Odd – that's what comes to mind to describe the Paris Opera Ballet's latest triple bill. If the evening looked promising on paper, the result showed worrying discrepancies in care and coaching from one ballet to the other.

It took me several performances to even begin to « get » Four Temperaments. At first sight it seemed a dull exercise in black and white - the dancers looked somewhat lost on the huge Bastille stage, and their customary cleanliness made for a very flat moment overall. Nothing seemed to register – the first themes caught the audience cold, and the four temperaments themselves were hardly distinct. The POB has a strong tendancy to turn classical and neo-classical ballets into classroom material – when they can do it technically (and most of the time they do), everything is smoothed out for the sake of an even, flowing picture. Virtuosity is considered bad taste. The result can be pristine though, and by the end of the run, things had improved, but it's telling the most successful temperaments ended up being Melancholic and Phlegmatic, lacking the contrast the other two should probably provide.

Isabelle Ciaravola stood out in the third Theme – her long, elegant legs look wonderful in Balanchine, but she doesn't rely merely on her beauty to carry out the pas de deux. She has a warm way of communicating with her partner and the audience through her expression, even in abstract pieces, and she did so effectively in Four Temperaments as well as in Raymonda. Fanny Fiat and Myriam Ould-Braham, delightful in the « oh, I'm a plane » part, made something out of the second Theme, but overall the first part lacked something for me – perhaps the little characterization later provided by the temperaments. A man and a woman on stage didn't seem to imply a story or intensity alone, here at least, but haphazard pairings (the men parts were somewhat under cast) may have been responsible. Melancholic, a blurry moment with Hervé Moreau, got a very strong performance from Christophe Duquenne, who delineated every movement with great feeling. Sanguinic was more problematic – Dorothée Gilbert may be a technical wizard, there is very little edge to her dancing. She nailed everything, a walk in the park, but the problem is that she makes it feel exactly like a walk in the park : uneventful. Mélanie Hurel was miscast in the same part, but she understands the need for sharper accents in the pas de deux. When she moved forward with spider-like movements, she was clearly leading Alessio Carbone, ignoring the fact that he's holding her from behind ; she had the same sense of authority during the very low lifts around the stage where she slowly unfurls her arms. Technically though the coda is beyond her reach, and it's a wonder the company keeps casting her in parts that expose her shortcomings so bluntly (one feared for her in Paquita earlier this season, and I don't think Forsythe is her forte either) while she's perfectly fine in the right parts.

Matthieu Ganio gave what was perhaps the most deeply felt performance in Four Temperaments. His career has been erratic ever since his very early promotion to Etoile, hampered by overwork and injuries, and he has gone from new-found golden boy to mature dancer with little exposure. Back on stage, his Phlegmatic seemed like a reflection on disillusion, both picturing a dandy-like nonchalance and hinting at feelings of boredom and distance. His broken, interrupted movements put in mind of a sad clown, a danseur noble thinking : yes, I can do fabulous stuff, but isn't it all just an act ? Let's hope he stays healthy, as he may well finally be coming into his own.

There were fine performances in Choleric as well, but it is hardly a natural temperament for the Paris Opera Ballet. Stéphanie Romberg was forceful in this ; she can do sheer energy, an approach many people dislike here, but this made her an effective presence towering over the end of the ballet. Sabrina Mallem is certainly suited to Balanchine, but she had a hard time taking over the stage in the second, better cast I saw, next to more finely tuned étoiles and premiers danseurs. Overall these Four Temperaments got very little response from the audience – only at the end of the run did some parts draw spontaneous applause. But then that's the risk you run if your goal is to put on a smooth, comfortable performance, isn't it ?

The extracts from Raymonda left everyone in bewilderment, I believe. If anything, the company seemed to be saying they have neither the will nor the ressources to put on the full-length ballet, but it's actually coming back in repertoire next December – so was this supposed to be a teaser ? And who was responsible for the coaching ? Rarely have I seen such careless staging, although the corps de ballet managed to make it a little more convincing by the end of the run. The divertissements took place on a near-empty stage, with a few chandeliers thrown in for good measure, and started with a czardas coming from nowhere except the wings. Unfortunately, no one seemed to have been along to state loud and clear that character dancing actually means something – if the choreography requires the dancers to hold their arms in whatever fashion the dance calls for, the goal is not to annoy them, but to make for a coherent style. The dancers were very disciplined, but why not give them the coaching they deserve ? They even managed the horrendous pas de deux between Bernard and Béranger Nureyev added, that features diagonal after diagonal of exhausting beats (Axel Ibot was a stand-out here). There is plenty of talent in the company, but it's being severely misguided at the present time.

As usual, there were some fine performances at soloist level, although no one seemed quite sure of the purpose of it all. Henriette was the most rewarding part for the dancers. Muriel Zusperreguy especially gave a wonderfully clear account of the variation, phrasing it with delicacy. Mathilde Froustey was her perky self in this, and drew much applause. Unfortunately, Clémence's variation was turned into a pas de trois with two corps girls, who outdanced Eleonora Abbagnato in the first performance I saw ; one wonders why she is dancing this at all, while her heart and technique lie elsewhere, and it's starting to look disgraceful for a major soloist to fall out of every double pirouette. Eve Grinsztajn, a newly promoted première danseuse, was lovely in this, and I'm sorry I didn't see her take on the title role. As Jean de Brienne, the faithful cavalier, Christophe Duquenne did a good job with Isabelle Ciaravola, but the biggest surprise came from Karl Paquette, a very reliable premier danseur whose own dancing has never been very impressive, although he is constantly called upon to replace injured étoiles. Casting him in virtually every possible leading role seems to have paid off, as he delivered an excellent variation, with flashes of near-virtuosity.

The title role was very problematic though. Several étoiles had been cast in the Mats Ek evening on at the same time and were therefore unavailable for Raymonda ; instead we got not so high-profile casting, and the result was somewhat puzzling. Isabelle Ciaravola, a première danseuse, fared very well as the young princess ; her gorgeous face and exotic looks made for a mysterious heroine, and the beginning of the clapping variation was entrancing, but as soon as it got technically harder, fear slipped in. She managed the end of the solo, but she was so happy she had that she flashed a huge smile at the audience, and never quite got back into the character. It was the beginning of the run though, and she probably got more comfortable with it – her depth and poetry remain impressive. Not so with Emilie Cozette, who was made an étoile last year and was nowhere near even tolerable as Raymonda. She seems to combine every drawback of the Paris Opera Ballet training – wooden back, no épaulement, extremely poor ports de bras which are completely dissociated from the leg work. This could be forgiven were she a very special performer such as Agnès Letestu, but so far she has been a good, utterly bland student. Worse still, in Raymonda she seemed to have acquired new diva-ish mannerisms, flirting with the audience on every occasion, constantly pursing and playing with her lips. She doesn't seem to know how to phrase and shade ; instead she slaps a few movements here and then, as if the only way to show authority on stage or to punctuate the end of a variation was with a big exclamation point. She is a competent dancer from a purely technical point of view (meaning in the legs here), but what message does it send – to hell with elegance, poetry, imagination, nuance, ports de bras and such nonsense ? Is this the kind of ballerina the company wants ? If so, they have troubled times ahead of them.

Artifact Suite was by far the most interesting part of the evening. If Forsythe ever choreographed a masterpiece, I think this might be it ; instead of just resorting to his usual tricks, he makes them part of a chilling whole, raising many questions on the way mind control is achieved, using mass movement to annihilate opposition. It reads on many levels, and what is astounding is the influence he manages to exert on the audience, showing us exactly how we're all fascinated by what is going on on stage ; during the entire first part, focused on the two soloist couples, the curtain keeps falling with the music still on and the dancers moving, and depending on the performance, the audience either remained entirely silent or was prompted to applaud by a few people clapping, even when all there had been to see was the four dancers walking towards the woman controlling them all. Everything in this piece gives a feeling of uneasiness – the music of Bach and later Eva Crossman-Hecht, the low-angled lighting reminiscent of Nazi images, and above all the fascination at work when the dancers become increasingly indistinguishable. The moment at the very end of the first part when the two couples vanish into the marching crowd is extremely powerful, and the second part goes crescendo in showing us the corps de ballet's alienation, closely watched by a tall nemesis of a woman - Fanny Gorse at every performance I saw, quietly suggesting the madness at the heart of her manic, spider-like movements. It could certainly be shorter, but everything makes sense, from the parody of ballet (the women walking side by side and nodding towards each other when the lines part, for instance) to the hypnotic tableaux, using slight changes in timing to create waves of movement through the corps de ballet. The ending, with every dancer suddenly facing the audience and inviting us to join them, is so disquieting it makes one think twice about the thunderous applause that follows, as if it had been planned all along – the surge of a fascinated crowd.

Forsythe's piece got the most committed performances of the entire bill, from both soloists and corps de ballet. Laure Muret, in the first cast, literally threw herself into the demands of the choreography alongside Stéphane Phavorin, an idiosyncratic performer who went against the uniformity of the company here, but brought a welcome humanity to the second part. If Mélanie Hurel and Delphine Moussin weren't quite as suited to the choreography, Dorothée Gilbert and Myriam Ould-Braham gave it their all with amazing fluidity, matched by Alessio Carbone and and Simon Valastro (in another cast). I must add though that some of the movements the soloists perform are downright cruel – what is the purpose in having one of the female soloists do a supported grand jeté, only to have her partner land her in the splits, I wonder ? This movement is even repeated twice, and drew a gasp from the audience each time. Unfortunately, it's also the very substance of other Forsythe pieces. The hero in Artifact Suite is the corps de ballet though, which goes from dark background to overwhelming mass and has gruelling choreography in the second part ; the company lived up to expectations, appearing entirely different from the dutiful corps of the first two ballets on the bill. Particularly noteworthy was Eléonore Guérineau, who danced a small solo at each performance – she is a petite dancer, who's just been promoted to coryphée, but her amazing fullness of movement sets her apart from anyone else. Although it was plagued by injuries, the entire corps did itself proud, giving the feeling that many of the current problems might be down to programming and coaching, while the talent is there and waiting to be nurtured.

Dancers : Abbagnato, Carbone, Ciaravola, Cozette, Duquenne, Fiat, Froustey, Ganio, Gilbert, Gorse, Grinsztajn, Guérineau, Hurel, Ibot, Mallem, Muret, Ould-Braham, Paquette, Phavorin, Romberg, Valastro, Zusperreguy

Incidentally, 4Ts was one of the few Balanchine ballets I took to completely the first time I saw it. Well, it takes all sorts, doesn't it?

Hadn't intended to review, but seeing this thread will just add a few notes to what Azulynn has said.

Personally I was struck by how little the company has changed in at least one respect, that is that they clearly love dancing Balanchine and very modern choreographers like Forsythe, but few of the dancers have much feeling for the classics - and the same goes to some extent for the Parisian audience.

The programme itself did not really add up. It was advertised as showing the progression from 19th century classical ballet to Balanchine's neo-classical work to Forsythe's contemporary 'de-construction' of classical ballet but this purpose was not served by either the running order or the selection of pieces.

Personally I enjoyed Four Temperaments most - it was danced with superb technique, elegance and precision by the whole cast, but the highlight was a stunning performance by Matthieu Ganio in the Phlegmatic section. I hadn't seen Ganio before and didn't know who the dancer was as I'd had no time to look at the cast list before the performance began. So I inadvertently gave myself the rare treat of that shiver down the spine when you know that you are watching not just a very good, but a great dancer. His balances were breathtaking, his fluidity of movement glorious and he brought a degree of expressiveness and feeling to the role which transformed it from the usual academic exercise that Mr B seems to inspire in all too many of his interpreters into something quite extraordinary.

Raymonda was extremely disappointing - instead of doing Act 3 as such, which is the usual divertissement (and a first-rate one), it was a hotch-potch of extracts and looked alarmingly under-rehearsed. A few dancers did well, but classical ballet requires dancing as an ensemble and this was not only uneven but at times downright untidy. I was truly taken aback that a company whose men are as exceptional as the Opera's was apparently unable to field a male pas de six where the repeated doubles tours en l'air were landed properly. I would agree with Azulynn that the company will have to do something pretty drastic if they are going to present a revival of the complete Raymonda in the coming months.

On a more positive note, Mathilde Froustey was delightful in a very French style in the Henriette variation. As Jean de Brienne, Karl Paquette danced extremely well but for some reason he is a dancer I do not warm to - to me he lacks personality on stage. Emilie Cozette was very much miscast as Raymonda, but is an attractive dancer with a strong technique - I would like to see her in a soubrette role, for instance.

In contrast, Forsythe's Artifact Suite was performed with exemplary passion and conviction. Whether it merits that kind of dedication is a matter of opinion - words like "dreary" "pretentious" and "way too long" came to my mind. The gimmick of lowering the curtain in mid-dance during the first section may have seemed effective the first time, but after several repetitions was just plain irritating and the lighting was so dim that by the end my eyes were hurting so much I found it hard to watch - this was from the sixth row and my distance vision is excellent . However, the piece is hugely demanding physically and there is no doubt that the dancers love to dance it, while the audience received it with rapturous applause.