Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Ballet De L'Opéra


Last night, I was delighted to go to the Opéra Bastille to see the institution's ballet company performing Jiri Kylian's extraordinary Kaguyahime, inspired by an ancient Japanese legend. My favorite ballerina, Marie-Agnès Gillot, was regal as ever (but pictured above is the equally exquisite, emotional Agnès Letestu). An ensemble of traditional Japanese musicians played live, as Eastern tradition merged with Western modernism in its most graceful and poignant expression. It was a triumph.

Speaking of art and sublime women, did you know that the Louvre's Venus de Milo has a blog?

11 comments:

Giulia said...

How fabulous, M-L. You know how I love the ballet. But I do not know this one, nor the ancient legend. I shall sally forth to read it.

(Sorry about the game today. Oof.)

xo

Mary-Laure said...

GIULIA - I hope one day we can go to the ballet together...
Yes, too bad about the game. I felt sad for Uruguay. But I love the Netherlands, so it's not TOO bad!

Sammi said...

Looks like you had an awesome time x

Satsuki said...

Lucky you ! I love Jiri Kylian and Marie-Agnès Gillot is also my favorite ballerina (with Eleonora Abbagnato) ! And in Bastille, you can see the stage from every seat, which is not the case at Garnier !

donna baker said...

Mary-Laure, I would have loved to see that ballet. I have a song by Ryuichi Sakamoto on my blog.

donna baker said...

Mary-Laure, I would have loved to see that ballet. I have a song by Ryuichi Sakamoto on my blog.

patti said...

How lucky you are!

Mary-Laure said...

SATSUKI - oh, I just ADORE Eleonora Abbagnato too! She's so delicate, so expressive. Is she an etoile now or still a premiere danseuse?
And it's true that at Bastille you can see very well from every single seat in the house, which is great.
This weekend I'm also going to see the Novossiribirsk ballet at the Chatelet...

DONNA - oh, I'll check out the song, as I love all things Japanese.

Laura in Paris said...

I saw an interview of Mademoiselle Guillot .. she's indeed exquisite!

Mary-Laure said...

LAURA - it's Gillot, not Guillot. When and where did you see the interview??? Tell me more!

Sam said...

That sounds like heaven! Off to check out Venus' blog!! :0)