It couldn\u2019t have been anyone but Frederick Ashton to create the most iconic and loved version of this ballet, that was firstly conceived in 1789 \u2013 from the day of its opening night, on January 28th<\/sup> 1960 at the Royal Opera House in London, his La Fille Mal Gard\u00e9e<\/em> has been considered a great classic.<\/p>\n Earthy and authentic characters bring the story to life<\/strong>. Lise, the title role, the wayward daughter of widow Simone. Colas, the farmer she is in love with and who wants to marry her. Alain, the innocent and clumsy son of the proprietor of a vineyard, whom her mother wants Lise to marry. And while the narrative may have a few caricature elements, its mood is always real and genuine \u2013 her mother, who owns a prosperous farm, might have economic and social aspirations, but Lise\u2019s reciprocated love for Colas will find its way.<\/p>\n Set in what is supposed to be the rural France of the 18th<\/sup> century but what is actually the English countryside Ashton loved, the ballet entered the repertoire of the Paris Opera Ballet in 2007. It is a delight to see two new shows of this British classic performed by the French company, halfway through the run of performances the Paris Opera presents this season. You never get tired of watching Ashton\u2019s masterwork.<\/p>\n On March 25th<\/sup>, the Palais Garnier was crowded to attend a double debut in the leading roles. Nineteen-year-old soloist Hortense Millet-Maurin<\/strong> is Lise and first soloist Antoine Kirscher<\/strong> is Colas. The couple is blissfully ravishing.<\/p>\n Ashton\u2019s choreography is everything but easy: it demands softness as well as exactitude, powerful jumps alongside measure and grace. Hortense Millet-Maurin nonetheless has a crystalline technique and is in total command of the steps \u2013 she luxuriously uses her shoulders and legs without being too coquettish, and the grace of her glances makes it irrevocably clear that she won\u2019t give up her dreams of happiness.<\/p>\n Antoine Kirscher explosively enters the stage as a tornado of romantic enthusiasm. As he jumps, airy and sharp, it is evident the story can only have a happy ending. Kirscher is elegant and has a polished approach to the role, yet he keeps a sort of buoyant quality which impeccably suits a character that\u2019s not a prince, but a peasant \u2013 he is never too rustic, but his simple and ardent manners are wonderfully combined with the choreography.<\/p>\n The Act One ribbon pas de deux is a sight for sore eyes. Millet-Maurin and Kirscher gorgeously play with the pink ribbon, eloquently showing how much in love Lise and Colas are \u2013 there are both a crisp na\u00efvet\u00e9 and a tactile tension in the way they intertwine with the ribbon, play carriage driving and form the cat’s cradle.<\/p>\n As ungainly Alain, Th\u00e9o Ghilbert<\/strong> has a sort of pure simplicity among his qualities, and he dances the character with stunning and unexpected compassion.<\/p>\n The show is a crescendo. Hortense Millet-Maurin and Antoine Kirscher are dynamite in their second Act One pas de deux. Millet-Maurin proves to have also a fine sense of comedy besides an exquisite style, and Kirscher cares about showing Colas\u2019 depth of feelings and a poetic, all-encompassing love.<\/p>\n She would just need to keep smiling also in a couple of technical difficulties. And he seems tense in his turns at times. But it doesn\u2019t matter \u2013 their chemistry is terrific and they both have an expressive presence which helps them dancing Ashton\u2019s challenging choreography with silvery vitality<\/strong>.<\/p>\n If she was livelier and more flirtatious in Act One, Millet-Maurin becomes both thrilled and delicate in the Act Two pantomime, when she dreams about marrying Colas and having three children. And when, after being hiding in harvested grain, Kirscher\u2019s Colas jumps out to Lise\u2019s embarrassment he replies he wants ten children with a sparkling blend of impetuous mockery and seductive suggestiveness.<\/p>\n The romantic Act Two pas de deux is the worthy finale of what ends up being a triumph of flair and brio \u2013 Millet-Maurin and Kirscher can find in La Fille<\/em> both lyricism and bright sparks of humour.<\/p>\n Two nights later soloists Clara Mousseigne<\/strong> and Antonio Conforti<\/strong> are Lise and Colas. It is their second show after debuting one week earlier.<\/p>\n Their partnership work and their way of living the story is slightly different. Conforti especially deals with the role of Colas more loosely \u2013 he is light-hearted, more similar to a happy-go-lucky boy who doesn\u2019t worry too much about the future.<\/p>\n Mousseigne demonstrates to be an extraordinarily polished technical dancer \u2013 she combines strong pointe work and a very subtle use of her upper body.<\/p>\n Their first meeting is both tender and witty. He has a nice musical phrasing and is a solid partner, and she makes immediately clear she is perfectly able to give life to an effervescent heroine enveloping the audience with bravura and smartness. They can politely dance with the ribbons and laugh at Alain or at widow Simone, but in the scene with the butter churn Conforti shows a sensual attraction that is beyond simple flirtation.<\/p>\n Aur\u00e9lien Gay<\/strong> portrays Alain with a rare combination of ingenuousness and comedic timing \u2013 he is irresistibly cheerful; you can\u2019t help empathising with him.<\/p>\n In her second pas de deux variation, Clara Mousseigne shows a strength that darts with shining confidence through the choreography. Antonio Conforti dances with both self-assurance and unaffected good humour.<\/p>\n The comedy tickles as the love story keeps flowing. In Act Two, when Colas eavesdrops Lise imagining her married life and then surprises her, Mousseigne surrenders to Conforti\u2019s voluptuous kisses on her arm and neck with an amused yet vibrant sense of pleasure.<\/p>\n Their finale is a feast. Mousseigne is flawless in the pas de deux and in the joyous coda, swiftly turning and then freezing on pointe holding her arabesque. Even though his jumps were not particularly vigorous in Act One, Conforti now boldly executes his series of turns \u00e0-la-seconde and fouett\u00e9s without hesitation. Her neat precision well marches his jaunty exuberance \u2013 when they leave the scene for the last time, before the curtain falls, they are so rapturously overjoyed you cannot think of a better happy ending<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Both Simon Valastro<\/strong> and Florimond Lorieux<\/strong> have something of an unsettling villain as widow Simone, but their comic rhythm never slows down.<\/p>\n And, when right before the end Alain gets\u00a0back through the window\u00a0looking for his iconic red umbrella and eventually finds it, you can just burst into a laugh and applaud \u2013 so does the audience of the Paris Opera, that warmly salutes both Th\u00e9o Ghilbert and Aur\u00e9lien Gay when they rejoice in leaving widow Simone\u2019s house with the umbrella. Alain evidently cares more about it than about the ring he was supposed to offer Lise<\/strong>. After such a finale, you can\u2019t leave the theatre in a bad mood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Paris Opera Ballet revisits a pure English classic, with witty enthusiasm and bewitching debuts. By Alessandro Bizzotto No ballet can warm up the soul and provide such a stream of outright joy as La Fille Mal Gard\u00e9e. There is no spell, no spiteful revenge, no drama nor any hyperbolic feelings, which is somehow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":58119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58118","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\/58118","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=58118"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58130,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58118\/revisions\/58130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Hortense-Millet-Maurin-and-Antoine-Kirscher-\u00a9-Benoite-Fanton-3-1024x682.jpg\")
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