For the first time, this ballet, danced by the Paris Opera Ballet at Bastille, has been filmed in Imax. The film is being shown worldwide in Pathé Live and Imax theaters.
Dance at eye level. A closer look than from the front row of the orchestra! This is the challenge taken up by the Opéra national de Paris, Pathé Live and Imax in a world premiere broadcast to 2,000 cinemas worldwide, with an exclusive debut in France from November 8 to 12. The result is breathtaking. For the first time, dance is no longer just a set of lines and steps, tuned to the music and in space. Instead, it is seen through the eyes of the performers. Are they prepared for this? That’s another matter.
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“ Don’t forget why you dance “Liane Daydé, her remarkable teacher, repeated this to Aurélie Dupont, who used it as the title of her memoirs, published last spring by Albin Michel. Between Paul Marque (Siegfried), Sae Eun Park (Odette-Odile) and Pablo Legasa (Rothbart), following the application of this phrase is captivating.
Dance is not just movement of the body, it is play, from head to toe, so much so that the dramatic material danced in the Swan Lake is experienced: the hesitations of Siegfried, a young prince trembling before his mother, can be seen in the slightly blurred gaze of Paul Marque. Rothbart’s manipulation of him can be seen in Legasa’s sure, dark eye, which gives the role a Luciferian sheen.
Imposes her gaze
As Odette-Odile, Sae Eun Park leaves us dumbfounded: her metamorphoses start with her gaze, and the body simply follows, in tune, extending it. Some ballerinas go from woman to whore in this role. The interpretation of Sae Eun Park is far less simplistic. As Odette, she’s a swan-like woman as immaterial as a dream and as distraught as a bird.
Her dance is so thrilling, so sensitive, so permeable to the imagination, that it reveals her to be more of a woman at the end of the 2e act, when she thinks of escaping Rothbart, and more bird at the 4e when Rothbart’s stratagem closes in on her. On the 3rdeAs a black swan, she’s simply a woman, without vulgarity, but with just the right amount of slaughter, and that’s enough to lead Siegfried astray, so immature and uncertain is he.
It’s all the more compelling because director Isabelle Julien follows the drama as if in the theater, imposing her gaze on the viewer: close-ups, dance captured at 1 meter from the dancers, dramatic accents of the music impacting on the faces. The two-and-a-half-hour show flies by like a dream.
Without any intention
In fact, the Imax recording is breathtaking, emphasizing the speed of movement, giving a sense of space, and allowing us to admire the splendor of the embroidered and embellished costumes, designed by Franca Squarciapino at the request of the company. Nureyev. Seen up close, Rothbart’s, designed for him, is of unprecedented splendor. The director also indulges in a few shots from above, showing the diamond-cut geometry of the white acts.
“ Don’t forget why you dance “ The corps de ballet would also do well to ask itself this question. Is its job to simply stand in uniform lines like the military, just with movements that would be more graceful? One pinches oneself to see these pas de trois, polonaises and Spanish dances executed impeccably, but with no intention whatsoever, with partners smiling at each other just for the sake of it!
Dance is much more than that: it’s music, a partner, a mood that lights up the eyes, moves the torso, carries the arms, moves the legs: it’s time for the corps de ballet to work in this direction. It’s also the small roles that make a company great.
“Swan Lake, in Imax, from November 8 to 12 in Imax theaters.