December 2, 2011

Review: Cinderella Goes to Hollywood

Laura @ 14:27 —
Filed under: English,Reviews/critiques — Tags: , , , , , , —

Cinderella
Choreography: Rudolf Nureyev
Paris Opera Ballet
Opéra Bastille, Paris
November 27, 2011

Cinderella goes to Disney’s Hollywood Studios: that’s the gimmicky concept behind Rudolf Nureyev’s version of the fairytale, revived by the Paris Opera Ballet in time for the holiday season.

The ballet was created in 1986 for a young Sylvie Guillem, and Nureyev, who made her a star during his time as director in Paris, cast himself as her producer and guardian angel, a character originally named “Pygmalion Diaghilev”. Guillem left the company soon afterwards, and while the production celebrates its 100th performance this season, this Cinderella feels like an increasingly empty shell.

Nureyev the choreographer never trusted in fairytales, but the 1920s Hollywood setting makes for a decidedly unmagical story. The producer conveniently crashes his plane on Cinderella’s doorstep and whisks her off to a cinema set for tryouts. She finds a hysterical crew and extras mainly preoccupied with their scheduled breaks, and Nureyev has her sign a contract before she is allowed to dance her final pas de deux with the Star Actor. Of course, this modern dream scenario comes with small print: if she doesn’t look good on camera, she will be back to her sweeping routine in no time. (…)

» Read the full review in the Financial Times

Agnès Letestu & Stéphane Bullion in Nureyev's Cinderella © Sébastien Mathé

Agnès Letestu & Stéphane Bullion in Nureyev's Cinderella © Sébastien Mathé





November 8, 2011

L’aventure de La Source

Laura @ 18:45 —
Filed under: Français,Other — Tags: , , , , , , —

La Source était l’un des évènements majeurs de la saison 2011-2012 de l’Opéra de Paris, et cette réinvention signée Jean-Guillaume Bart d’un ballet du XIXe siècle a su pour l’instant rencontrer son public. J’ai eu l’occasion de contribuer au programme du spectacle via une interview de Brigitte Lefèvre, directrice de la danse – du couturier Christian Lacroix à deux membres de la Comédie-Française, Eric Ruf et Clément Hervieu-Léger, cette Source s’est en effet construite autour de collaborations qu’elle a orchestrées. Petit aperçu de son regard sur le projet :

Couverture du programme de La Source (saison 2011-2012) © Opéra National de Paris

Couverture du programme de La Source (saison 2011-2012) © Opéra National de Paris

Pourquoi réinventer La Source ?
J’ai été très touchée par le projet de Jean-Guillaume Bart, d’abord parce que c’est lui : c’est une personnalité empreinte de ferveur, de rigueur, d’amour de son art. Dans le studio, avec les danseurs de l’Opéra, ces valeurs respirent et contribuent à créer un moment particulièrement privilégié. Le fait que son choix se porte sur un ballet oublié de notre répertoire m’a également paru important. La Source était véritablement enfouie, souterraine dans les mémoires. Seule sa musique nous avait été transmise à travers Soir de fête de Léo Staats, un ballet ayant joué un rôle primordial dans l’histoire de la compagnie.

Jean-Guillaume Bart nourrit ce projet depuis longtemps…
Il est venu me parler de La Source dès 1997 et m’a montré le livret d’origine. L’idée de se lancer dans une reconstruction l’effleurait alors, mais le livret était complexe. Il avait quelque chose de décalé et représentait une difficulté trop importante. J’ai suggéré à Jean-Guillaume de s’orienter vers une nouvelle création. La mise en place du projet a demandé plusieurs années, mais le temps nous a finalement donné une chance supplémentaire, car Jean-Guillaume a pu apporter une autre maturité à son travail. (…)

→ « L’aventure de La Source », Programme de l’Opéra National de Paris, saison 2011-2012, p. 68-69.

La suite dans le programme en vente au Palais Garnier ou à l’Opéra Bastille – les représentations se poursuivent jusqu’au 12 novembre.

» La Source sur le site de l’Opéra de Paris (distributions, diaporama, vidéos de présentation…)





July 8, 2011

Review: Les Enfants du paradis, from screen to stage

Laura @ 10:25 —
Filed under: English,Reviews/critiques — Tags: , , , , , , , , —

Les Enfants du paradis
Choreography: José Martinez
Paris Opera Ballet
Palais Garnier, Paris
June 30, 2011

Have ballet’s superproductions lost the plot? Like Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice in Wonderland, which had its world premiere at Covent Garden in February, the Paris Opera Ballet’s Les enfants du paradis is a balletic reinvention of a work of art made for another medium. The appeal is obvious: the audience knows the story and, where ballet is concerned, familiarity breeds contentment, particularly at the box-office. Squeezed between lavish designs, a commissioned score and convoluted storytelling, however, neither work has much time for its raison d’être: choreography.

Les Enfants du paradis, choreographed by étoile José Martinez in 2008 and now revived for the first time, follows nearly every twist and turn of Marcel Carné’s much-loved 1945 film. Similar black and white cinema sets attempt to recreate the atmosphere of the bustling theatre life of 19th-century Paris, where the heroine, Garance, is pursued by a mime, Baptiste, and by star actor Frédérick Lemaître. From the outré crowd scenes to the mix of period costumes and stunningly original tutus (designed by another étoile, Agnès Letestu), the idea of life as theatre and theatre as life is clearly developed, and Martinez makes clever use of the Palais Garnier with an abundance of metatheatrical devices – such as the Pierrot who welcomes the audience on the majestic staircase before the performance. (…)

» Read the full review in the Financial Times

Agnès Letestu in Les Enfants du paradis © Julien Benhamou

Agnès Letestu in Les Enfants du paradis © Julien Benhamou





July 5, 2011

Review: Jazzy Distortions (Wayne McGregor in Paris)

Laura @ 14:46 —
Filed under: English,Reviews/critiques — Tags: , , , , , , , , , —

L’anatomie de la sensation
Choreography: Wayne McGregor
Paris Opera Ballet
Opéra Bastille, Paris
July 2, 2011

Don’t be put off by the pompous title or the strike currently playing havoc with Paris Opera performances: Wayne McGregor’s first evening-length creation for a ballet company, L’anatomie de la sensation, is a welcome surprise at the end of a rather pedestrian season. After a glacial first collaboration with the POB in 2007, Genus, this work for eleven soloists and a corps de ballet has uneven moments but brims with a more relaxed inventiveness.

Billed as a tribute to Francis Bacon, the piece intermittently references the painter, with silent screams among the corps de ballet and bursts of violence in one pas de deux. McGregor’s work, however, is too idiosyncratic to take the connection much further, and relies on his customary bright, minimalist sets and costumes for visual effect. Instead, the driving force in L’anatomie is the score, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s own homage to Bacon, Blood on the Floor. Its jazzy accents bring out a new playfulness in McGregor’s customary menu of fast, quirky, hyper-articulated twists and turns, and this light touch works particularly well in the eighth movement, “Crackdown”, where Alice Renavand’s zippy pointe work and seeming improvisations with Josua Hoffalt light up the stage. (…)

» Read the full review in the Financial Times

Jérémie Bélingard & Matthias Heymann in Lanatomie de la sensation © Anne Deniau

Jérémie Bélingard & Matthias Heymann in L'anatomie de la sensation © Anne Deniau





May 1, 2011

Review: Mats Ek returns to Garnier

Laura @ 17:01 —
Filed under: English,Reviews/critiques — Tags: , , , , , , , , , —

La maison de Bernarda / Une sorte de…
Choreography: Mats Ek
Paris Opera Ballet
Palais Garnier, Paris
April 20, 2011

In a Paris season so far dominated by revivals, the Mats Ek double bill at the Palais Garnier is by far one of the most vital. Both La maison de Bernarda Alba and Une sorte de . . . were new to the Paris Opera Ballet’s repertoire in 2008, and these rarities showcase the Swedish choreographer’s theatrical gusto.

Thirty-three years after its creation, Ek’s take on Federico García Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba remains a gripping piece of dance theatre. A mourning widow, Bernarda, coerces her black-clad daughters into complete isolation. The oldest is the only one set to get married but one of her sisters makes a bid for freedom by seducing her fiancé – only to be abandoned by him. On stage, the work’s overall clarity of purpose is dizzying, with expressionistic storytelling reminiscent of Kurt Jooss, all the way to the gruesome last scene in which Bernarda tries to shove the youngest sister’s hanged body under the floor covering.

Few choreographic styles would be better suited to this tale of Catholic guilt than Ek’s. As the five daughters crouch and hunch in fear and shame to Bach and traditional Spanish music, their repressed bodies are both grotesque and all too human. Ek’s plunging pliés and extensions epitomise their plea for freedom – and yet they scream their prayers along with Bernarda, crawling under the table or fleeing like panicked insects before their mother. (…)

» Read the full review in the Financial Times

Charlotte Ranson & José Martinez in La maison de Bernarda © Agathe Poupeney

Charlotte Ranson & José Martinez in La maison de Bernarda © Agathe Poupeney

Nolwenn Daniel & Nicolas Le Riche in Une sorte de... © Agathe Poupeney

Nolwenn Daniel & Nicolas Le Riche in Une sorte de... © Agathe Poupeney





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