Transit danced – Newspaper Kommersant No. 202 (7403) of 10/29/2022

After three months of anarchy, the general director of the Paris Opera, Alexander Nef, decided on a new artistic director of the ballet. As expected “Kommersant” (see issue of 17 June), they became 53-year-old Jose Martinez – ex-etoile of the Opera and former head of the Spanish Compania Nacional de Danza. comments Maria Sidelnikova.

The revolution did not happen: Alexander Nef, transferred to the director’s post of the Paris Opera from distant Canada and savvy more in opera than in ballet, rules carefully and is guided by the rule “do no harm.” As soon as the Paris Opera began to emerge from the post-strike and covid crisis, a new burden fell on Nef’s shoulders. In June of this year, Aurélie Dupont, whose six-year reign appeared to be unshakable and undivided, abruptly resigned. The disciplined Mr. Nef decided to share the responsibility for choosing a new artistic director with the selection committee headed by the honorary president of the administrative board of the Opera, Bernard Stirne. It included Caroline Carlson, Charles Jude and Angelin Preljocaj, well-known people in the ballet world, one way or another connected with the Opera.

The position opened in July. Until August 12, anyone who met the stated criteria could submit a resume: the future artistic director must have artistic recognition and authority in the world of dance, have successful leadership experience and look at the future of the Opera with respect for its exceptional heritage, but also see innovative ways of development. The desire was expressed by 23 candidates (9 women, 14 men; 11 French, 12 foreigners). The Committee selected eight, interviewed and issued their findings to Alexander Nef. He left four candidates, observing parity – two men, two women, and after negotiations, he chose Jose Martinez. Names, programs, speculation, dates – everything was classified, no leaks until the official announcement.

Jose Martinez is a pure product of the House, as they say in the Paris Opera about their own. He was born in Spain, in Cartagena, but his entire exemplary dancing career took shape in France. The classical dance school of the eminent American Rosella Hightower in Cannes, the prize in Lausanne in 1987, after which, by the way, he almost went on a scholarship to John Neumeier in Hamburg. Sharp-eyed Violette Verdi, together with strong-willed Claude Bessy, turned the laureate towards Paris. So Martinez got into a school at the Paris Opera, and from there a year later, in 1990, he went straight to the troupe. Silver at the competition in Varna, the recognition of the public and patrons quickly moved the young man up the career ladder, and by 1992 he had risen to the “first dancer”. Training and natural becoming provided him with the roles of all the princes in the repertoire, but Martinez was also a success with modern choreographers. Mats Ek guessed in him the beautiful Hilarion for his version of “Giselle”, Pina Bausch – Orpheus, William Forsyth chose him for “Pas./Parts”.

Being an etoile, Martinez also announced his choreographic ambitions. He staged both at the Opera, as part of the evenings of “young choreographers”, and on the side, mainly in his native Spain. His ballet based on the commedia dell’arte “Scaramouche”, which is lovingly danced by the students of the school, remained in the Parisian repertoire. And “Children of Paradise” – a ballet adaptation of the cult film by Marcel Carnet and Jacques Prevert, released in 2008 at the Paris Opera commissioned by Brigitte Lefebvre – has sunk into oblivion.

No matter how Lefebvre encouraged the staging impulses of her artists, they did not grow into great choreographers, but they turned out to be intelligent theater managers. At one time there was a “Nureyev” generation of ballet dancers, now it’s time to talk about the generation of leaders brought up by Brigitte Lefevre. Laurent Hilaire, Eleonora Abbagnato, Nicolas Le Rich, Manuel Legris lead today the leading European troupes. And Martinez was one of the first. Immediately after his retirement at the Opera in 2011, he became the head of the Madrid Compania Nacional de Danza, replacing Nacho Duato, who sailed to St. Petersburg. For eight years, the Madrid troupe has changed markedly. Martinez acted according to Parisian models, balanced the ballet classics with neoclassics (the ballets of Petit, Robbins, Balanchine appeared in the repertoire) and modern primary authors (the Spaniards mastered the language of Ek, Naharin, Inger, Preljocaj, Eyal). After the expiration of the second contract in 2019, he went into free swimming: he staged, rehearsed, resumed in Rome, Ljubljana, Vienna, Zagreb. For the last six months he has often traveled to Paris, so the candidacy lay on the surface: a respected person for the troupe (and finding a common language with the new generation of artists and trade unions is another task, here you need to know the local specifics), and a solid managerial experience behind him (its absence often reproached Aurélie Dupont). Only the gender issue was embarrassing: three men at the helm of the main French theater (in addition to Alexander Nef, the triumvirate includes chief conductor Gustavo Dudamel) – somehow old-fashioned.

Jose Martinez will take up his new duties on December 5 and will immediately start planning his first season in 2024/25. In Paris, he will work full-time, no third-party projects, as well as choreographic activities, are not provided for by the contract (previously signed agreements with Bordeaux and Stockholm for 2023 do not count, these agreements remain unchanged). Alexandre Nef expects Jose Martinez to “provide stability, prosperity and a high level to the Paris Opera Ballet.” Everything except stability, this troupe already has.