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By Patricia Boccadoro
PARIS,
17 August 2001 - With
the prospect of
Bill
T. Jones' spectacle,
You
walk?, at the Festival d'Avignon, a work illustrating the
suffering in the world caused by colonisation, in collaboration with
Misia, the fado
singer, I was trying to find the energy and enthusiasm for the
long haul South, when I came across Summertime Along the Banks of
the Seine, another festival featuring the Spanish/Portuguese
singer's melancholy and nostalgic music.
This time, her
husky voice was accompanying a solo, Fado, choreographed by
twenty-two year old Jean-Philippe Dury, quadrille at the Paris Opera
ballet, and was programmed at a more modest festival on the banks of
the River Seine, much nearer home. The prospect of a pleasant drive
through the lush green meadows of Normandy with its sixteenth century
farms and picturesque black and white timbered houses was very
appealing.
L'été
en bord de Seine, a cultural festival inaugurated four years ago,
and programming dance for the first time, was held at Alizay, a pretty
riverside community of barely a thousand inhabitants about ten miles
from Rouen. From 29 June to 7 July, evenings of music, theatre and
dance had been organised by the mayors of seven local villages, some
with only three hundred people living there, and today, posters along
the way announced a Spanish theme with young artists from the Paris
Opera. Following the groups of excited ladies in their gaily flowered
dresses and families of swans floating leisurely along the river, all
paths led to the small village hall where everything was happening.
Inside,
more space had been given to the stage than to the seating, and
conditions were ideal to get a close and privileged view of newly
promoted premier danseur, Karl Paquette, and corps de ballet members,
Christophe Duquenne, Alexandra Cardinale, and Emilie Cozette. Yannis
Chevalier, young contemporary dancer/choreographer, prizewinner from
the Paris Conservatoire also presented three of his own pieces,
including Les Fleurs du Mal, an expressive and musical solo
which proved to be one of the best modern works around this season.
 Yannis
Chevailier Photo: Yves Boccadoro
The
programme began with several short, very commendable pieces
choreographed by the dancers themselves, including Fado,
Dury's lovely solo taken from a full-length work, and seemingly
choreographed for the beautiful, long-limbed
Cozette, the 1999 gold
medallist at the International Paris Dance Competition. ( the
Opera Administration should take a closer look in the lower ranks of
the company for their choreographers!)
Emilie Cozette, who
possesses the look, elegance, and purity of style personified by the
French school, demonstrated hidden depths in her interpretation of the
grand pas de deux from Don Quixote,
partnered by a handsome and smiling Christophe Duquenne.
 Emilie
Cozette and Christophe Duquenne in Les Fleurs du Mal Photo: Yves
Boccadoro
Duquenne,
a dancer of distinctive artistic ability, inexplicably passed over at
each annual competition for promotion in favour of "technicians",
and who has several times proved his worth as Benvolio in the
Paris Opera's production of Romeo
and Juliet shone this time as Basilio the barber in front of
a smaller but not less enthusiastic audience.
All praise
must certainly be given to Karl Paquette who replaced an injured
Alessio Carbone at only a few hours notice, and who, partnering the
darkly attractive Alexandra Cardinale, threw his all into the virtuoso
choreography of Le Corsaire, a gala favourite which never
fails to please. Cardinale as the young slave girl showed off her
exquisite footwork and impeccable schooling with grace and assurance.
 Emilie
Cozette in Don Quixote Photo: Yves Boccadoro
Asked
why they had all accepted to dance there, Emilie Cozette, who was
brought up in Rouen and attended the Conservatoire of dance there
before gaining a place at the Opera school, told me that they had all
jumped at the occasion of being able to interpret a pas de deux on
stage.
"I've never had the opportunity to dance this pas
de deux from Don Quixote
before, and both Alexandra and I had been looking forward to this gala
for months. When you are in the corps de ballet, occasions to dance
the wonderful classics don't arise very often, so when they do, we
enjoy every second of them."
That certainly summed up
the reaction of a delighted and very happy audience, who left the
'theatre', already planning their outing for the following year!
Karl
Paquette is currently appearing as Demetrius in "Midsummer
Night's Dream", choreography Neumeier Palais Garnier
Patricia Boccadoro writes on dance in
Europe. She contributes to The Guardian, The Observer and Dancing Times
and was dance consultant to the BBC Omnibus documentary on Rudolf
Nureyev. Ms. Boccadoro is the dance editor for Culturekiosque.com.
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