Children of Paradis
Ballet by Paris ballet in the Paris Opera. This was bizarre starting wth a large crowd scene and soldiers dancing, then a theater, then a boarding house. The scenery kept changing as we traced the life of Baptiste and his 4 loves. There was an interesting intermission feature where a lady and man danced the ballet “Othello” to the music of a lone violin. The audience was all around and using the stairs during intermission.
Synopsis:
Children of Paradise, drawing on Jacques Prévert's scenario for the film by Marcel Carné, is dancer Étoile José Martinez's first major ballet for the Company. The choreography brings to life a long-gone Paris, that of the “Boulevard du Crime” in the first half of the 19th century with its artists, its theatres and its cabarets. In Ezio Toffolutti's sets suggestive of a movie set and with costumes by dancer Étoile Agnès Letestu, the mime Baptiste unreels the thread of his memories: his meeting with Garance, his impossible love for that marvellous and elusive woman, the magical world of entertainment, the stage, the wings and the frontiers between reality and illusion, sometimes so tenuous. To an original score by Marc-Olivier Dupin, the choreography alternates large ensembles with the intimacy of the lovers' pas de deux. The above information is subject to change.
Music: Marc-Olivier Dupin
Choreography: José Martinez (Opéra national de Paris, 2008)
Adaptation: François Roussillon et José Martinez
Scenic Design: Ezio Toffolutti
Costumes: Agnès Letestu
Lighting: André Diot
Featuring The Étoiles, Principal Dancers and Corps de Ballet
Music performed by Paris Opera Orchestra
Conductor: Jean-François Verdier