Concours de Promotion 2016

[miliosr]

The annual contest for promotion starts tomorrow . . .

[silvermash]

Male competition results 

Promoted to coryphée : Francesco Mura and Thomas Docquir

Promoted to Sujet : Paul Marque

Promoted to Premier Danseur : Germain Louvet

Edited November 4, 2016 by silvermash

[miliosr]

No great surprises with Marque (Varna winner) and Louvet (already dancing principal roles).

 

The more interesting situation is the one confronted by the sujets who competed and are at 30 or are on the other side of 30: Do you hang on and hope to claw your way to premiere danseur? Or do you do what Florimond Lorieux did and decamp to another company? Tough choice to make.

Edited November 4, 2016 by miliosr

[silvermash]

Female competition results

Promoted to coryphée : Camille Bon

Promoted to Sujet : Alice Catonnet

Promoted to Première Danseuse : Sae Eun Park

 

Edited November 5, 2016 by silvermash

[volcanohunter]

Congratulations to the dancers who advanced. 

[miliosr]

And Germain Louvet has been appointed etoile even though his appointment as premiere danseur was not set to take effect until January 1st. How does that work in terms of the second place finisher in the 2016 competition for the premiere danseur spot? Does he automatically advance to premiere status? Or does no one advance??

 

In any event, if I were Francois Alu, I would consider putting out feelers to Kevin McKenzie at ABT.

[Josette]

Oh, my, miliosr.  But ABT has such an unimpressive repertory in comparison with POB's. I trust Alu can muster some patience. 

 

Edited December 29, 2016 by Josette

[silvermash]

8 hours ago, miliosr said:

And Germain Louvet has been appointed etoile even though his appointment as premiere danseur was not set to take effect until January 1st. How does that work in terms of the second place finisher in the 2016 competition for the premiere danseur spot? Does he automatically advance to premiere status? Or does no one advance??

 

 

 It's up to Aurélie Dupont. Marc Moreau was second in the last concours. 

[miliosr]

16 hours ago, Josette said:

Oh, my, miliosr.  But ABT has such an unimpressive repertory in comparison with POB's. I trust Alu can muster some patience. 

 

There's such a thing as being too patient; waiting for an outcome that may never arrive. He's already cutting against the POB grain in terms of his larger-than-life performing style and his physique. He could spend a decade doing Bluebirds and Golden Idols and Hilarions and Romeo's friends and then find that he's been overtaken by Hugo Marchand and Arthus Raveau and Jeremy Loup-Quer and Paul Marque. It's sort of what happened to Emmanuel Thibault.

 

I think Alu could be a huge star in New York and follow in the footsteps of Baryshnikov and Bujones and Bocca and Corella. But we'll see if he's willing to take a page out of the book that Mathilde Froustey and Florimond Lorieux read.

[Josette]

Alu was interviewed last season about how meaningful it was to work with William Forsythe. Despite Ratmansky, the ABT rep is not enticing beyond the same classics over and over, and ABT is deficient in coaching.  Is being a star in the classics Alu's sole goal? I sure don't know the answer to that question as I don't know Alu personally.  I think Froustey was in a different position, she was not able to get past sujet, danced leads one night and was back in the corps the following night- like the lovely Heloise Bourdon is dealing with presently-, Froustey had a lot of talented competition all around her, whereas Alu has zipped through the ranks through the concours and is singular.   Froustey was not featured so much, if at all,  in the contemporary works at POB, whereas Alu is. It is pretty much in Dupont's hands as far as casting and promotion and I would like to see Alu promoted, soon.  Alu's talent, technique, charisma, intensity, and work ethic should win out wherever he is. I know there is hope for another promotion by the end of the year. 

 

Thank you for mentioning Thibault.  This is his final season; he is a much-loved, wonderful dancer and personality, who will be dancing Puck in Balanchine's Midsummer Night's Dream in the spring. 

Edited January 1, 2017 by Josette

[Helene]

Thibault is a lovely dancer!

 

If Alu were to go anywhere for a different rep and working with choreographers, I don't think ABT is the right place.  But Dupont hasn't been in charge for that long, and there's no reason for him to jump ship so quickly:  even if Dupont had not replaced Millepied, he's gone from Corps (2010) to Principal (2014) in four years, with promotions in three years out of four.

 https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/artists/francois-alu

[miliosr]

16 hours ago, Josette said:

Is being a star in the classics Alu's sole goal?

Froustey had a lot of talented competition all around her, whereas Alu has zipped through the ranks through the concours and is singular.

Froustey was not featured so much, if at all,  in the contemporary works at POB, whereas Alu is.

It is pretty much in Dupont's hands as far as casting and promotion and I would like to see Alu promoted, soon.

 

Thank your for mentioning Thibault.  This is his final season; he is a much-loved, wonderful dancer and personality, who will be dancing Puck in Balanchine's Midsummer Night's Dream in the spring. 

A lot of this will depend on Madame Dupont. She's certainly given a lot of interviews where she's said the focus needs to go back to the multi-act classics. But then, when one sees the changes she made to Benjamin Millepied's programming for the 2016-17 season (all-Kylian evening, de Keersmaeker's Drumming), the same old question presents itself: What does the POB want to be? Europe's greatest classical company or Europe's greatest contemporary company? I'm not convinced the POB can have both. But if that is the goal, where does Alu see himself slotting in? His "singular" nature may help him in the contemporary rep but hurt him in the classical rep, where a house uniformity is much-valued. Does Madame Dupont want a new etoile who doesn't dance the male leads in Giselle, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Romeo&Juliet the way that Ganio, Heymann, Hoffalt and Louvet do? I guess we're about to find out!

 

Thibault was also a singular dancer and I think that quality worked against him in the end.

[Josette]

Leonore Baulac was named etoile of the Paris Opera Ballet after she danced her first Odette-Odile on New Year's Eve.  Congratulations to the enchanting Mlle Baulac! 

[miliosr]

4 minutes ago, Josette said:

Leonore Baulac was named etoile of the Paris Opera Ballet after she danced her first Odette-Odile on New Year's Eve.  Congratulations to the enchanting Mlle Baulac! 

Wow! By my count, that makes for 11 female etoiles. Of course, some of them don't dance much, mostly dance contemporary and/or are on the verge of mandatory retirement (Marie-Agnes Gillot and Laetitia Pujol in 2017-18.)

[Helene]

Congratulations to Mme Baulac -- what wonderful news at the start of a new year

 

Edited to add:  here's the tweet from POB:

 

[volcanohunter]

The POB has posted video from the promotions of Germain Louvet

 

and Léonore Baulac