Cast
George Balanchine — Choreographer
Violette Verdy — Teacher
Nina Vyroubova — Teacher
Milorad Miskovitch — Teacher
Alicia Markova — Teacher
Ghislaine Thesmar — Teacher
Isabelle Ciaravola — Principal dancer for the Paris Opera
Hervé Moreau — Principal dancer for the Paris Opera
Myriam Ould-Braham — Principal dancer for the Paris Opera
Muriel Hallé
Valéry Colin
Lucia Lacarra — Principal dancer for the Bayerisches Staatsballett
Cyril Pierre — Principal dancer for the Bayerisches Staatsballett
Monique Loudières — Principal dancer for the Paris Opera
Program notes
Five masterclasses on Balanchine's choreographies.
"Ballet is first and foremost a matter of tempo and space: the space is delimited by the stage, the tempo is given by the music." Here is how George Balanchine, the Russian dancer and choreographer later naturalized American citizen, used to define his art. Tempo and space. Accordingly, these two physical notions entail the terms of evolution, movement, gesture, and eventually, body as key components of the choreographic discourse. A spiritual son of Marius Petipa, Balanchine lies within a classical tradition. But a tradition which, at the image of his aesthetic profession of faith, is neither static nor continuous. Tradition is an horizon and a point of reference, not a settled academism.
Dominique Delouche encounters Violette Verdy, Nina Vyroubova, Milorad Miskovitch, Alicia Markova and Ghislaine Thesmar, five dancers who hand down to the young generation the secret of Balanchine's choreographies. An exceptional testimony from those who knew and worked with the Russian master.
