INTRODUCTION
As the Ballets Russes National Centenary Celebration in Monaco reaches its halfway point, the Ballets de Monte-Carlo will be opening the ball with a varied, stimulating programme reflecting Monaco Dance Forum’s tireless quest for diversity throughout April. It will start off with a major historic milestone, the Sacre du Printemps by Maurice Béjart. The 50 dancers of the Monegasque company will then take us down new paths with the olfactory Spectre by Olivier Dubois as well as a Daphnis et Chloé under my artistic direction with Ernest Pignon-Ernest and Jérôme Kaplan.
In our desire to bring you a flourishing Printemps de la Danse, at the crossroads of a range of artistic paths, we believed that it was only right to pay homage to Merce Cunningham, one of those rare individuals to have revolutionised the art of choreography after Diaghilev. Accordingly, the American choreographer’s company will be presenting a programme in Monaco which single-handedly encapsulates the second aesthetic watershed engineered by the great artisan with his partners in art, John Cage and Robert Rauschenberg. And since Cunningham and Diaghilev reinvented dance in contact with other artistic disciplines, Act II will also provide an occasion to sample a few unexpected delights such as the disconcerting theatre of Deschiens and striking drama of the creators of Logoscope, the phantom instruments of Xavier Le Roy, or the ground breaking Flamenco by Israel Galvan who deconstructs the mechanisms of traditional dance for renewed vigour.
As part of its initiative to gain an insight into the challenges faced by the dance world, Monaco Dance Forum, in conjunction with Peter Lewton and the ADMR, also wished to organise an international colloquium gathering eminent specialists to debate the artistic, medical and scientific issues associated with body in motion.
Finally, as part of their ambition to look to the future, Monaco Dance Forum and the Ballets de Monte-Carlo will be showcasing today’s young dancers and choreographers. For four days, junior companies from South and North America, Asia, Europe will come together in Monaco to take part in the « Tremplin Jeunes Ballets », an audition unique in the world. Directors of international companies in search of new talents will observe the 90 artists taking part with their company, individually and, above all, in performance conditions. This vast audition provides an opportunity for the Monaco Dance Forum and the Ballets de Monte-Carlo to collaborate with the Printemps des Arts enabling composers to work with young choreographers.
I do hope that everyone will enjoy our Spring event which promises so much in terms of whetting our appetite and provides an opportunity to participate in a great dance extravaganza which has allowed so many talents to blossom in the Principality.
Jean-Christophe Maillot
Artistic director