“Le Concours” (chor. Maurice Béjart)
Nov 27, 29, 30 at 7:30pm.
One of Béjart’s best works inspired by the film “And They Shoot
Horses, Don’t They?”, “Le Concours,” choreographed in 1985, is
his personal commentary on the merciless milieu of ballet competitions
that can make or break the career of any young dancer, and can
lead the most ambitious to committing murder...
Opéra National de Paris-Palais Garnier, Paris Opera Ballet Company, pl de l’Opéra, 1er, M° Opéra, tel:
08.36.69.78.68.
Demonstrations by the Paris Opera Ballet School
Dec 5, 12 at 1:30pm & 5:30pm; Dec 19 at 10am & 2pm.
Every year at Christmastime, the Opera Ballet School, run by the
iron lady of the dance world, Claude Bessy, presents a program
of staged classroom exercises and combinations in various styles:
ballet, contemporary, character dance, and pantomime.
Opéra National de Paris-Palais Garnier, Paris Opera Ballet Company, pl de l’Opéra, 1er, M° Opéra, tel:
08.36.69.78.68.
Dora Stratou Greek Dance Theater
Dec 6 at 8:30pm.
For the first time in 45 years the famous Athenian dance company
comes to Paris in a rich colorfully-costumed and musically-exciting
program featuring folk dances from all over the Hellenic world.
Oppah!
Théâtre Le Trianon, 80, bd de Rochechouart, 18e, M° Anvers, tel: 01.53.41.10.05.
Spectacle de Ballets (chor. George Balanchine, Michel Kelemenis,
José Montalvo)
Dec 18, 20-24 & 26-30 at 7:30pm.
Over the past few years, the Opera regularly schedules mixed programs,
featuring three or four unrelated shorter works by choreographers,
old and new, classic and modern. This assortment highlights a
jazzy Balanchine masterpiece from 1967, “Capriccio,” as well as
two creations: “Réversibilité,” Kelemenis’s tribute to Ravel,
and a madcap modern piece, “Le Rire de la Lyre,” by José Montalvo.
Opéra National de Paris-Palais Garnier, Paris Opera Ballet Company, pl de l’Opéra, 1er, M° Opéra, tel:
08.36.69.78.68.
“Sleeping Beauty” (chor. Rudolf Nureyev, based on Marius Petipa’s
version)
Dec 22, 27, 29, 30 at 7:30pm; Dec 24 at 2:30pm and 8pm; Dec 26
at 3pm. Jan 4-8, 10, 11, 18, 20, 21 at 7:30pm; Jan 15 at 2:30pm
and 8pm; Jan 16 at 3pm.
What would the Paris Opera be in December without one of the fairytale
favorites, such as this never dormant “Sleeping Beauty” that has
continued to enchant the young and the less young for over a century?
Opéra National de Paris-Bastille, Paris Opera Ballet Company, pl de la Bastille, 12e, M° Bastille,
tel: 08.36.69.78.68.
Paul Taylor Dance Company
Program 1: Jan 4-6 at 7:30pm; Program 2: Jan 7, 8 at 7:30pm; Jan
9 at 3pm.
The Paul Taylor Dance Company is back at the Opera with two retrospective
programs in celebration of Taylor’s seventieth birthday. On the
menu: the exquisite work “Auréole,” “Three Epitaphs,” “Le Sacre
du Printemps,” “Esplanade” and “Piazzolla Caldera.”
Opéra National de Paris-Palais Garnier, Paris Opera Ballet Company, pl de l’Opéra, 1er, M° Opéra, tel:
08.36.69.78.68.
“Casanova” (chor. Angelin Preljocaj)
Jan 4-6 at 7:30pm; Program 2: Jan 7, 8 at 7:30pm; Jan 9 at 3pm.
Created for the Paris Opera a couple of years ago, Preljocaj’s
controversial Casanova bluntly explores and exposes the world
of sex in the big city, from romantic dreams and desire to disease
and death.
Opéra National de Paris-Palais Garnier, Paris Opera Ballet Company, pl de l’Opéra, 1er, M° Opéra, tel:
08.36.69.78.68.
“Trois Boléros” (chor. Odile Duboc/Centre Chorégraphique National
de Franche-Comté)
Jan 6-8 at 8:30pm.
One of several reruns scheduled at Théâtre de la Ville this season,
Duboc’s Trois Boléros created four years ago, is exactly what
the title says, a chance to hear Ravel’s Boléro three times in
a row and experience three different choreographic interpretations.
Somewhat irritating by the third go, and reminiscent of the days
when you couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing the Titanic
theme...
Théâtre de la Ville, 2, pl du Châtelet, 4e, M° Châtelet, tel: 01.42.74.22.77.
“Trois Boléros” (chor. Odile Duboc/Centre Chorégraphique National
de Franche-Comté)
Jan 6-8 at 8:30pm.
One of several reruns scheduled at Théâtre de la Ville this season,
Duboc’s Trois Boléros created four years ago, is exactly what
the title says, a chance to hear Ravel’s Boléro three times in
a row and experience three different choreographic interpretations.
Somewhat irritating by the third go, and reminiscent of the days
when you couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing the Titanic
theme...
Théâtre de la Ville, 2, pl du Châtelet, 4e, M° Châtelet, tel: 01.42.74.22.77.
“La Danse du Temps” (chor. Régine Chopinot/Ballet Atlantique)
Jan 11-15 at 8:30pm.
No doubt the most Zen of today’s contemporary dancemakers, Régine
Chopinot’s mellow, introspective style is inspired by diverse
eastern traditions and seems to aim at collective conscious-raising.
In this same slow-paced cosmic vein, “La Danse du Temps,” set
to modern Vietnamese music unhurriedly explores three notions
of time: linear time, cyclical time and “non-time.”
“Movies” (chor. Charles Cré-Ange/Christie Lehuédé)
Jan 18, 20, 21 at 8:30pm.
Billed as “choreographic cinema,” “Movies,” which has made the
rounds of the European festivals since last summer, combines movement,
text, music and projected images in a sort of unofficial double
tribute to the 100th anniversary of both modern dance and the
movies.
Théâtre de la Ville, 2, pl du Châtelet, 4e, M° Châtelet, tel: 01.42.74.22.77.
“Le coq est mort” (chor. Susanne Linke)
Jan 25, 26, 28, 29 at 8:30pm.
This time Susanne Linke, the wandering priestess and torchbearer
of the German expressionist dance tradition, initiated by pioneer
Mary Wigman, has sought inspiration in Africa where she’s created
a piece with eight men dancers from Senegal, exploring male energy,
virility and the real essence of human beings hiding behind masks
of power.
Théâtre de la Ville, 2, pl du Châtelet, 4e, M° Châtelet, tel: 01.42.74.22.77.
“Con forts fleuve” (chor. Boris Charmatz)
Dec 9-17 at 8:30pm; Sun at 5:30pm., The young choreographer Boris
Charmatz has made a name for himself over the last two years with
provocative works presenting a new look at sexuality and nudity.
You can take it or leave it, but his self-styled neo-erotic choreography
which takes suggestion and illusion to the limit, may be the prototype
of emerging dance trends we’re bound to see in the next century...
Théâtre de la Cité Internationale, 21, bd Jourdan, 14e, RER B Cité Internationale, tel: 01.43.13.50.50.
