Estelle Posted May 28, 2003 Share Posted May 28, 2003 Here is the program of the 2003-2004 of the Ballet de Bordeaux: - a triple bill (Nov. 15- 21) including a work by Béjart (to be announced), Carolyn Carlson's "Hydrogen Jukebox" (has someone heard about it?) and Thierry Malandain's "Sextet" (I saw it a few years ago performed by Malandain's own company in Paris and it was an interesting abstract work on Steve Reich's score) -"Casse-Noisette" (The Nutcracker- Charles Jude's production) between Dec 12 and 31 -"Giselle" (Charles Jude's production after Perrot and Coralli) between Feb 28 and Mar 8 - a Balanchine quadruple bill with "Serenade", "The Four Temperaments", "Sonatine" and "Who Cares?" between June 15 and 20. By the way, the Ballet de Bordeaux will soon be performing in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet, with a "Picasso" mixed bill including Massine's "Parade" and "Le Tricorne", Lifar's "Icare" and some flamenco by Cristina Hoyos. Link to comment
Estelle Posted May 29, 2003 Author Share Posted May 29, 2003 By the way, I'm green with envy when looking at the prices of ballet tickets in Bordeaux: the top price for all the performances except those of "The Nutcracker" is... 30 euros (a bit more than 30 US $), for Nutcracker it's 38 euros. And people under 25, students under 30 and unemployed people can get half-price tickets for all the performances, and all the programs (except perhaps the Béjart- Carlson- Malandain one) are with a live orchestra (the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine), and the Grand-Théâtre is one of the most beautiful theaters I've ever seen... Not to mention the number of good, unexpensive restaurants in the neighborhood of the theater. ;) Link to comment
cygneblanc Posted May 29, 2003 Share Posted May 29, 2003 Thanks for announcing that, Estelle. I would be curious to see the Giselle's production since it's my favorite ballet ever. Link to comment
Estelle Posted May 29, 2003 Author Share Posted May 29, 2003 Well, who knows, perhaps they will tour with it? Else Bordeaux is only 3 hours away from Paris by train... ;) By the way, I realize that not many company perform "Giselle" in France. The Ballet de Marseille had danced it a few seasons ago, with a new production by Eric Quilleré, but it wasn't very successful (I had seen it, and I think that one big problem was the costumes, for example in the first act not two people had costumes with the same color, and also there were some changes- for example Giselle had no mother but a father- which were unnecessary). The Ballet de Nancy et de Lorraine used to perform it under Lacotte's direction, but now it's out of their repertory. So I think that outside Paris there's only Bordeaux (and perhaps Toulouse? But I'm not sure.) Link to comment
Françoise Posted May 30, 2003 Share Posted May 30, 2003 Bordeaux version of Giselle is very traditionnal. they present it during a summer festival in Frejus arenes. It just change choreography of peasants pdd who is for more dancers but it's a very, but very traditionnal version . Link to comment
cygneblanc Posted May 30, 2003 Share Posted May 30, 2003 I think I will travel to Bordeaux to see that version of Giselle Link to comment
Alexandra Posted May 30, 2003 Share Posted May 30, 2003 It is interesting that Giselle hasn't gone through as many "enhancements" as poor, dear old "Swan Lake"... I'll be anxious to hear about this one. Link to comment
Françoise Posted May 31, 2003 Share Posted May 31, 2003 Estelle, Ballets of Marseille dance always Giselle but they danse a traditionnal version restaged by Pietragalla, it seems that they never give anymore Quilleré's version. They present especially it on tour. Link to comment
Estelle Posted June 12, 2003 Author Share Posted June 12, 2003 Thanks for the information about the Ballet de Marseille's "Giselle". Perhaps they realized that a traditional version would be bring more audience than Quilleré's one? Link to comment
Joseph Posted June 12, 2003 Share Posted June 12, 2003 I saw Ballet de Bordeaux about four years ago in Florida. They did a mixed "Diaghelev" (sp?) bill. They were very good!!! (Just thought I'd throw that in...) Joseph Link to comment
Estelle Posted June 12, 2003 Author Share Posted June 12, 2003 Thanks for telling us about your experience, Joseph. Do you remember which works they performed? It probably included Nijinsky's "Afternoon of a faun", as it was one of Charles Jude's best roles... Link to comment
Joseph Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 Ok, lets see... Chopiniana (they called it Les Sylphides of course) Afternoon of a Faun Le Spectre De La Rose Petrushka Yep that was the program. I remember Petrushka had gorgeous sets and costumes and the corps of Sylphides was extremely well together and in sync with each other. Joseph Link to comment
Estelle Posted July 3, 2004 Author Share Posted July 3, 2004 A belated note to say that I went to Bordeaux to attend a performance of the last series of the season, on June 20, and was quite happy of my trip It was a well-balanced Balanchine program, showing different sides of his talent: one Tchaikovsky tutu ballet ("Serenade"), one pas de deux on French piano music ("Sonatine"), one Broadway-style ballet ("Who Cares") and one black-and-white leotard ballet ("The Four Temperaments"), all of them staged by John Clifford and performed very well. I'm not very familiar with the company, and it was hard to single out some dancers, but I especially appreciated the musicality of Emmanuelle Grizot in "Sonatine" (she also performed brilliantly in "Who Cares" and as the Choleric in "The Four Temperaments") and, while the guest principal Igor Yebra was perhaps a little bit too "showy" in "Sonatine", he was just perfect in "Who Cares" (plus he's really, really good-looking ). I also liked Yeruult Rinchindorj and Magdalena Lonska in the "Sanguinic" part, and Charles Jude still looked wonderful as the Phlegmatic (when I saw him, it made me think once again of that enthusiastic review by Sylvie de Nussac, about a decade ago, in which she was wondering if he had sold his soul to the devil to still look to young... His face has aged a little bit since then, but his silhouette hasn't changed much, and he really has wonderfully expressive hands.) The theater (the salle Antoine Vitez of the Conservatoire, and not, unfortunately, the lovely Grand-Théâtre) was full and extremely enthusiastic- now I wish they would tour with such a program, especially as next season there will be very little Balanchine to be seen on the French stages... Link to comment
Naoko S Posted July 4, 2004 Share Posted July 4, 2004 Estelle, Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. I read your comments with great interests as Ballet de Bordeaux has been one of the companies I've marked as the "one to see". Maybe next season I'll have a chance to bypass Paris and go straight to Bordeaux! Link to comment
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