New York City Ballet créateur, dans l’esprit de Balanchine

La saison d’hiver de la grande compagnie
américaine héritière de Balanchine a éveillé à
nouveau les habituelles discussions sur la qualité
des danseurs, la fidélité au style ou les choix du
répertoire; mais le NYCB demeure un cas spécial
que l’on ne peut pas considérer selon des critères
ordinaires. Il maintient vivante l’oeuvre de
Balanchine mais aussi sa vocation de compagnie
créatrice. La découverte d’un jeune chorégraphe de
grand talent, Justin Peck, en est la preuve

4 Affiche / Calendar

20 Echos – nouvelles du monde de la danse
News – from the dance world

29 New York City Ballet créateur, dans l’esprit de
Balanchine / In Balanchine’s spirit, a creative New York City Ballet

36 Les critiques / Critics :

• Balletto del Teatro alla Scala, Milano – Roméo et Juliette –
• Sasha Waltz
• New Adventures – Sleeping Beauty – Matthew Bourne
• Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris – Don Quichotte
• Compagnie Karine Saporta – Tam Taï
• Ballet Nice Méditerranée – Raymonda, The Envelope,
• Suite en blanc
• Compagnie L’Éventail – Marie-Geneviève Massé
• José Montalvo – Don Quichotte du Trocadéro
• Het Nationale Ballet – Cinderella – Christopher Wheeldon
• Fabulous Beast Theatre – Michael Keegan-Dolan
• Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo – Le Lac – Jean-Christophe
• Maillot

47 Multimedia : TV, Web, Dvd, Livres / Books...

52 Programmes TV

54 Photo Gallery

EDITORIAL par Alfio Agostini

One of the most “extraordinary” pieces of news last month was
that of a mafia-like assault on the director of the Bolshoi Ballet of
Moscow. We have deliberately chosen not to concentrate on this
news: by the time this issue is published, the media will have already
‘been there, done that’ and filed away what they no doubt
considered a curious criminal episode. As for us, we await news
on the fate of Sergei Filin and the Muscovite company.
Two more “normal” but nevertheless significant pieces of news
concern the appointing of the artistic directors of two companies.
That of the new director of the Paris Opéra Ballet had been keenly
awaited by observers in France and abroad, as well as (especially)
by the dancers of the great Parisian company. Last year,
after a long period of discontent, they had come out openly against
Brigitte Lefèvre, who has been the Opéra Ballet’s irremovable director
since 1995.
The appointment of Benjamin Millepied, which amazed many, seems
to me to be a sensible move. Though French, he neither trained at
the Opéra, nor remained confined within its walls, as was instead
the case for other prospective candidates. Millepied is a fine classical
dancer, but on the American side of ballet, moulded by the
Robbins/Balanchine repertoire; he is open to the real present-day
world in which he has demonstrated he is cleverly able to find his
way, making a name for himself as a choreographer; he is also a
world celebrity which while of no consequence per se, could well
be an asset if coupled (as is the case here) with a base of artistic
qualities. However things turn out and whether or not Millepied’s
tenure will be long-lived, this is the beginning of a new era for the
Paris Opéra Ballet.
The other major ‘turnover’ has taken place at the Berlin State
Ballet where Nacho Duato (the former controversial director of the
Compañía Nacional de Danza in Madrid, currently at the helm of
the Mikhailovsky Theatre of St Petersburg) is going to take over
from Vladimir Malakhov, the star dancer who has been at the German
company’s helm for over ten years.
Stay tuned for further news from Paris and Berlin. For the time
being, the impression is they reflect the general intention of making
the few existing ballet companies less “classical”, starting with one
of the world’s most prestigious ones.