Ballet de l'Opéra en Chine

[sophia]

Une dépêche de China View vient déjà de tomber pour évoquer la première représentation du Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris à Pékin en ce vendredi soir (eh oui, il y a quelques heures de décalage horaire entre Paris et Pékin!!!). Le ton est avant tout officiel et politique et il y est très peu question de danse et encore moins de danseurs, mais au moins peut-on voir de quelle considération jouit le Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris en Chine. Et demain soir, bal au Palais d'Eté...

[haydn]

Pour nos amis Chinois :

Sophia Parcen, du Ballet de l'Opéra a actualisé son site, et a mis en ligne une page où, outre les distributions, elle donne le placement de tous les danseurs sur la scène à Pékin (Beijing) et )Shanghaï. Cela peut être fort utile à ceux qui ne sont pas des familiers de la compagnie de ballet française et qui chercheraient à identifier les artistes. La page "spécial Chine" du site de Sophia Parcen est ICI


To our Chinese friends :

Sophia Parcen, from the Paris Opera Ballet, has updated her website and put online a special page where, in addition to the casts, she indicates the position of each dancer on the stage in Beijing and in Shanghaï. This may prove very useful to those who are not familiar to the French ballet company and who would look to identify the artists. The "specia China" page on Sophia Parcen's site is HERE

[Enya]

Another piece of info: Jose Martinez didn't present Mazurka in Suite en Blanc yesterday evening (Sep.16), this part was done by Moreau as well. I saw Jose Martinez after the performance yesterday evening and had a chat with him. He was injured on his left calf as well, but not so seriouly. In order to gurantee his performance in Giselle in Shanghai on Sep24&25, he should be very careful. His the only male etoile now for China tour. Most probably he won't show up in today's(Sep17) afternoon and evening sessions as well, if he feels not so good. Allas! What a pity! Luckly I saw him in the rehearsal on Sep15. He was so excellent.

I would come back with something about the performances in Beijing after I watch the all.

Thank you Haydn, you're so nice to provide me so many ways of contacting M. Legris. I will try his email first, because I had sent emails to him before he came to China to confirm his schedule and performances. He did reply me via that email box. If I could not get reply from him for next few days, I guess he may not be able to access to his email, then I would send email to you so that you could help me to forward. Also thank you for Sophia Parcen's link. I'll past the link to our Chinese ballet forum.

Thanks to Clara-anne as well to tell me M. Legris' future performance in Tokyo. If I could manage to go, for sure I won't miss it. I'm all right now, although I was so shocked to see M. Legris falling down on the stage. How I wish that the one who was injured were me, not him.

Come back to you all friends later.

[haydn]

Le Quotidien du Peuple (ben oui, il n'a pas disparu avec Mao!) publie un communiqué (en français) pour annoncer la venue du Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris à Pékin :

[Enya]

A quick update from Beijing: casts for Suite en Blanc were changed a little bit for today's (Sep.17) martinee and soiree:

Theme varie: Romberg, Paquette, Duquenne(also on Sep16)
Cigarette: Cozette
Mazurka: Moreau(also on Sep16)
Adage: Dupont, Paquette

Others remained unchanged.

[Enya]

Again, it’s my first time to write something about ballet performances in English on a non-Chinese ballet forum. As you know that I’m not professional, just a ballet fan, so please forgive me if there is something wrong in my words. Now here comes the “report” about the first stop of POB’s tour in China – Beijing.

The curtain was closed at Beijing Exhibition Hall Theater a few days ago, POB finished her 3 presentations of triple bills Suite en Blanc, L’Arlesienne and Bolero for soiree on Sep16, and martinee&soiree on Sep17. I was lucky to go and see them all.

It’s my first time to see POB’s live performance in theatre inside China, although I’ve watched quite many POB’s videos and DVDs – this makes me become familiar with POB, her etoiles and other dancers. It’s also the 2nd time that POB visit China, the first time was about 8 years ago but unfortunately I missed it. Thanks to the programme of “L’Annee de la France en Chine 2004/2005”, thus we could welcome POB back again, cheers!

The POB’s Beijing performances turned to be a little bit gloomy, because of the injury of our beloved etoile Manuel Legris (whose performances were all cancelled for this China tour), the absence of etoile Jose Martinez(Mazurka) in all 3 Suite en Blanc, then the absence of etoile Agnes Letestu (Cigarette and fouette) on Sep17. Chinese ballet fans felt very disappointed and sad about these unexpected accident and changes on those etoiles, Allas! We hope them all the best.

Suite en Blanc brought us with a complete outline and impression of POB classical ballet. Corps de ballet was well synchronized and harmonized, although there were some unavoidable flaws. Ciaravola was quite charming and vivid in La Sieste, while Romberg seemed a little bit strenuous to accomplish her arabesque with one leg on the shoulder of Duquenne in Thème varié. Moreau’s Mazurka was elegant and agile with his streamlined torso and limbs, while a little bit lack of strength and maturity if compared with Martinez(I saw his Mazurka in dress rehearsal on Sep15). Moreau would be a rising star in the future, I think:) Letestu’s Cigarette and Fouette on Sep 16 was well presented, however she seemed not to be so delighted and enthusiastic, and was not very steady for the last few fouettes. Cozette replaced Letestu to dance Cigarette and Fouette on Sep17 for both martinee and soiree, her Cigarette was good but not so good as Letestu, for Fouette I have to say that she was still unable to do it well unfortunately; she just completed about 24 fouettes with slowing down speed obviously, and then dropped from pointe. The most magnificent parts were the Adage by Dupont and Paquette, and La Flute by Dupont. What a visual pleasure to see Dupont’s superb skills and graceful performance, which reflected the brilliance of POB’s ballerina. Her crystal clear and clean pointe steps, steadily stretched arabesque, dazzling pirouette and tourne en attitude… very impressive presence. The enchanted and harmonious partnership between Dupont and Paquette enjoyed the audience quite a lot, they looked so intimate and sweet, I appreciated that quite a lot.

L’Arlesienne as a very emotional tragedy requires the principal dancers with very strong expression capability as well as dancing technique. If not comparing with M. Legris, Pech had done very excellent job in all 3 performances of L’Arlesienne, with his perplexed, dazed and crazy eyes, as well as his jumps and struggling against himself. Tears were pouring down on the face each time when I saw the last scene of it, not only because I was moved by the performance, but also I was reminded of what I saw in the rehearsal,.. M. Legris…the scene I will never forget, I think. Pech fell down on the ground in the last few minutes before jumping out of the window in the soiree of Sep17, but I think this wouldn’t impact the whole effect of performance as it could be fit into the plot when he became wild finally. As for 2 Vivettes we had seen, Osta for both soirees on Sep16&17, and Ciaravole for martinee on Sep17, personally I prefer more about the presentation of Ciaravole rather than Osta, for her more emotional and varied expressions as the development of plot, from a joyful and bashful bride, then gradually became confused, puzzled, lost and sad, then finally despairingly lost her groom. I also prefer her longer stretching legs and arms, sweet and vivid dancing style.

The last, came the Bolero by Gillot, Moreau and Paquette, together with the mixture of male dancers from POB and ballet students from Beijing Dance Academy. I think this bill didn’t reveal the merit of Gillot, she was just too classical to dance this, a little bit lack of strength and temptation, swing of her waist and hip was not to the extend like original Bejart Ballet’s presentation, while Moreau and Paquette’s performance was more exciting and attractive.

I’m going to Shanghai tomorrow and stay there for Giselle on Sep22-24. Come back later after I return to Beijing.

[haydn]

Thanks so much for this very long and interesting account, Enya! I'll look to have sombody put it at least partially into French. It's sad to read that Agnès Letestu cancelled a performance too. Do you know the reason for this cancellation? I hope she is not injured. Usually Mrs Letestu is a very steady and reliable ballerina, and she very seldom has to cancel a performance.

[Katharine Kanter]

Dear Sir or Madam,

Your writing in English is simply amazing, so expressive - do keep up these reports!

[Enya]

No, I don't know why Mrs Letestu's performances were cancelled. In the martinee of Sep.17, I recognized Madam Lefevre among the audience in the theatre during the intermission after Suite en Blanc was finished, she was just in the same row with me. I only checked with her who was dancing the Cigarette and Fouette, but forgot to ask what was wrong with Mrs Letestu I should have asked. POB flew to Shanghai in the morning of Sep18 right after Beijing's performances, I have no way to ask at the moment.

Hope I could get some info when I go to Shanghai, and I also hope that Mrs Letestu and Mr Martinez will appear in Giselle on Sep24!!! God bless me!

[Enya]

Just come back from Shanghai Grand Theatre. Here comes some quick news from Shanghai:

Casts changed!

Sep22-23, Giselle
Giselle: Aurelie Dupont
Albrecht: Benjamin Pech

Sep22, L'Arlesienne
Vivette: Isabelle Ciaravole
Frederi: Benjamin Pech

Sep23, L'Arlesienne
Vivette: Isabelle Ciaravole
Frederi: Alession Carbone

Sep24-25, Giselle
Giselle: Agnes Letestu
Albrecht: Herve Moreau

----------------------------

The most exciting news: after Benjarmin Pech has finished his excellent performances in both Giselle and L'Arlesienne tonight, Madam Lefevre announced in the theatre that he was promoted to etoile!!! Congratulations to him!!!

Mr Martinez is not able to dance in Giselle on Sep24-25 as original planned, still because of his injury on calf. What a pity!

Mrs Letestu felt not very good on her back when she was in Beijing, thus her Cigarette and Pouette in Suite en Blanc was cancelled on Sep17 for both martinee and soiree. She will dance Giselle on Sep24-25.

Details about performances will come after I finish all and return to Beijing.

[haydn]

Thank you Enya, we are eager to read your comments about these performances, and the promotion of B. Pech as an Etoile is a great news that help us to forget a bit that M. Legris, J. Martinez and A. Letestu are unfortunately injured. We hope that their injuries will heal soon.


I remind our readers that there is a special topic about Benjamin Pech as an Etoile HERE

[haydn]

Quelques photos (riquiqui ), officiellement des représentations à Pékin, de Suite en Blanc sur le site du Quotidien du Peuple :



Agnès Letestu (source : http://french.peopledaily.com.cn )



Aurélie Dupont et Karl Paquette (source : http://french.peopledaily.com.cn )



Agnès Letestu? (source : http://french.peopledaily.com.cn )



Aurélie Dupont et Karl Paquette? (source : http://french.peopledaily.com.cn )

[Enya]

The 3rd picture should be Daniel in the scene of Serenade of Suite en Blanc. The 4th one, yes, they are Aurelie Dupont and Karl Paquette.

[Enya]

Sorry for late “report” as I have to work first…

Althougth I had a kind of premonition before going to Shanghai, to my big surprise, the POB’s casts were changed a lot again there! When I arrived at Shanghai Grand Theatre in the evening of Sep22, the first thing I did was to buy a play-bill immediately. My heart was sunk when I saw what was written on the play-bill for performances on Sep22-23: Giselle – Aurelie Dupont…, but, Albrecht – Benjamin Pech, not Herve Moreau as we knew in Beijing! What was wrong? Who would dance Albrecht (Moreau? Martinez? anyone else?), and even who would dance Giselle on Sep24-25?

As I looked further on the play-bill, what? Pech was also about to dance in L’Arlesienne right after Giselle in the same night of Sep22. What an unusual arrangement! He was going to present two different roles with completely different character and dancing style, and both roles require intensive physical energy and dancing skills, how could it be possible for him?

With lots of questions and worries, I stepped into the theatre.

[b]Sep22 & 23

Giselle[/b]
POB brought Shanghai audience this time with Giselle staged by Patrice Bart & Eugene Polyakov based on Marius Petipa after Jean Coralli & Jules Perrot.

To be honest, I could not gloss over a sigh of disappointment at the beginning when I knew that Pech was going to partner Dupont in Giselle. He was excellent in L’Arlesienne in Beijing, yes, that was true, I even remember his presentation of Blue Bird in Sleeping Beauty, purely well done from technique point of view. But in my mind, he’s undoubtedly not a noble Albrecht by his appearance and figure, especially this role should be presented by Manuel Legris as I had expected soooooo much…

As the development of the plot, something began to change in my view gradually. I have to say that Pech is of that type of dancers, once they start performance on the stage, you would find your eyes refreshed. You could say that Pech is not handsome enough, his proportion not ideal, his arabesque and a la seconde not beautiful enough, but he possesses a kind of inner passion from heart to dance and express. I have to admit that he had presented us another Albrecht who could also touch the heart of audience, although it was not a perfect one. He presented successfully to us an Albrecht who in Act 1 lured Giselle deliberately as he might be tired of his court life, he concealed the truth of his dignity and his engagement when he declared his love to Giselle, which at the end of Act 1 led to the madness and death of Giselle when the truth was discovered. With deep regret he went to Giselle’s grave and confessed in front of it in a night, where he met or sensed Giselle, already a wili and still loved him deeply, and got entangled by all other wilis and was ordered to dance to death, luckly he was saved by Giselle’s love. Moreover, he was such a reliable partner to build up a so good partnership with Aurelie Dupont in such a short term, that was only a few days of lead-time for him to replace Moreau (who was planned to replace injured M. Legris) to dance with Dupont in Giselle.

No need to mention too much about his steady technique, he did 29 wonderful entrechat six in Act 2 for the first night, and encouraged by his newly promotion, did unbelievablely 42 well controlled entrechat six for the second night, bravo!!!

(Too much about Pech, must stop… )

Now I should say something about Aurelie Dupont, one of my most favourite ballerinas. It’s so unusual for me that I didn’t talk about ballerina first for a performance, as there were so many unexpected things happened for POB’s tour in China this time.

Dupont’s performance was just like what I had expected, her eloquent eyes and expressive body language told you clearly the whole story: an innocent countryside girl Giselle fell in love with a nobleman whom she should not love probablely, she became mad and then died quickly with broken heart after the truth was disclosed by jealous Hilarion who also loved her, then she became a wili after death because of her grievance, like the other girls/wilis.

In Act 1, Dupont appeared as a so delightful girl who love dance so much although she had a weak heart, dancing with very pleasant ballonees piques and pas de basque, also her ballottees and jete en avant together with Albrecht. Her steps and body became awkward when she knew the truth as her heart could not bear anymore, this fit into the plot perfectly. Her despaired, dull and mad eyes and finally rushing to her mother with a “shrill cry” made me shed tears, poor girl!

In Act2, Dupont became a totally white and weightless spirit, a wili that could float on air like semi-transparent fog, people could sense her existence but could never touch her or embrace her in the arms - what a great grief for Albrecht. I was absorbed by her swift but smooth and steady arabesques en tournant en plie when Myrtha ordered the wilis to unreveal her from the tomb. Then, in the grand pas de deux, came the most romantic and lyrical pieces, her motionless arabesque penchee towards Albrecht, her jumps with soaring lightness, her swift echappes sur les pointes and petit changements, her floating arabesques on the ends of her toes supported by Pech…, bravo! Till the last moment, the dawn ended the world of wilis, Giselle as wili and Albrecht should be separated permanently in two different worlds, how Giselle was reluctant to part from Albrecht, she stepped back en pointe rapidly without weight, then stopped, with her hands stretched out towards Albrecht who could not hold her (oh, how she was unwilling to return to her chilly grave), then stepped back – stopped…, finally disappeared in the side curtain, Albrecht lost her endless love eternally. Tears were flowing on my face again…

I could not avoid mentioning the brilliance of Emmanuel Thibault in peasants pas de deux in Act 1, his flawless and enchanting consequence of movements, floating grand cabrioles, quick and agile brises dessus-dessous, beautiful arabesques a la hauteur, grand jetes ferme de cote…, whatelse could I say? Nothing but huge amount of bravo!!! I agree with some friends’ opinion here and believe that sooner or later he would become an etoile:)

Stephanie Romberg played a cold and dominant Myrtha with cold-blooded eyes, stiff face and determined port de bras. Her dancing supported her a lot to accomplish this role, standstill pointe steps, extensive arabesques and grand jetes…, all were well presented. I would say that I prefer more about her Myrtha than her presence in Suite en Blanc in Beijing.

The last was the corps de ballet, beautifully lined up and synchronized to form a fascinating vision of white scene.


[b]L’Arlesienne[/b]

L’Arlesienne on Sep22, I have nothing more to say but still Pech’s outstanding performance. Imaging that he had just finished noble Albrecht in Giselle 20 minutes before, then came a very physically & emotionally demanding Frederi. He amazingly finished those intensive dancing steps, jumps, turns, twistes, grand jete en tournant, arabesque en tournant en plie with Vivette on the back…, with full of energy. What was more important was that he successfully fulfilled the change from a nobleman to a young farmer, from a pure romantic and classical style to a non-traditional (or can I say anti-traditional?) modern style. There was overwhelmly no doubt that he gained thunderous applause and bravo which was lasting for more than 5 minutes, until the curtain was finally closed.

But this was not the last, sooner the curtain was opened again, the artistic director, Madam Lefevre appeared on the stage. The interpreter introduced that Madam Lefevre would announce something very important. I realized right away that something must happen to Pech particularly. Yes, Madam Lefevre announced that Pech was nominated as etoile for his performance in Giselle and L’Arlesienne the night!!! The theatre was boiled again by applause and bravo…, Pech was overjoyed with tears.

He deserved to be an etoile!!! Bravo!!! ( Although unfortunately he is not my favorite etoile yet).

Ciaravola was excellent in the two days of L’Arlesienne, just as she did in Beijing. Carbone as Frederi on Sep23, I guess he had just started to play this role for a short time, not a proficient Frederi yet, he may need more time to polish the role. However I appreciated his brisk turns and relaxed jumps.

----------

[b]Sep 24

Giselle[/b]
The 3rd night to watch Giselle in Shanghai Grand Theatre. I was disappointed about the performance of the night. Letestu was definitely not in good state, maybe she still didn’t feel well on the back, her performance was far below my expectation as she should be, she looked obviously unsteady to finish her movements, what a pity. Herve Moreau presented for the first time a good looking Albrecht, with beautiful lines and dancing skills, but he was just like a spoiled big boy, not a mature nobleman Albrecht yet. This reminded me of some words by someone (most likely by Legris?): “Albrecht is really a role that needs time, a good Albrecht is between 30 and 40…, in your twenties you don’t care enough about the dramatic side and many interesting things are overlooked.” As time goes by, I believe that Moreau would find the sense of Albrecht gradually, and I would expect to see his Albrecht more times in the future if I have opportunity. Comparing with Pech, he did more beautiful and higher entrechat six, music was also slow down especially for him, but he ended up with 27 entrechat six, with the last few ones a little bit out of control.

If you had seen the fascinating performance of Emmauel Thibault in peasants pas de deux, you would found that Nolwenn Daniel & Alessio Carbone’s presentation was not so attractive anymore, although honestly speaking, they have done a good job.

Emilie Cozette still has some way to go to be a good Myrtha, for both technique and expression.

------------
Special thanks to Madam Lefevre and Mr Bart, for granting me permission to see POB’s rehearsal in the afternoon of Sep24 in Shanghai.

Thanks POB for bringing us so excellent performances! Here on behalf of all Chinese ballet fans, welcome POB warmly to visit China again in the future! Hope POB would visit China more frequently on regular basis

We all hope that Manuel Legris, Jose Martinez and Agnes Letestu recovery very soon! All the best for all POB’s dancers!
Thank you all for reading the “report”.

[sophia]

Thank you very much Enya for this very interesting and detailed report!