigger roles from time to time, else they might lose courage and be tempted to go elsewhere (as Pierre-Francois Vilanoba did, and now he's a principal with SFB). What makes me smile a little bit is the way Patricia Boccadoro seems to think that Thibault's non-nomination is th worst scandal ever in the long history of the POB competition. Actually, there have been scandals nearly every year... Often it has been ultimately corrected (Legris didn't become a premier danseur at a controversial competition but was chosen as an etoile while being still a sujet, for example), but sometimes not. And Eleonora Abbagnato's promotion seems to have caused at least as many discussions among POB fans as Thibault's case.

Well, first of all, Patricia Boccadoro is someone very rarely agree with, so I'm likely to be quite cautious with what she writes. (I think I haven't forgiven yet the way she wrote that Jean-Guillaume Bart was a boring dancer "as exciting as day-old custard", for example). I haven't seen Thibault much, and when I saw him it always was in such virtuoso roles. However, from some discussions on ballet.co.uk, it seems tmany people consider that he is not a good partner (while admitting he had done the bestvariations at the POB competition)... If it is true, it might explain why he hasn't become a premier danseur (he's been a sujet for about 7 years)... There surely are premiers danseurs who are not "danseurs nobles", like Eric Quillere (perhaps not a good example, as the present direction doesn't like him and gives him very very few roles), Yann Bridard (with a nice lineoften cast in "villain" roles and contemporary works) and the new premier danseur Jeremie Belingard. But I think that partnering really is an essential quality for a premier danseur- they're supposed to dance quite a lot of pas de deux, and also to be ready to replace the principals to partner the female etoiles... By the way, I think that shows one of the drawbacks of the POB competition: it shows nothing about the dancers' partnering skills. And while partnering might not be essential for a coryphee, it's necessary for a premier danseur. By the way, I realize that I don't know if any of the psent premiers danseurs could be considered as real "danseurs nobles". Jeannie, Leigh, Marc, what do you think of it? (The present premiers danseurs are Romoli, Quillere, Delanoe, Belingard, Pech, Bridard, and Paquette). [This message has been edited by Estelle (edited March 12, 2001).]

Alexandra: not only aren't they treated equally, but sometimes it seems that some principals aren't treated as well as some sujets... A point which especially shocked me is that, from what was posted on ballet.co.uk, the last bows of Carole Arbo happened in the middle of the program: "Other dances" was the third work of the program, and there was "The Concert" after that. Usually, the last performance takes place in full-length work (often "Giselle" or "La Sylphide"), and there is a very long standing ovation with bouquets, confettis (I don't know the English word for that- well, little colorful pieces of paper falling from the ceiling), etc. There she only stood up next to the piano, before the intermission. But people posted that she had a long standing ovation from the audience (and some of her fellow dancers). It was also posted on ballet.co.uk that she might have been offered a teaching position at the POB school by Claude Bessy. Marc: from a recent interview of Nicolas Le Riche, it seems that both Fanny Gaida and Isabelle Guerin will have their farewell performance in "Romeo and Juliet" (both partnered by Le Riche). Probably Guerin has changed her mind and has preferred to dance as many roles as possible... Before that, she's supposed to dance in "Manon", but she's presently injured (I was supposed to see her in the Robbins program but she didn't dance the days I attended it ) and so the dates have been postponed as much as possible, hoping that she'll be back in shape for the last performances of "Manon". Fanny Gaida will also perform in the Kylian program.

Carole Arbo had her farewell performance yesterday evening. As planned, she danced in "In the night" (second pas de deux, partnered by Kader Belarbi) and "Other dances" (partnered by Manuel Legris). There is a thread about it on ballet.co.uk: http://www.danze.co.uk/dcforum/happening/1436.html She will turn 40 next October, but it seems that anyway the direction refused to cast her in any other program until then. It's quite a pity that a principal, who has spent more than 20 years in the company, wasn't given a real farewell performance.

I wish I had seen more of Jude too, I saw him only in the last few years of his POB career and he didn't dance often. Now he's leading a company in Bordeaux, and I think he still dances from time to time. About Denard: haven't you seen the tape of "La Sylphide" filmed with Thesmar and Denard around 1971? (Paradoxially, it's unavailable in France, but I managed to get it thanks to a Japanese friend of mine). As far as I know, this is the only long video of him. Why was it so difficult for Cynthia Gregory to find a suitable partner in her company? Was it just a question of height? (Denard was tall, but not exceptionally tall, I think).

About Cynthia Gregory: I has first heard about her because she was mentioned in books about the former POB principal Michael Denard, who had partnered her at ABT in the early 70s. Did some members of this board see them together?

Terry, from the posts on ballet.co.uk, it seems that Emilie Cozette did compete, but that she was having an off day...

Drew, I don't know the details of the system, but officially there is a note which is supposed to take into account what the dancer did in the season. And in fact, the direction often chooses whom they wish to... Every year, there are some critics who write that the competition should be suppressed, because it is absurd to judge one on a competition, and anyway most results are known in advance. On the other hand, some say that it has the advantage to keep the dancers in shape, since they have to prepare their variations. And the dancers themselves, though they often criticize the system, say that at least it gives the an opportunity to perform a solo on stage (which happens not so often with such a large corps de ballet- for example 27 female quadrilles competed!). Also, all dancers (except etoiles and premiers danseurs) in the company can compete for the competition, but in their category (i.e. a quadrille can't compete to become a premier danseur). There's a review by Rene Sirvin about the competition at: http://www.imagidanse.com/francais/cadres_acceuil.html Also, there have been numerous posts about it on ballet.co.uk today (several posters attended it). Belingard and Abbagnato's promotions are not a surprise at all. Actually, Belingard was expected to become a premier danseur last year, but he got injured a few days before the competition, and the direction chose to promote nobody. Abbagnato had become a sujet just last year, but even when she was a coryphee she was given big roles. It is an understatement to say that there have been many heated discussions on ballet.co.uk about those two dancers... The promotion of Paquette is more unexpected, as he hasn't dance many interesting roles yet. Recently he danced Inigo (the bad guy) in "Paquita". Though his appearance might be well-suited for prince roles (tall, slim, blond), he seems to be better in character roles. In his article, Sirvin regrets that Thibault didn't become a premier danseur. Most people on ballet.co.uk agreed that he had done excellent variations (however, some say that he doesn't have the qualities to become a premier danseur, and especially that he's not considered as a good partner). There seem to be debates about the male coryphees too, as Moreau fell in one of his variations (and on the other hand, several people praised Nicolas Noel, who wasn't even ranked). One thing everybody seems to agree about is that the promotion of Melanie Hurel was fully deserved (and that it should have happened much earlier).

-Female sujets: Compulsory variation: Raymonda, act I, Valse fantastique, variation of Raymonda (Nureyev) 1- Eleonora Abbagnato (*) - La Bayadere, Nikyia's variation in act II- 21 There was no ranking for the other dancers. There was supposed to be another available position, but nobody got promoted. -Female coryphees: Compulsory variation: Don Quixote, act II (Nureyev) 1- Melanie Hurel (*)- La Bayadere, Nikyia's variation in act II- 26 2- Muriel Zusperreguy (*) - Giselle (Ek) - 23 3- Caroline Bance - Esmeralda pas de deux - 23 4- Marie-Solene Boulet - Notre-Dame de Paris (Petit) - 23 5- Alexandra Cardinale- Suite en Blanc, la cigarette (Lifar) - 25 6- Myriam Kamionka - Les mirages, variation de l'ombre (Lifar) - 28 -Female quadrilles: Compulsory variation: Raymonda act I, valse fantastique, variation of Clemence (Nureyev) 1- Veronique Cabiac (*) - The Four Seasons, Fall variation (Robbins) - 27 2- Aurore Cordellier (*) - La Bayadere, Gamzatti's variation in act II- ? 3- Juliette Gernez (*) - Le Corsaire, slow variation - ? 4- Celine Palacio - Vaslaw (Neumeier) - 29 5- Dorothee Gilbert - Arepo (Bejart) - ? 6- Lise-Marie Jourdain - Paquita - 23 Cordellier and Gilbert entered the company this year, and Gernez entered the company last year, all are very young.

The hierarchy includes five levels: etoile (principal), premier danseur, sujet, coryphee and quadrille. The etoiles are chosen directly by the director of dance (they're not necessarily premiers danseurs, for example Hilaire or Legris were only sujets when they became etoiles). All the other promotions depend on the annual competition. In each category, there is a compulsory variation for everybody, and also a "free" variation (which has to be chosen in the company's repertory). A (*) indicates the dancers who got promoted. I also indicate the free variations chosen by the dancers, and their approximate age (thanks to Catherine for the information). -Male sujets: Compulsory variation: Solor's solo in "La Bayadere", act II. 1- Jeremie Belingard (*) - L'Arlesienne (Petit)- 25 2- Karl Paquette (*)- Esmeralda pas de deux- 25 3- Emmanuel Thibault - Paquita, grand pas- 26 4- Christophe Duquenne - Notre-Dame de Paris (Petit), Frollo- 29 5- Yann Saiz - Marco Spada (Lacotte)- 27 6- Herve Courtain - L'Arlesienne (Petit)- 28 Male coryphees: Compulsory variation: Les Mirages (Lifar) 1- Herve Moreau (*) - Paquita, grand pas- 24 2- Alessio Carbone (*) - L'Arlesienne (Petit)- ? 3- Bruno Bouche - Romeo and Juliet (Nureyev)- 23 4- Nicolas Paul - Raymonda, Abderam variation (Nureyev)- 20 5- Jean-Christophe Guerri - Portraits de danseurs (?) - 33 6- Vincent Cordier - Giselle (Ek) - 27 Male quadrilles: Compulsory variation: Giselle, Albrecht's variation in act II. 1- Mallory Gaudion (*) - La Sylphide (1st variation of act 2) - 23 2- Stephane Bullion (*) - Swan Lake (Nureyev, Rothbart variation) - 21 3- Alexis Renaud - L'Arlesienne (Petit) - 24 4- Jean-Sebastien Colau - Grand Pas Classique - 23 5- ? Bertaud - Spring and Fall (Neumeier) - ? 6- Adrien Bodet - La Sylphide (1st variation of act 2)- ? (Bertaud and Bodet entered the company this year, both are very young).

The POB annual competition was yesterday. The results were posted by Catherine on ballet.co.uk. The jury included: -Five dancers (elected by their peers) : Lionel Delanoe (premier danseur), Yann Bridard (premier danseur), Nicolas Le Riche (principal), Jose Martinez (principal), Nathalie Quernet (sujet), plus Jean-Guillaume Bart (principal) as a substitute. -Five other people: Hugues Gall (director of the Opera), Brigitte Lefevre (director of dance), Patrice Bart (ballet master), Raymond Franchetti (former ballet master), Elisabetta Terabust (former director of the Ballet of la Scala de Milan). Substitute: Clotilde Vayer (repetitrice, former premiere danseuse). The voting system is quite complicated- but it seems that in general, the decisions are made by Lefevre and Bart. (The rest in another post).

Marc, I'm looking forward to reading your review (and by the way, thanks for the very interesting interview of Isabelle Guerin). I hadn't noticed Martinez's problems. But partnering Gillot must be a bit difficult (all the more as they didn't have much time to train): as Letestu, she's very tall (both are among the tallest dancers of the company), but I think that she has broader shoulders.

In France funding for ballet is a problem too. The situation is quite different from the US, as most funding is public (private funding for the arts is not very high in general, and especially low for performance art; wealthy people and companies are more likely to invest in paintings, sculptures...) The French dance magazines regularly publish a list of funded companies. I'm afraid I don't remember the figures nor the exact process (there are several categories of funding), but can find it if anyone is interested in more details. Roughly speaking, there is the Paris Opera, which gets huge subsidies from the state (about 80 million US dollars in 2000)- but I don't know which part of it goes to the ballet (probably far less than one half). There are a handful of rather big companies (most of them associated to operas), like the Ballet de Marseille, Lyon Opera Ballet, Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse, Ballet du Grand-Theatre de Bordeaux, Ballet de Nancy et de Lorraine, Ballet du Rhin, Ballet du Nord, Ballet de Nice... Actually, now, most of these companies dance more contemporary works than classical works (the companies of Toulouse and Bordeaux, and perhaps Nice, are the only ones which I'd consider as ballet companies). This is a recent evolution- less than ten years ago, as far as I know, all those companies had a real ballet repertory. They also get subsidies from the regions or the cities. Then there are hundreds of smaller contemporary companies which get subsidies. I don't think that there are real small ballet companies (except the Jeune Ballet de France, which is a special company for young dancers, and probably is much state-subsidized too). There are several kinds of subsidies for companies: some companies are "Centres Choregraphiques Nationaux" and get large subsidies (which seems to be a source of controversies among contemporary choreographers, because of them say that there are no reason for such centers to be directed by always the same person for more than 10 years), and there are independant companies getting less money. Funding is one of the reason why some ballet companies switched to modern. For example, in Nancy, the city, which gave a large part of the subsidies, wanted to reduce it. The state was not willing to compensate, and so the budget decreased, and after Lacotte's departure (it seems that also there might have been relationship problems between Lacotte and some people), the number of dancers was reduced, and it switched to a modern repertory. Something rather similar had happened to the Ballet du Rhin a few seasons ago. As many people pointed out, ballet is more expensive than modern (larger casts, more sets and costumes, etc.) And also it seems to me that most people at the ministery of Culture now are more interested in modern dance than in ballet. Of course, they point out that the total figure still is bigger for ballet (especially with the huge POB subsidies). But I think that now, if one lives far from Paris, Toulouse and Bordeaux, one might have opportunities to see several contemporary companies, but about zero ballet (unless one is ready to take trains or planes often...)

Marc, of course I meant "Giselle", thanks for correcting my mistake! Did you see some of the performances? What did you think of it? Jeannie, I found the audience especially enthusiastic on that day- it seems that some of the POB audience really is hungry for new full-length ballets! Usually I find people applausing in the middle of the variations a bit annoying (for example when it happened for Le Riche's variations in "Diamonds" in december), but in "Paquita"'s pas de deux it's not so shocking, since it's meant to be a display of virtuosity anyway. [This message has been edited by Estelle (edited February 21, 2001).]

Jeannie, which reconstruction did you see? A few years ago, the Ballet du Rhin (when it still was a real ballet company) has staged a reconstruction of Ivo Cramer. I didn't see it, and have no idea of how authentic and how interesting it was considered. I just saw a short excerpt of it in an open rehearsal, and it really made me feel like seeing more of it (but since then, the direction of the Ballet du Rhin has changed, and now they stage only contemporary works ) What a pity that Ashton's works are almost unknown in France! The POB performed "Rhapsody" around 4 years ago, and that's about all (I think the Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse staged "Illuminations" a few years ago). I really don't know why no more of his works are staged in France (one part of the problem might be that there aren't many French companies adding existing classical works to their repertories...)