A full-length ballet created for the French company a very few seasons after the success of \u201cThe Seasons’ Canon\u201d, the very first creation Pite made for the Paris Opera, \u201cBody and Soul\u201d makes the dancers\u2019 bodies struggle in pas de deux and group scenes as if they were carried by antithetical and contradictory impulses.<\/p>\n In Act One a female voice speaking French (that electronic amplification makes tough to understand for those who are not good French speakers like me) often describes the movements \u2013 pas de deux after pas de deux, steps are repeated and situations happen again in different ways.<\/p>\n There is not much to provide the audience with a true, sincere shiver of emotion. Principal dancer Ludmila Pagliero and Soloist Lydie Vareilhes beautifully dance their duet, but the first quiver of passion comes with the pas de deux danced by First soloist Marion Barbeau and Soloist Simon Le Borgne, a melancholic and tense duo.<\/p>\n Muriel Zusperreguy dances the final part of the first act with First soloist Alessio Carbone, who\u2019s also giving his farewell performance tonight, and, as it is predictable, she is immensely delicate and impressive.<\/p>\n Act Two makes the audience see the backstage of the Palais Garnier \u2013 production designer Jay Gower Taylor removes scenery and wings and decorates the stage just with several lights.<\/p>\n Many moves here remind of Forsythe\u2019s style and his extreme dynamism. The highlight is the scene during which Zusperreguy moves across the stage while all the other dancers stand still and look at her, take her hand, touch her body, yet she keeps moving as if she is looking for something. It definitely makes me think of her retracing her own career.<\/p>\n Pagliero and First soloist Fran\u00e7ois Alu dance the final pas de deux with buoyant vitality.<\/p>\n The third and final act is shorter and alienating. It is set in what looks like an underground world, all the dancers wear tight dark suits with pincers \u2013 they are insects swarming in an unknown microcosm. But when the act is almost over and you start watching your phone to check what time it is, hoping Act Three won\u2019t last much longer, Teddy Geiger\u2019s song \u201cBody and Soul\u201d fills the auditorium of the Op\u00e9ra Garnier and the insects start\u00a0following its rhythm led by a shaman wearing a kind of long fleece mantle and golden trousers.<\/p>\n Part of the audience looks pleasantly surprised, yet I agree with those who, after a performance of just 70 minutes, find this finale bizarre and slightly absurd.<\/p>\n At the cocktail after the performance, Muriel looks relaxed and smiley, surrounded by many dancers of the company gathered around her. Surprisingly, the first thing she tells me is, \u00abToday seemed like the longest day in my life! Waiting for tonight\u2019s performance\u2026\u00bb. Yet she radiates positivity, cheerful energy and an innate elegance as always.<\/p>\n I prefer not to ask her if she already has any ideas about what to do now. But she gives me a clue. \u00abI\u2019ll be in your city soon: I\u2019ll come to Milan to restage Nureyev\u2019s \u201cSwan Lake\u201d at La Scala with Florence Clerc\u00bb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The new creation by the Canadian choreographer marks Muriel Zusperreguy\u2019s final performance as a First soloist at the Paris Opera Ballet by Alessandro Bizzotto Muriel Zusperreguy has always been one of my favorite ballerinas, not just at the Paris Opera but worldwide. Her keen musicality, her exquisite footwork and her radiant beauty have always been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":41089,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performance"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41092,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41088\/revisions\/41092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Muriel-Zusperreguy-and-Alessio-Carbone-in-Body-and-Soul-\u00a9-Julien-Benhamou-1024x631.jpg\")
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