English National Ballet

 

Roland Petit’s Carmen with Le Jeune Homme et La Mort and L’Arlesienne

English National Ballet’s Roland Petit programme is at the London Coliseum in July. Carmen, Petit’s more popular work, exploded into the decorous world of British Ballet at its premiere in 1949 with ballet lovers shocked by the sexually voracious choreography and music lovers by the daring arrangement of Bizet’s electrifying score.

London Coliseum 21 – 24 July 2011.

“What Petit has done over the past six decades is a marvel of dance-making, of sustained imaginative resource and elegance, of adventurousness, always moving onwards, of unforced theatrical magic” Financial Times
Roland Petit is a ballet legend. France’s most famous – even notorious – choreographer revolutionised ballet with his work for Hollywood films and for his provocative, poetic theatricality. Petit epitomises the Left Bank creative expressionism of Paris, from owning and operating the Casino de Paris to marrying France’s most glamorous and seductive dancer, Zizi Jeanmaire. This is a rare opportunity to see Petit’s extraordinary work in London.

Carmen
Carmen exploded into the decorous world of British ballet at its premiere in 1949, with ballet lovers shocked by the sexually voracious choreography and music lovers by the daring rearrangement of Bizet’s electrifying score. Created especially by Petit for Renée (Zizi) Jeanmaire, Carmen is a vivid and emotionally charged story of seduction, intrigue and betrayal which remains Petit’s more popular work.

L'Arlésienne
Inspired by Daudet's short story, L'Arlésienne is about Federi's thwarted love for Vivette, the young girl from Arles, set to music especially composed by Bizet for the story. Roland Petit's drama of primordial power unfolds against the frame of the corps de ballet and a landscape by Van Gogh.

Le Jeune Homme et la Mort
Le Jeune Homme et la Mort was famously performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov in the opening sequence of the movie White Nights (1985) encapsulates the existentialist anguish of post-War Paris. This sensational dance-drama was invented by Jean Cocteau for Roland Petit, and sees a faithless woman tormenting her young lover in his cluttered Parisian garret, driving him to desperation and despair.
 

Roland Petit’s: Carmen with Le Jeune Homme et La Mort and L’Arlesienne
London Coliseum 21 – 24 July 2011

English National Ballet
Thu 21 Jul 11 – Sun 24 Jul 11
6 performances remaining

“Roland Petit’s famous Carmen… fresh, adventurous and chic.” The Sunday Times

 

Fernanda Oliveira as Carmen. Photos by Annabel Moeller

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