Ballet

Paris Opera Ballet School Production

Palais Garnier

from 13 to 18 April 2018

Paris Opera Ballet School Production

Palais Garnier - from 13 to 18 April 2018

Synopsis

The Ballet School’s production invites three great 20 th century choreographers and unveils three faces of modernity, three choreographic responses to music. Suite de danses by Ivan Clustine is a tribute to the French school tinged with Russian influences from Fokine’s Sylphides. To music by Chopin, the choreographic language, born of Romanticism, pave the way for the modernism of the 20 th century. Un ballo by Jiří Kylián makes its entry into the repertoire. Conceived to music by Ravel, it portrays several couples amid gracious and harmonious movements. Spring and Fall by John Neumeier will also enrich the repertoire. To a score by Dvořák, the choreographer offers us a piece suffused with folklore, full of elegance and emotion. Alongside the production, the Ballet School Demonstrations present the training given by this centuries-old institution.

Duration :

Artists

Creative team

  • Frédéric Chopin
    Frédéric Chopin Music
  • opera logo
    Ivan Clustine Choreography
  • opera logo
    Felix KRIEGER Conductor

Creative team

New to the repertoire

Creative team

Media

  • 2017: a year of anniversaries

    2017: a year of anniversaries

    Watch the video

  • Three Masters in the Ballet School Repertoire

    Three Masters in the Ballet School Repertoire

    Read the article

© Svetlana Loboff / OnP

2017: a year of anniversaries

Watch the video

The École de Danse celebrates 30 years since it set up in Nanterre, and the 40th anniversary of its "Demonstrations"

6:54 min

2017: a year of anniversaries

By Aliénor de Foucaud

Festivities are the order of the day at the École de Danse. The Gala of the 21st century dance schools was staged during the spring of this year, and the celebrations continue in the latter part of the year. The 30th anniversary of the Nanterre building, a venue for the performing arts designed and built by the architect Christian de Portzamparc, was celebrated on 20 and 21 October, while the 40th anniversary of the "Demonstrations" is taking place in December. This annual event is an occasion for Elisabeth Platel, Director of the École de Danse, to look back over an education with a difference.    

© Svetlana Loboff / OnP

Three Masters in the Ballet School Repertoire

Read the article

Musical Emotion through Movement

05 min

Three Masters in the Ballet School Repertoire

By Aliénor de Foucaud

After their Demonstrations in December, from the 13th to the 18th April the pupils of the Ballet School return to the stage at the Palais Garnier with their annual production, which this season brings together three great 20th century choreographers. Alongside Ivan Clustine’s Suite de Danses - a tribute to the French School, two ballets will be enriching the School’s repertoire: Un Ballo by Jiří Kylián, with its gracious and harmonious gestures, and John Neumeier’s Spring and Fall, a work tinged with folk idiom – all elegance and emotion. Elisabeth Platel, the school’s director, explains this choice of programme and comments on photographs taken in the rehearsal studios in Nanterre.


Suite de Danses
Suite de Danses 3 images

Suite de danses

I designed this programme around three master choreographers. Suite de danses is an extension of Michel Fokine’s Sylphides, the first ballet without a narrative. In echo to this choreographic modernity, I wanted to present two other ballets without narratives. This production celebrates the translation of musical emotion through movement.

I was also keen to juxtapose Jiří Kylián and John Neumeier, both of whom trained with John Cranko at Stuttgart Ballet. This affiliation with the Stuttgart school seemed to me to be essential. It’s also a sidelong reference to Onegin, recently on the bill at the Paris Opera Ballet.   

Un Ballo
Un Ballo 3 images

Un Ballo

Jiří Kylián has already offered the Ballet School his Suite Kylián, a series of three extracts from one work. I wanted to bring an entire ballet into the repertoire. Un Ballo is a rather emblematic work since it was created for the Nederlands Dans Theatre II: the NDT company that brings together young adolescents at a pivotal moment in their careers, not yet professionals but already very advanced. This is a ballet that one can pass on to five, six or seven couples, which gave me a certain amount of leeway when casting it.

It entirely captures the Kylián spirit: the hypersensitive quality of the almost ineffable relationship between man and woman. It is extremely interesting to pass on a ballet like this to young dancers. They don’t necessarily realise what they are doing but, in the end, their bodies inhabit that intention. It’s very subtle.

Ravel’s score is marvellous, a beautiful listening experience. The demi-pointe work is interesting for the young girls. Similarly, the relationship between the partners, the diversity of the pas de deux, pirouettes and promenades with attitudes is part of their training. The pupils have been very motivated in the studio and particularly receptive. It’s not a recent ballet but its gestures speak to the dancers.    

Spring and Fall
Spring and Fall 3 images

Spring and Fall

Spring and Fall is a protean work that originally began with the boy’s variation, then the pas de deux followed by an essentially masculine finale. John Neumeier then extended it. This is a tribute to the link between Neumeier and the Paris Opera. It’s also a tribute to Manuel Legris, for whom the ballet was created, and who remains one of my favourite partners. (Spring and Fall was performed by Manuel Legris and Gigi Hyatt at the Gala of the Paris Opera Etoiles and Guest Artistes in October 1991). Finally, it’s a masculine ballet, in contrast with the more feminine Suite de danses. I chose them to counterbalance each other within the structure of the programme. Spring and Fall is typical of Neumeier’s approach to gesture: portées between boys, the use of both folk idiom and modern dance on Dvorak’s beautiful music, and a spirituality that is really all his own. It is a more adult ballet that Yonderling, which entered the School’s repertoire a few years ago. Technically, it’s a difficult piece, particularly the pas de deux. Ultimately, Un Ballo, like Spring and Fall, requires a certain level of professionalism. My aim here is to prepare the pupils of the 1st and 2nd divisions for their future careers in major companies like the Paris Opera Corps de Ballet.    

Access and services

Palais Garnier

Place de l'Opéra

75009 Paris

Public transport

Underground Opéra (lignes 3, 7 et 8), Chaussée d’Antin (lignes 7 et 9), Madeleine (lignes 8 et 14), Auber (RER A)

Bus 20, 21, 27, 29, 32, 45, 52, 66, 68, 95, N15, N16

Calculate my route
Car park

Q-Park Edouard VII16 16, rue Bruno Coquatrix 75009 Paris

Book your parking spot

At the Palais Garnier, buy €10 tickets for seats in the 6th category (very limited visibility, two tickets maximum per person) on the day of the performance at the Box offices.

In both our venues, discounted tickets are sold at the box offices from 30 minutes before the show:

  • €25 tickets for under-28s, unemployed people (with documentary proof less than 3 months old) and senior citizens over 65 with non-taxable income (proof of tax exemption for the current year required)
  • €40 tickets for senior citizens over 65

Get samples of the operas and ballets at the Paris Opera gift shops: programmes, books, recordings, and also stationery, jewellery, shirts, homeware and honey from Paris Opera.

Palais Garnier
  • Every day from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and until performances end
  • Get in from Place de l’Opéra or from within the theatre’s public areas
  • For more information: +33 1 53 43 03 97

Palais Garnier

Place de l'Opéra

75009 Paris

Public transport

Underground Opéra (lignes 3, 7 et 8), Chaussée d’Antin (lignes 7 et 9), Madeleine (lignes 8 et 14), Auber (RER A)

Bus 20, 21, 27, 29, 32, 45, 52, 66, 68, 95, N15, N16

Calculate my route
Car park

Q-Park Edouard VII16 16, rue Bruno Coquatrix 75009 Paris

Book your parking spot

At the Palais Garnier, buy €10 tickets for seats in the 6th category (very limited visibility, two tickets maximum per person) on the day of the performance at the Box offices.

In both our venues, discounted tickets are sold at the box offices from 30 minutes before the show:

  • €25 tickets for under-28s, unemployed people (with documentary proof less than 3 months old) and senior citizens over 65 with non-taxable income (proof of tax exemption for the current year required)
  • €40 tickets for senior citizens over 65

Get samples of the operas and ballets at the Paris Opera gift shops: programmes, books, recordings, and also stationery, jewellery, shirts, homeware and honey from Paris Opera.

Palais Garnier
  • Every day from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and until performances end
  • Get in from Place de l’Opéra or from within the theatre’s public areas
  • For more information: +33 1 53 43 03 97

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