France William Forsythe/Johan Inger: Paris Opera Ballet, Palais Garnier, Paris, 4.10.2024. (JO’D)
Rearray
Choreography, Set and Costume design – William Forsythe
Music – David Morrow
Dancers – Roxane Stojanov, Takeru Coste, Loup Marcault-Derouard
Blake Works 1
Choreography, Set and Costume design – William Forsythe
Music – James Blake
Dancers – Léonore Baulac, Roxane Stojanov, Hohyun Kang, Germain Louvet, Florent Melac
Impasse
Choreography and Set design – Johan Inger
Music – Amos Ben-Tal and Ibrahim Maalouf
Costume design – Bregje van Balen
Dancers – Ida Viikinkoski, Andrea Sarri, Marc Moreau, Laurène Lévy, Francesco Mura, Clémence Gross, Marius Rubio, Nikolaus Tudorin, Lucie Devignes, Victoire Anquetil, Antoine Kirscher, Lydie Vareilhes, Manuel Garrido, Lillian Di Piazza, Mathieu Contact
With the Étoiles, Premières danseuses, Premiers danseurs and the Corps de Ballet of the Paris Opera Ballet
Paris Opera Ballet opens its 2024/25 season with two works by William Forsythe and one by Johan Inger. Forsythe’s connection to the company dates back to 1983, but the first piece on the programme, Rearray, was originally choreographed for Sylvie Guillem and Nicolas Le Riche at Sadler’s Wells in 2011. The second, Blake Works 1, was created on the Paris Opera Ballet in 2016.
Johan Inger’s Impasse, from 2020, enters the company’s repertoire this season. Very different in style and content from the Forsythe, it builds successfully to its climax and was much applauded. Even through the applause, though, the effect of Blake Works 1 seemed to hang in the air. Twice, at least, people had sighed at the beauty of it.
To music by David Morrow (recorded, as is the music for all three works), itself like a question, the reworked Rearray interrogates movement through chains of cause and effect, stimulus and response. It bears a resemblance to work the choreographer created with The Forsythe Company between 2005 and 2015. Roxane Stojanov moves with remarkable softness and flow. If the piece begins with this dancer in static profile, it ends with Stojanov and her two male companions (Takeru Coste and Loup Marcault-Derouard) turning on their own axes as the curtain falls.
The beginning of Blake Works 1 makes reference to Balanchine’s Serenade: a phalanx of female dancers in blue, also static. Only, these dancers embark on a shimmy. And in the very back rows are men, who shimmy too. After this light-hearted opening, the tone becomes for the most part more serious. Against a background of James Blake’s wistful, even mournful, voice and music, smaller configurations of dancers appear to strive for a connection that remains unattainable. In their attempts they echo the pas de deux of Swan Lake and Giselle, only to discard these steps and poses as if they no longer serve.
When people sighed was when the female dancers, led by the smiling Léonore Baulac and Hohyun Kang, left the stage after dancing as a group. And at the end, when Hohyun Kang and Florent Melac, standing beside each other after their pas de deux, moved only the fingers of their raised hands.
Impasse is testimony to Johan Inger’s experience with Nederlands Dans Theater 1 and Cullberg Ballet. Dancers run, jump, skip, and roll across the floor. They also call to each other: ‘Viens!’, ‘Quoi?’, ‘Quelque chose’. In contrast to the bare stage and pared back costumes of Blake Works 1 there is a cabin, from the door of which different ‘characters’ emerge: Showgirl, Pregnant Lady, Clown, etc.
Beginning and ending with a ‘Trio’ engagingly given life by Ida Viikinkoski, Andrea Sarri and Marc Moreau, the piece at its height includes fifteen dancers. To the eclectic music of Amos Ben-Tal and Ibrahim Maalouf, they fill the stage with movement that becomes increasingly frenetic. The work has a tendency to repeat its effects, and thereby weaken them. But its climax, which makes use of the space above the stage, strikes a contemporary chord of uncertainty and doubt.
John O’Dwyer
Featured Image: Roxane Stojanov, Loup Marcault-Derouard, and Takeru Coste in Rearray © Ann Ray/OnP