The Paris Opera has revived Jerome Robbins’ productions of En Sol, In the Night and The Concert.

The Paris Opera has revived Jerome Robbins’ famous productions of En sol, In the Night and The Concert. The choice of ballets and their performers is considered successful Maria Sidelnikova.

Jerome Robbins (1918–1998) liked to say that the Paris Opera, where Rudolf Nureyev invited him, was his second home. Although the French household howled from the tyranny of the visiting guest. The American choreographer, George Balanchine’s partner at the New York City Ballet (NYCB), was famous for his manic manner of controlling everything, rehearsing for days on end and approving castings at the last minute. “Those who are good at the classics are not necessarily good at my ballets…” Robbins defended himself. Today, his works themselves have become classics, on which several generations have grown up. So, from Robbins’s ballets it is quite possible to judge who is good and how good: musicality, technique, acting skills – everything is here at a glance.

“En sol,” which opened the evening, is the least known in Russia. Taking its title from Ravel’s concerto of the same name, it was staged by Robbins at the NYCB in 1975 for the composer’s centenary for star couple Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins. The plot is, as usual, simple. On the beach, among cheerful girls and guys, as if they had escaped from Broadway, two people meet. The acquaintance flows into the night, and the next morning the dashing company returns to carefree water procedures with renewed vigor. The cardboard sun and sea on the backdrop and the winged waves on the swimsuits were drawn by the famous illustrator Roman Tyrtov, who took the name Erte in immigration.

In the first, premiere cast, the couple of lovers was performed by Hannah O’Neill and Hugo Marchand. Everyone has their own vulnerabilities. The stylish O’Neill is not very strong in technique, the hugely handsome Marchand is an absurd actor in naive romantic exercises. But the charisma of this couple and their mutual pleasure from each other – from chaste recognition (four steps forward, six back – a formula of indecision from Robbins that is brilliant in its simplicity) to a whirlwind of feelings, rotations and supports – made up for all the rough edges. Jerome Robbins would probably be furious, because no star had the right to outshine his choreography, even Nureyev had to curb his enormous ego at one time. Conductor Maria Seletskaya also fell under their spell. A former ballet dancer herself, she enchantedly “placed” music at their feet, sometimes to her detriment.

“In the Night” (1970) was Robbins’s afterword to “Dancing at the Party,” the ballet that marked his return to NYCB in 1969 after a 13-year hiatus. The same Chopin music, piano miniatures that are heard in ballet classes of all schools in the world. But if “Dances” became a modern dashing homage to Chopin, “popcorn”, as Balanchine aptly set the vector, then “In the Night” reigns classic: no boogie-woogie with mazurkas, an ode to duet dance – the basis of the fundamentals, a venerable adherence to the Balanchine tradition. Three couples symbolize the three stages of relationships. For each, Robbins prepared cascades of the most complex lifts – overhead, jumping, spins, which require total trust and composure from partners. But their pure performance is a boring version of “Into the Night.” What makes it a beautiful ballet illusion of life are the nuances, everything that happens in a second between “raised-caught-lowered.” To check these nuances, Jean-Pierre Frolish of Robbins Right Trust spent an hour at an open rehearsal. According to him, Robbins is danced better in Paris than in New York, since the artists have more experience in story ballets, which allows them to fill even abstract productions with motivations and meanings.

Etoile and young mother Park Se-eun is a master of such subtleties. Her constant partner, reliable support and support, Paul Marc, is also not far behind. The first duet, “In the Night,” about the fragility of a new feeling, which suits them both in character (both are introverted romantics) and in experience (both have not yet matured in their star rank), added to their collection of joint creative successes. The second couple – the most experienced etouiles Lyudmila Pagliero and Mathio Gagno – expertly danced harmonious mature love. Their every movement was filled with mutual respect with a slight nostalgia for past sparks of feelings. Indeed, happy couples are equally happy. The third duet is the most narrative, passionate and concentrated in language. He was entrusted to the performers Amandine Albisson and the first dancer Audric Bezard – a couple unequal in titles, but perfectly matching in temperament.

We ended the evening on a cheerful note with “The Concerto” (1956) to the music of Chopin, a famous ballet sitcom that is adored by both artists and audiences. In a series of hilarious sketches, observed in the theater and placed in the frame of a piano concert, Robbins’ gift as a comedian and his talent as a choreographer-portrait artist came together. The French, who are trained in acting and know a lot about self-irony, are passionate about trying on these images: it’s a pleasure to watch the lively Antoine Kircher in the role of a shy eternal student; on the respectable Fabien Réveillon, a recognizable theatrical snob in a scarf, who turns out to be a rogue free rider; on Héloïse Bourdon, a theater lady who went to a concert with her husband, who can’t stand either music or ladies. In his cartoonish attempts to murder his wife, Arthus Ravo skillfully restrained his character, allowing himself humor, but not antics. “Ballerina” Eleanor Bolac had it worse. Etoile, with a lively disposition and lively facial expressions, chose to work with her face, although she had much more eloquent body language at her disposal.