Ballet Preljocaj

Last Wednesday, we went to see the Ballet Preljocaj perform Blanche Neige (Snow White) at the Grand Théâtre in Aix, and it was incredible. Here's a link to a website where you can see a short clip, since all of these pictures are so tiny, and dance needs to be seen anyway. This is the promotion poster.

Ballet Preljocaj (named after creator Angelin Preljocaj) is a contemporary ballet company that Aix takes great pride in, and rightly so. The production is touring and was only here for a few days this week, so I'm really glad we got to see it. Snow White and the Prince
The Queen and one her cats. We present French articles every Friday in Conversation class, and last week I did one about the ballet, so I found out that Preljocaj wanted to do a fairy tale because the narration of a story would present a challenge he hadn't dealt with in his previous works, and Snow White seemed the most "casse-gueule" (literally, "jaw-breaking," but my prof translated it as "dangerous"). He thought no one had ever done Snow White before, but he later found out it had been attempted in the 50's, and he guesses nobody's tried again because of the difficulty of the dwarves ("nains"). The production addressed that issue very well though--the dwarves rapelled onto the stage from nooks cut into the wall (no pictures of that, sorry, but they danced while suspended in the air) and then the chasteness of Snow White's relationship with the dwarves (because in the Grimm brother's time, dwarves were considered nonsexual beings) was communicated through dance. Their size didn't even matter at that point because it was so clear who they were and what they meant to her.

Here's the transformed Queen giving Snow White the apple. All of the props were simple and suggestive, not at all realistic. Same with the set (short platforms slid up and down the back walls to make thrones for Snow White and her father, and the forest was made of strips of fabric in tree form with bright green blob-like "moss-covered rocks"). Everything was perfect. The show opened with Snow White's pregnant mother shrouded in black--even her face was veiled. It was very dark and beautiful and sort of unsettling all at the same time. She danced across the stage while giving birth to the baby (a beige cloth doll) and died just as she reached the far edge of the apron. Despite how weird that may sound, it was actually wasn't at all, and it set the tone for the rest of the show. Preljocaj is also the first choreographer to depict pregnancy/childbirth onstage. He thinks it's a perfect subject for dance since it's such a "metamorphosis."
Perhaps the most memorable scene is the one when the Prince dances with the sleeping/dead Snow White, and she made it look so effortless, just gracefully floating around him as if he was doing all of the work, even though that was of course not the case. Also her eyes were closed.
Here's her wedding dress at the end. All of the costumes were designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier, which explains why they were so awesome. The skirt of the dress just has fringe for each tier, so it was really cool when she danced.

Everyone who went absolutely loved it, and it was cool because there were all sorts of people in the audience. Apparently, Preljocaj really makes an effort to produce work that's accessible to all ages and classes. We may try to catch something else of his while in Aix if possible. I really hope we do.