Paris Opera 'Caligula' reviews Paris Opera 'Jewels' reviews 'Jewels' reviews Doisneau in reviews Pujol in reviews recent Paris Opera reviews more Sheila Cross reviews

Usually the defile is followed by a short ballet, in addition to the set programme; the last time I had attended a defile, it had been ‘Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux’, heralding Dupont’s return from long term injury. However, this year the extra piece was an unusual one that poignantly complemented the defile’s celebration of the company. Entitled ‘Veronique Doisneau’, after the dancer whose story it was, it explored the experience of those middle rank dancers who are so vital to the strength of a company but who never, normally, make the headlines, unless they are promoted. The piece was created a year ago by Jerome Bel, and was moving then in the representation of the dedication, the joys, the frustrations of being a ‘sujet’, a status in which the dancer does both corps and soloist work. But this turned out to be Veronique Doisneau’s final performance prior to retirement.

The concept is unusual. Veronique entered, carrying the usual baggage for a dancer and then spoke, giving her personal details, name, age, position as ‘sujet’, salary, the ages of her two children, the operation that threatened her career when 20. She commented on who had influenced her, above all Rudolf Nureyev, also Chauvire, Khalfouni and Makarova. Nureyev had chosen her as one of the shades soloists in ‘La Bayadere’, which she danced for us to the accompaniment of her own humming. The other choreographers that she had most admired had been Petipa, Robbins, Balanchine and Cunningham; she danced an excerpt from the latter’s ‘Points in Space’. However, the role she would most loved to have danced was Giselle and , again to her own humming, she danced a variation from Act 2, commenting on the sections where Giselle would be partnered by Albrecht. A recording of music from Adam’s score was later played, to which a fellow ‘sujet’, Celine Talon, performed part of Ek’s version. Yet perhaps the piece of dance that best revealed the experience of a corps dancer was the excerpt of music from the ‘Swan Lake’ adagio. Introducing it, Veronique explained how difficult it is to stay motionless for long periods as the backdrop to the principals’ pas de deux. Then, as the recording played, she stood in pose for long minutes before switching pose and then finally dancing briefly. It conveyed a sense of the longueurs involved for the corps. Her performance was warmly applauded and it felt that we had seen the full cycle of professional dance in 50 minutes: the youngest member of the School, the dancers of all ranks, to the farewell performance of a dedicated dancer.

‘Jewels’ followed, Balanchine’s celebration of French, American and Russian styles of classical dance. Having never previously seen it performed on the stage of the Garnier theatre( the dancers were on strike for the performances I’d booked when the company first set it, five years ago) I marvelled at how good it looked there: Balanchine ballets always look at their best on a large stage.

The first ballet, ‘Emeralds’, can sometimes seem overlong, due to the lack of variety in the Faure score, but Christian Lacroix’s attractive green backdrop and the beautiful costumes added extra lustre. Laetitia Pujol, who had slightly disappointed when I’d seen her dance ‘Emeralds’ at a St Petersburg festival performance, radiated charm and danced with great musicality and authority. I have never seen Clairemarie Osta, in the second solo, dance so well, with lovely phrasing and turns. It is a very well structured ballet, with rich choreographic development and all the soloists and corps brought out the vitality and nuances.

The second ballet, ‘Rubies’, is weaker in choreographic ideas but, due to its jazz-influenced score by Stravinsky and its show –bizz attack, is more accessible to the general public, and widely performed. (The Paris Opera itself has performed it separately; the performance on the opening night was the 131st they had given). The amazing Marie-Agnes Gillot not only has the legs and physique of a Balanchine dancer, more importantly she has the attack, and she gave it her all. In the pas de deux Aurelie Dupont and Alessio Carbone also danced to the hilt. A sparkling performance.

Finally, ‘Diamonds’. Set to four movements of Tschaikovsky’s Third Symphony the ballet is a homage to Petipa, and perhaps especially to Ivanov, since the central pas de deux is yet another of Balanchine’s odes to the Odette adagio( like the second movement of’Symphony in C’). At the start, the partnership of Agnes Letestu and Herve Moreau did not seem entirely harmonious, but they settled. Isabelle Ciaravola once again showed etoile potential as one of the two soloists. In this piece the Lacroix costumes seemed less successful, so sparkly that they did not generate the sophistication that one expects of a true diamond. But the performance of the ‘Jewels’ sequence displayed the riches of the company, not least the talents of emerging young male dancers.

The second programme of the season was devoted to the first creation for the Opera by Nicolas Le Riche, which I saw after the ‘Jewels’ evening. ‘Caligula’ is a five act ballet, albeit only lasting 90 minutes, without an interval. It was not a surprise that, as a great dance actor, Le Riche should choose to create a dramatic ballet, the only question was what approach he would adopt. Having made his name with his stunning performance in Roland Petit’s ‘Le Jeune Homme et la Mort’, after which Petit created two roles specifically for him, it seemed possible that he might be influenced by Petit’s style, especially as Petit had encouraged him to try his hand at a ballet on the life of Caligula in response to Le Riche’s suggestion that Petit did it. In the outcome, the piece was much closer to Preljocaj’s conception, eschewing Petit’s clear story balletic telling and adopting a more obscure dance approach. It takes four pages of programme notes to describe the complex details of the ballet’s action. Yet even having read the synopsis, it was still often difficult to understand what was taking place on stage. Nor was it easy to get emotionally involved, given the episodic approach and the lack of character development for Caligula, although there is more scope for the rebel role, Chaerea.

Within these limitations, the ballet has some meaty, if one-dimensional roles, for Caligula ( Mathieu Ganio at the performance I saw), for Chaerea ( the Brutus type senator who eventually rebels against the cruel emperor, Wilfried Romoli), and for Mnester, mime artist supreme(Laurent Hilaire), not to mention Caligula’s horse! There’s a lovely woman’s role for the Moon (Muriel Zusperreguy – a role created by Le Riche’s wife, Clairemarie Osta) and the role featuring Caligula’s wife’s role in importance as the piece progresses. Most of the choreography is modern, with some forceful group work and expressive solos for Chaerea, but the Moon, as an idealisation of femininity and eroticism, is danced on point with a more pure balletic style in the solos and pas de deux.

The principal score is Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’, that ubiquitous musical text for ballet, also featuring in Paris in the autumn as the basis for a piece by Preljocaj for his own company. It is supplemented by atmospheric electronic music. The décor is simple, modern and well lit.

The audience watched respectfully, without applause for the duration of the 90 minutes, but exploded at the end with far greater enthusiasm than shown at the ‘Jewels’/defile performance. In England the audience reaction would have been reversed.