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© GTG/Isabelle Meister

Grande Salle

 Archives 
02/12 to 02/17 2008
 

BALLET DU GRAND THÉÂTRE DE GENÈVE

Coppélia (2006)
 

The Ballet du Grand Théâtre at Geneva continues to demonstrate its commitment both to contemporary creation and to its bold interpretations of major works of the repertory. Following its triumph at the Maison de la Danse with the Teshigawara, Foniadakis and Cherkaoui programme, here is its great comeback – a breathtaking Coppélia. Cisco Aznar is a rising choreographer in French-speaking Switzerland, one who has taken on a challenge by accepting to reinterpret this ballet for Geneva.  Inspired by the famous tale by Hoffman, this masterpiece with its score written by Léo Delibes has already undergone a number of outstanding interpretations, starting with that of Roland Petit in 1975 and then Maguy Marin in 1993. Catalonian by origin, Cisco Aznar and his accomplice Luis Lara, who is responsible for the fantastic scenes and costumes, use as their vantage points kitsch cartoons, tragic madness and Almodovar. Their delicate mission to put the puppet Coppélia back on the road is a vast success! They  place the ballet by Arthur Saint-Léon in a breathtakingly modern and original world. The curtain gives a foretaste of the tone: the story finds itself about to unfurl on the televised set of a programme mischievously entitled Le plus beau jour de ma vie (The best day of my life). And the two crazy presenters who appear are a confirmation that the rest of the story will be hair-raising. This is a ballet with workmen in hard hats and cleaning ladies with brooms, Coppélius and Coppélia as if they had just left the hands of  Frankenstein, an entranced gipsy, marsh birds etc. And on-screen – there  are Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs in the garden! Here, action on-stage and virtual screenings are in constant dialogue in this video-choreographic version that is both touching and cruel, just as the tales are.