#alice blangero

[lovelyballetandmore]

Alexandre Joaquim | Les Ballets de Monte Carlo | Photo by Alice Blangero

[gorbigorbi]

Olga Smirnova as Juliet Capulet and Francesco Resch as Romeo Montague, "Romeo and Juliet", choreography by Jean-Christophe Maillot, music by Sergei Prokofiev, scenography by Ernest Pignon-Ernest, costume by Jérôme Kaplan. Based on the tragedy of the same name by William Shakespeare, 2023 Les Ballets de Monte Carlo Spain Tour, Teatro de la Maestranza, Valencia, Spain (January 11-12)

Photographer Alice Blangero

Photographer Alice Blangero

[swanlake1998]

portia adams photographed performing as lady capulet in jean-christophe maillot’s roméo et juliette by alice blangero

[dance-world]

Daniele Delvecchio - Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo - photo by  Alice Blangero

[books0977]

Ekaterina Petina and Matej Urban in The Taming of the Shrew, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, January 2018. © Alice Blangero.

Ekaterina Petina gave an ebullient and feisty account of the ill-tempered title character, the volatile Katharina; and Matej Urban’s Petruchio was essayed with a coltish charm, exaggerated by loutish drunkenness. Both lead characters are disagreeable from the off and Maillot’s vision is not so much the “taming of the shrew” as it is a mutual softening of two immensely strong personalities; and, on this level, it works very well. Both larger-than-life characters yield to each other in their unusual pathway to love.

[danseaujourdhui]

"Cy Twombly Somehow" de Marie Chouinard par les Ballets de Monte-Carlo © Alice Blangero

[pantasticon]

This Thursday, February 10 at 7:30, for one performance only, Lucien Postlewaite and I will rekindle our onstage partnership in Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Romeo et Juliette ♥️ If you’ve followed us you know that we danced this ballet in many cities around the world. Finally here, it will be our last. Photos ♥️ 1) Angela Sterling 2) Alice Blangero (at Seattle, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CZuOBMtpUFc/?utm_medium=tumblr

[strechanadi]

Olga Smirnova

Sleeping Beauty by Jean Christophe Maillot

photo: Alice Blangero

[vixworld]

Beautiful costums Salvador Mateu Andujar for Ballets de Monte Carlo

Photo Alice Blangero

[tinymuddypaws]

© Alice Blangero

[lovelyballetandmore]

Mimoza Koike | Gabriele Corrado | Les Ballets de Monte Carlo | Photo by Alice Blangero

[gorbigorbi]

Olga Smirnova and Alexis Oliveira, “La Belle”, choreography by Jean-Christophe Maillot, music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, costume by Philippe Guillotel and Jérôme Kaplan, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Grimaldi Forum, Monte Carlo, Principality of Monaco

Photographer Alice Blangero

[swanlake1998]

portia adams (as lady capulet) and alessio scognamiglio photographed rehearsing for jean-christophe maillot’s roméo et juliette by alice blangero

[dance-world]

Andrea Marino - Royal Swedish Ballet - photo by Alice Blangero

[books0977]

Olga Smirnova and Semyon Chudin in La Belle, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, January 2017. © Alice Blangero.

As in Perrault’s tale, the princess awakens with the Prince’s presence and not with the kiss, which follows their opening “conversation”; but once their lips connect, they remain locked for a large part of the ensuing duet, which, together with Smirnova’s floating arms and the alluring sentiment of Maillot’s flowing choreography, invests the duet with an absorbing tenderness, as the Prince leads La Belle towards the screen that had earlier held the imagery of his dreams.

[lavotha]

The art of contemporary dance in two acts 

The Lavender Follies – Souvenirs of cabarets

The evening’s double program on Thursday, July 26, 2018, at the Salle Garnier, marked the premiere of The Lavender Follies by American choreographer Joseph Hernandez, who had been a dancer with the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, created this piece especially for the company.

In The Lavender Follies, Hernandez uses theater as a playing field, where the choreographer displays his souvenirs of musicals he would watch growing up, in a blend of dance and cabaret performance. He uses the past to create a contemporary piece. The thrilling spectacle takes place under the scrutinizing eyes of journalist Sylvia von Harden, who is incarnated by male dancer Asier Edeso, appearing on stage like the living portrait made of her by Otto Dix.

In the famous painting, Otto Dix portrayed the new woman emerging in Germany in the 1920’s. A woman who left behind all previous conventions, as this new uninhibited woman smoked, drank, was career oriented, and did not specially cared about bringing up a family, she appears almost mannish, with a slumped posture not trying to be beautiful.

Dix demonstrates societal shifts happening at that time.  It became as the picture of the new Germany in the post world war one era.

Incredible characters parade, through different scenes, in front of the journalist’s eyes and the audience, in a weird fascinating but rather incomprehensible spectacle, that pleased some and inconvenienced others in the audience.

Dancer Asier Edeso portraying journalist Sylvia von Harden in The Lavender Follies by Joseph Hernandez @Alice Blangero

Souvenirs of cabaret, The Lavender Follies by Joseph Hernandez @Alice Blangero,dsc2299

The Lavender Follies by Alice Blangero

The Lavender Follies by Joseph Hernandez, Salle Garnier 2018 @Alice Blangero

Memories of musicals, The Lavender Follies by Joseph Hernandez @Alice Blangero

Choreography: Joseph Hernandez Scenography and Costumes : Yannick Cosso & Jordan Pallages Music : Johannes Till Lighting: Samuel Thery Creation for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo Premiered July 26, 2018, Salle Garnier de l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo Production Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo

White Darkness by Nacho Duato – An untimely death

White Darkness choreographed and staged by Juan Ignacio Duato Barcia, aka Nacho Duato, a Spanish modern ballet dancer and choreographer born in Valencia in 1957, world premiered in Madrid in 2001.

Nacho Duato composed the one-act ballet, White Darkness, as a eulogy for the untimely loss of a sister that resulted in a tour de force in modern art.  The audience was really moved to the chore by the protagonist, who seeking to run away from sentimental suffering, chooses to bury her pain in drugs, bringing her additional unwanted anxiety, followed by deep sorrow, estrangement and total solitude. The choreographer’s shows the torment of someone addicted to drugs, and their efforts to stop using them. It is not because they lack moral principles or willpower because addiction is a chronic disease where drug seeking becomes compulsive and difficult to control, despite the terrible consequences. Drugs change the brain in ways that make quitting hard and interferes with their ability to resist, with relapse a continuous struggle.

In the case of Duato’s sister it became a lost battle, as in the end of this passionate and dramatic ballet, a lonely woman sinks under a continuous stream of powder, a powerful metaphor of desperation and helplessness symbolizing drug addiction.

Nacho Duato was quoted saying: “I am deeply struck by how sad it is when young people allow drugs to ruin their lives and slip into a dark world, a world so dark, in fact that there is no escape from it.”

White Darkness by Nacho Duato @Alice Blangero _dsc3565

White Darkness by Nacho Duato @Alice Blangero dsc3224

White Darkness by Nacho Duato @Alice Blangero _dsc3560

White Darkness by Nacho Duato @Alice Blangero _dsc3384

Final scene of White Darkness by Nacho Duato @Alice Blangero _dsc3408

Choreography: Nacho Duato Music: Karl Jenkins (Adiemus Variations, String Quartet nº 2) Scenography: Jaffar Chalabi Costumes: Nacho Duato Lighting: Joop Caboort Staging: Thomas Klein Organization and Production: Carlos Iturrioz-Mediart Producciones SL (Spain). Costumes and Scenography production: Opéra National de Paris

World premiered by Compañía Nacional de Danza at Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, November 16, 2001. Premiered by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo on July 26, 2018, Salle Garnier Opéra de Monte-Carlo, July 16-29, 2018

Monaco Info video on the two ballets

Today’s Quote

“Dance is the timeless interpretation of life.” Shah Asad Rizvi

The Ballets de Monte-Carlo performed two modern masterpieces by dancers turned choreographers The art of contemporary dance in two acts  The Lavender Follies – Souvenirs of cabarets The evening’s double program on Thursday, July 26, 2018, at the Salle Garnier, marked the premiere of…