Alexandra Posted January 7, 2003 Share Posted January 7, 2003 This was posted on alt.arts.ballet this morning and I thought some of our posters with an interest in the Paris Opera Ballet might be interested. There's a new website for former etoile Patrick Dupond. http://patrick-dupond.ifrance.com/patrick-dupond/ (There's an English as well as a French version) Link to comment
Estelle Posted January 7, 2003 Share Posted January 7, 2003 Thanks for that URL, Alexandra! Actually, today I saw an ad in the metro for an upcoming show by Patrick Dupond (with more singing than dancing, it seems). But one word of warning: contrary to what it may seem at first view, this is not an official site. The link "pourquoi ce site?" (Why this site?) explains that it was done by a young women (unnamed) who was not especially interested in ballet until reading Dupond's autobiography, "Etoile" (but she says she still hasn't seen any dance performance). Link to comment
vila Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Yes Estelle, I spotted that poster this morning aswell, it is for l'Air de Paris (nothing to so with the Carné film with Gabin & Arletty which depicts the boxing scene). In this case it is a "poetic presentation of 40 of the most beautiful songs written about Paris such as "la java bleue, sous les ponts de Paris, Paris je t'aime", at least that is what the blurb says. Probably not much dancing... Bizarrely, I seem to recall that he had already put on this show some 2 years ago and that it was not very succesful, to put it mildly. Perhaps it is because that Paris is surfing on a revival of 1930's/40's songs at the moment he is giving it another try. http://www.theatreprive.com/francais/piece...php3?ID=7&IDS=0 Link to comment
Estelle Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 Oh yes, now I remember he had done another show like that before, I hadn't realized it was the same thing. By the ways, here are some news about Dupond (in French) on yahoo: http://fr.news.yahoo.com/030108/202/2xc9w.html To summarize: the Paris Opera has lost its trial against Patrick Dupond. It's a final decision by the Cour de Cassation (it can't be changed). Dupond had been fired by the Paris Opera in May 1997 (he was 38 then, and so was supposed to retire only in 2004). The direction of the Opera said he was fired because he had refused three roles while according to his contract he could only refuse two, because he didn't dance in the 1996-97 season and because he went to the Cinema Festival of Cannes as a member of the jury in may 1997 instead of rehearsing the "Sacre du Printemps". But the Cour d'Appel de Paris in 2000, and now the Cour de Cassation, said that the firing was not justified (especially as Pina Bausch didn't want him any longer to perform his "Rite of Spring", so he didn't need to rehearse it). The Paris Opera had to pay 226000 euros to Dupond. Actually I wonder who is in charge of the human resources department at the Paris Opera. If I remember correctly, the Opera had already been condamned to pay a substantial amount of money to the conductor Myung-Whun Chung because he had been fired illegally. Perhaps they should hire someone knowing the French "code du travail", it would prevent them from wasting a lot of public money... Also, I think it's sad that Dupond's dancing career ended so badly. His directorship was somewhat controversial, mostly because he still was a principal dancer, and was accused of casting himself too much. But on the other hand, he added some valuable works to the repertory ("Theme and variations", "Allegro Brillante", "Le tricorne", "Dances at a gathering", "Moves", "The Concert", "Le train bleu"...) and had some good ideas, for example a gala with most of the living former étoiles of the company. It's a pity that he had to leave the company in such bad conditions. And it's a bit sad to see him now, he doesn't really look the same, as he had a severe car accident and had to go through some facial surgery... His book "Etoile" was a bit self-serving, and focused a bit too much on his Varna gold medal, but it was touching to read his homage to his teacher Max Bozzoni (who had even accepted to give him lessons for free when he was a kid, as his mother was too poor to pay for it). By the way, Bozzoni probably is one of the only POB dancers of his generation still alive (he premiered the fourth movement of "Palais de Cristal), and I think it would be a good idea to have some sort of homage to him. Link to comment
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