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Marie-Agnes Gillot and Karl Paquette Last Bows and Josua Hoffalt


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Wonderful videos....thank you. 

Sadly, POB remains very unfamiliar to me. I saw them a handful of times in the pre-Nureyev days, and perhaps twice after he became director.  And that is pretty much it...though I also saw Letestu and Martinez dance in a gala in New York when she was more or less in her prime.

Some of the company's repertory choices are baffling to me. But they have had any number of great dancers whose careers I entirely missed getting even a glimpse of on tour. Gillot is one of them.

Edited by Drew
typo
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When the POB visited the United States in 2012 it hadn't toured the country in some 20 years. Obviously American audiences missed the careers of many French dancers as a result. But on that tour Gillot danced Myrtha, Béjart's Bolero and Bausch's Eurydice, and she was sensational in all those roles.

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6 minutes ago, volcanohunter said:

When the POB visited the United States in 2012 it hadn't toured the country in some 20 years. Obviously American audiences missed the careers of many French dancers as a result. But on that tour Gillot danced Myrtha, Béjart's Bolero and Bausch's Eurydice, and she was sensational in all those roles.

I was disappointed to miss out on that tour. I was deciding whether to come up to New York for their planned summer 2018 tour when it was cancelled.

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1 hour ago, miliosr said:

From the casting for Sasha Waltz's Romeo and Juliet at the POB Web site, I noticed that Herve Moreau is not listed. Has he decided to retire quietly without a farewell performance?

That is correct, though he has battled with injuries for the last few years. That may be why.

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Unfortunately, yes, the amazing Étoile Josua Hoffalt has decided to retire -aged only 34. It is extremely sad to loose a dancer like him, aged only 34! I wish him the very very best. 

Aurelie Dupont's behaviour was deplorable, she stood in the wings, never going center stage, never showing compassion or appreciation for Hoffalt (who always declared himself a fan of Dupont). Deplorable. And awful for the company to loose one of its few true classicists. Btw now Dupont has no excuses to not promote Alu. 

A VERY sad night for classical ballet. 😭😢

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Thanks for confirming Colette!

Hoffalt retiring this week and Karl Paquette retiring in December leaves the ranks of the male etoiles in a depleted state:

Mathieu Ganio

Mathias Heymann

Stephane Bullion

Germain Louvet

Hugo Marchand

I would imagine that Francois Alu and Paul Marque are the two likeliest candidates for being made etoiles but who really knows with Alu? He has such an up-and-down relationship with management.

8 hours ago, Colette said:

Btw now Dupont has no excuses to not promote Alu.

Justice for Alu!

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This truly heartbreaking turn of events (Hoffalt's premature retirement) means that the company's #1 Virtuoso aka Alu must be promoted, but one never knows with this company. The Étoile ranks are in such sad conditions, Hoffalt was the only other true Danseur Noble besides Ganio, now all we have is Ganio- who is a true Ballet God but doesn't seem to be a fave of Dupont, Heymann is amazing but he's not a danseur noble, Bullion is not a classicist, but rather an amazing dramatic figure and he's almost 40, Marchand can not dance a classic to save his life but he is very good in Balanchine and does very well what Dupont seems to value the most: Pose for magazines.  I will not even say what I think about Louvet.

This company has amazing classicists fading away in the lower ranks, another danseur noble needs to be promoted and my vote would go to Magnenet and Loup-Quer, it would be ideal to have Alu and Magnenet as new Étoiles and Loup-Quer as premier danseur but that is very unlikely, I HATE to say it but I believe Paul Marque or Pablo Legasa will be promoted, which would be awful but then again, the world's oldest ballet company does not care about classical ballet. 

Edited by Colette
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13 hours ago, Colette said:

Unfortunately, yes, the amazing Étoile Josua Hoffalt has decided to retire -aged only 34. It is extremely sad to loose a dancer like him, aged only 34! I wish him the very very best. 

Aurelie Dupont's behaviour was deplorable, she stood in the wings, never going center stage, never showing compassion or appreciation for Hoffalt (who always declared himself a fan of Dupont). Deplorable. And awful for the company to loose one of its few true classicists. Btw now Dupont has no excuses to not promote Alu. 

A VERY sad night for classical ballet. 😭😢

Hum, full stop!  I was there last night and Aurélie Dupont did come with flowers and kissed Josua Hoffalt. She was the first to come onstage after the défilé.

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39 minutes ago, Colette said:

No stop! She was the first to go back to the wings, where she remained for the rest of the evening while everyone else was hugging Hoffalt. Dupont does not strike me as the most compassionate A.D of all time. 

Well, you first said she stayed in the wings which is not true and then now you said, ok, she came but she didn't stay center stage. Why would she have done it? She's just the AD, she's not anymore a dancer of the company. Only dancers are on stage the day of the défilé. No one stayed by Josua but the other Etoiles.

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1 hour ago, Colette said:

No stop! She was the first to go back to the wings, where she remained for the rest of the evening while everyone else was hugging Hoffalt. Dupont does not strike me as the most compassionate A.D of all time. 

Your original post was misleading and inflammatory.  Do not do this again.

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