Carmen

Mixed bill by Étienne Béchard, Kiara Flavin and Uwe Scholz
With Les Grands Ballets Orchestra

With CARMEN, a symbol of rebelliousness if ever there was one, choreographer Étienne Béchard returns to Les Grands Ballets headlining an audacious mixed program. His creation choreographed boldly to the Carmen Suite derived by Rodion Shchedrin from Bizet’s opera, will happily break with tradition. In this 3.0 version, our heroine is transported to a virtual universe where everything goes, in stark contrast to an oppressive real-world society. Étienne Béchard blends various dance styles, including contemporary, hip hop, circus and floorwork, as well as futuristic sets and costumes, to immerse us in a stunning social allegory that explores how new technologies and the “society of the spectacle” affect our behaviour. The result is an utterly fresh and avant-garde take on Carmen, a symbol of freedom and rebellion.

To begin this music-inspired evening accompanied by Les Grands Ballets’ Orchestra, Les Grands Ballets’ dancer Kiara Flavin presents The Waves, her first piece for the company. The work is set to Igor Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto in D, and is inspired by Virginia Woolf’s eponymous novel, whose release in October 1931 coincided with the premiere of the concerto. The Waves explores the complexity and unpredictability of the music, encouraged by a text which similarly relinquishes the comforts of harmony and linearity. Dance is the swimmer in the sea of unknown.

This program will also offer the opportunity to discover a pas de deux choreographed by Uwe Scholz on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in E♭ major, K. 271, known as the Jeunehomme concerto. The late German choreographer described Mozart’s composition as wholly melancholic, fuelled not by narcissism, but by a sense of tragedy.

To close off the evening beautifully, Béchard presents his Rite of Spring, a rereading of Stravinsky’s landmark work, transposed to the arena of a post-apocalyptic setting in which two clans go head-to-head. A spirit of protest suffuses this contemporary Rite of Spring, which denounces a society corrupted by lies, indifference and dangerous obsessions.

Thursday, October 20, 2022 at 8:00pm
Friday, October 21, 2022 at 8:00pm
Saturday, October 22, 2022 at 2:00pm
Saturday, October 22, 2022 at 8:00pm
Sunday, October 23, 2022 at 2;00pm

To purchase your tickets visit: www.placedesarts.com