Lopez Ochoa Chanel premier

[Drew]

For 2023-2024 Atlanta Ballet's  is co-producing with Hong Kong Ballet and Queensland ballet a full-length work by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa --Coco Chanel: The Life of a Fashion Icon.  It actually has already premiered in Hong Kong -- I found one rather mixed review  of the premier but most of the review was behind a paywall so I only read the opening paragraph.  On Pointe Magazine also had a short feature article about the ballet a few weeks back that I read this evening. The author of the article seems to loathe Chanel, and that takes up a lot of space in the article, but I imagine this  ballet will be a draw and I'm hoping it will be a reasonably substantial work that also manages to garner a lot of publicity.   (Atlanta Ballet danced Requiem for a Rose by Lopez Ochoa during McFall's tenure.)  I'll put the link to the On Pointe article below along with a link to a Hong Kong Vogue feature that talks more about the ballet itself and a video feature with Lopez Ochoa that was posted on Hong Kong Ballet's youtube channel,  but here is one interesting bit for Atlanta audiences. 

"When Atlanta Ballet produces the work next February, the company will partner with the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum to explore the harmful impact of Chanel’s antisemitism and collaboration with Nazis, while providing educational resources and hosting discussions on combating antisemitism today...."  (I support this idea.)

https://pointemagazine.com/coco-chanel-ballet/

https://www.voguehk.com/en/article/art-lifestyle/coco-chanel-hk-ballet-interview/

 

 

Edited April 16 by Drew
To add the Vogue feature

[volcanohunter]

It still strikes me as unworthy subject matter, but it is likely to be more substantive than the vanity piece Yuri Possokhov made for Svetlana Zakharova. That one received poor reviews when it played in London, and every video I've seen of it made me cringe.

I did notice that Lopez Ochoa's ballet was designed by Jérôme Kaplan. Zakharova's costumes were designed by the House of Chanel, and I'm not surprised it isn't involved in a less hagiographic portrayal.