BY David Stoyle FOR FR2DAY.COM
Pick of the series is the gala night on December 17th when the Bolshoi soloists and the Monte Carlo ballet stars meet to perform dances from Swan Lake. A composition by Jean-Christophe Maillot inspired by "Swan Lake", and called "Lac" will be the performance running up to New Year. It's a meeting point of beauty, grace, tradition and modernity, and it's all the more likely to be sold out after so many people enjoyed the movie "Black Swan" - let's hope the finale isn't quite the same.
The Viennese National Opera Ballet is performing "Homage to Jerome Robbins": the famous choreographer who created "West Side Story". They'll be dancing Glass Pieces (1983), In
the Night (1970), and The Concert (1956), each one written for and about the City of New York. Accompanied by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the first part is written by Philip Glass, so expect lots of layered melodies repeating themselves in a trance-like style. And that's the way the dance is too - small motifs repeating and building. The other two dances are to music by Chopin: "In the Night" takes four Nocturnes and turns them into a piano dance, while "The Concert" is a comic piece of parodies - see if you can work out who they are joking about!
Malou Airaudo and the Compagnie Renégade are performing "Irgendwo" - a fusion of hip-hop and contemporary dance. Airaudo came to prominence when dancing for Pina Bausch.
A special moment will be the performance of "Creation", by Crystal Pite, in which the Kidd Pivot Dance Company will be performing with each dancer replicated in a life-size model and in another dancer doubling them. It's a reflection on the meaning of creation and art, and it's something wonderful to behold.
South African Robyn Orlin brings a piece with the title: "Have you hugged, kissed and respected your brown Venus today?" It focuses on the horrific tale of the black woman brought to France in the eighteenth century and exhibited as a freak before becoming a prostitute and dying young. Orlin challenges us to consider whether attitudes today have really advanced that much.
Virgilio Sieni's "The Nature of Things" is an adaptation of a poem by Lucretius over 2,000 years ago. Lucretius wrote about how nature is not composed purely of atoms, that there is a fluctuating spirituality that drives our souls through the stages of life. In this dance, a group of male dancers propel the ballerina through her stages of life as she swaps masks and is lifted, floated, and guided across the stage.
Charles Dickens probably never imagined a production of his Oliver Twist performed in Monaco. But that's what is going to happen when Josette Baiz brings a troup of young dancers between the ages of 8 and 15 to perform here. It's a grim view of child cruelty, but there is always a ray of light reminding us of hope.
Ina Christel Johanssen brings the Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance to perform "3 o'clock in the afternoon" - a work filled with energy and angst as her accomplished charges try to work out which way they should go.
The full program is:
Saturday 10th December 2011: Homage to Jerome Robbins: Glass Pieces, In the Night, The Concert.
Vienna National Opera Ballet, Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
8.30 PM Grimaldi Forum
Sunday 11th December 2011: Homage to Jerome Robbins: Glass Pieces, In the Night, The Concert.
Vienna National Opera Ballet, Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
8.30 PM Grimaldi Forum
Monday 12th December 2011: Creation, Crystal Pite, Kidd Pavot Company
8.30 PM Opera de Monte Carlo
Tuesday 13th December 2011: "Have you hugged, kissed and respected your brown Venus today?": Robyn Orun,
8.30 PM Grimaldi Forum
Wednesday 14th December 2011: "La Natura Delle Cose" Virgilio Sieni
8.30 PM Opera de Monte Carlo
Thursday 15th December 2011: "Oliver Twist", Josette Baiz, Groupe Grenade,
8.30 PM Grimaldi Forum
Friday 16th December 2011: "3 o'clock in the afternoon", Ina Christel Johanssen
8.30 PM Opera de Monte Carlo
Saturday 17th December 2011: Gala evening around "Swan Lake": Bolshoi Soloists and Ballet de Monte Carlo
8.30 PM Grimaldi Forum
27-31 December 2011: "Lac" a creation based on Swan Lake by J-C Maillot
8.30 PM Grimaldi Forum
All images © Ballets de Monte-Carlo/Monaco Dance Forum
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