“Paysages intérieurs”, theme and variations at the Opéra

“Paysages intérieurs” is the title of the Paris Opera Ballet’s new production. An invisible realm that each of us carries within us, a tapestry of memories, emotions and images, the inner landscape is a state of mind and body: ‘Vers un pays sage’ by Jean-Christophe Maillot, ‘Rearray’ by William Forsythe and ‘Busk’ by Aszure Barton.

The most compelling of the three works is Forsythe’s. David Morrow’s score, built around serial micro-variations, provides the choreographer with the inspiration to compose a ‘theme and variations’.

He breaks down and recombines the elements, wonderfully transforming their structures and dynamics, which are made all the more striking by the minimalist staging and the costumes, also designed by Forsythe. The three performers – Inès McIntosh, Axel Ibot and Hugo Vigliotti – shine. Maillot pays homage to his painter father with an impetuous dance set to the driving rhythms of John Adams; the costumes and colours contribute to the pictorial effect, but this exuberance does not always translate into expressive necessity. Barton, on the other hand, opts for black and white and a theatricality of gestures, figures and encounters; the eclectic soundtrack emphasises the episodic nature of the piece: poignant moments coexist with a touch of self-indulgence.

Meanwhile, there is a different kind of tension at the Théâtre de la Ville in the new work by one of the leading choreographers, Angelin Preljocaj. In *Soulèvement*, twelve dancers give shape to protest, solidarity and desire. “This primal energy, this movement of bodies that rise up like a barrier and move like a flock of starlings scattering only to regroup further afield, this wild beauty fuelled by the energy of despair and which dreams of kindling the spark of renewal – I would like to let these flow through the bodies like joy.”