After getting promoted to First soloist, less than a year ago, he didn’t have any party. Yet he still dreams of dancing more classical roles and considers his company a big family. ALESSANDRO BIZZOTTO meets the Parisian dancer to talk about responsibilities, egos and his new life now that internal competitions are over for him.
I meet Marc Moreau at the stage door of the Palais Garnier in a late afternoon, after a matinée performance. It is Sunday, the yellow-jacket protests are smaller, yet still quite fierce – everything seems slow today in Paris. At least I am not late.
After joining the corps of the Paris Opera Ballet in 2004, Moreau was promoted to the rank of Coryphée in 2004 and to Sujet two years later. It was last November that he won his last internal contest and got promoted to Premier danseur, or First soloist, dancing Jeanne de Brienne’s variation from “Raymonda” and the one from Nureyev’s “Manfred”. We take a seat in a corner of the canteen of the theatre. Somewhere a television is playing, the news broadcast speaks of the yellow-jackets again. Moreau is polite and thorough, and he maintains a prudent approach.
How many internal competitions did you take part in as a Sujet, before getting promoted to Premier danseur?
I spent seven or eight years as a Sujet… so I think seven or eight competitions!
Is it frustrating in your eyes to keep taking part in them?
It could be sometimes, but this is how the company works. To my mind, it was particularly frustrating on the occasions of my last competitions, after having had the chance to dance a lot during the last few years, including several leading roles… You know, you are out there and you still have to show that you are able to take on responsibilities by dancing two variations. Before the 2018 competition, I had told myself it would be my last internal competition.
Really?
Yes. I felt it was becoming too tiring and it started being…
