Golden Prague → 2009 → Highlights → Celebrate Jerome Robbins at Opera National de Paris

Monday, June 15, 2009 at 14:30, in the Small Hall at Žofín

In September 2008 the Ballet of the Opera National de Paris presented Jerome Robbins-A Celebration. The program is a tribute to the world famous choreographer on the tenth anniversary of his death.

Jerome Robbins is perhaps best known for his choreography and co-direction of the hugely influential film WEST SIDE STORY and the Broadway hit FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. But Robbins was also an enormously successful choreographer for theatre and ballet during his lifetime, and his works continue to be performed around the world ten years after his death. This program salutes Robbins by presenting the very different sides of his imagination, ranging from the intriguingly dark to the laugh-out-loud funny.

THE CONCERT is rightly regarded as one of the funniest works in ballet and highlights Robbins's reputation as a master of comic dance. Subtitled THE PERILS OF EVERYBODY this comedy of errors, in a series of vignettes set to several of Chopin's piano miniatures, illustrates what happens when people let their thoughts wander at a concert. Chains of corps de ballet dances fall out of time and become hilariously unstuck, a lady with an enormous hat blocks everyone's view, and a mix-up with tickets sees the whole theatre playing musical chairs.

IN THE NIGHT – the wonderfully romantic three-part ballet which traces feelings of love through the stages of tenderness, complicity and passion set to the music of Chopin's nocturnes.
IN G MAJOR - Ravel composed the Concerto in G Major after a trip to the United States. It has been seen as a reflection on Gershwin and American musical comedy. When the Paris Opera Ballet staged IN G, under the name EN SOL, it commissioned scenery and costumes by Erté.

The homage to Jerome Robbins comes to a close with the world premiere of Triade staged by the young French dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied as recorded at the Palais Garnier.

The special screening takes place on Monday, June 15, 2009 at 14:30, in the Small Hall at Žofín.