MALANDAIN BALLET BIARRITZ
ORCHESTRA OF THE ROYAL OPERA OF VERSAILLES
ANDRÉS GABETTA conductor, concertmaster
THIERRY MALANDAIN choreographer

Music: ANTONIO VIVALDI, GIOVANNI ANTONIO GUIDO
Scenography and costumes: JORGE GALLARDO
Lights: FRANÇOIS MENOU
Costume production: VÉRONIQUE MURAT, CHARLOTTE MARGNOUX
Costume production assistant: ANAÏS ABEL
Decorations: FRÉDÉRIC VADÉ
Accessory production: ANNIE ONCHALO

Set and prop assistants: NICOLAS ROCHAIS, GORKA ARPAJOU, FÉLIX VERMANDÉ, RAPHAËL JEANNERET, CHRISTOF T’SIOLLE, TXOMIN LABORDE-PEYRE, MARUSCHKA MIRAMON, KARINE PRINS, SANDRINE MESTAS GLEIZES, FANNY SUDRES ET FANTINE HOLE

Ballet masters: RICHARD COUDRAY, GIUSEPPE CHIAVARO, FREDERIK DEBERDT

A project of the Royal Opera House of Versailles

Main co-producer: Château de Versailles Spectacles – Royal Opera of Versailles, Orchestra of the Royal Opera of Versailles

Co-producers: Cannes Dance Festival, Teatro Victoria Eugenia – Ballet T San Sebastián, Opera de Saint-Etienne, Theater Bonn, Teatro la Fenice, CCN Malandain Ballet Biarritz

Partners: Opéra de Reims, Espace Jéliote Oloron Sainte-Marie, Théâtre Olympia Arcachon

Sponsors: Fonds de dotation Malandain pour la Danse Suez, Association Amis du Malandain Ballet Biarritz, Carré des Mécènes du Malandain Ballet Biarritz

Concept:

Starting from an idea by Laurent Brunner, director of the Château de Versailles Spectacles, and Stefan Plewniak, violinist and principal conductor of the Royal Opera of Versailles, this ballet weaves together Antonio Vivaldi’s famous Four Seasons with pages from Le Quattro Stagioni dell’anno (The Four Seasons of the Year), a little-known work by Giovanni Antonio Guido, a contemporary and compatriot of the “red priest”.

As for its realization, starting from arithmetic, under the influence of the number four, closely linked to creation, balance and harmony, we can say first of all that Guido’s Seasons evoke memories related to the “belle danse” (baroque dance), which emerged in the 17th century with the ideal of governing the body and mind in tandem and performing movements with grace, precision and lightness. The number four is also associated with the Earth and the wheel of life, which does not always turn smoothly, if not completely out of place, given the ugliness, stupidity and inhumanity that proliferates. With Vivaldi’s Seasons, we are moved by a more natural, more human form of dance.

Finally, we turn things into a poetic fantasy, and with these two words, you have the basics. Against a backdrop of black petals spread across the horizon, winged beings mourn the loss of spirit and clarity. Why? Because The Seasons is just a ballet and there is nothing more serious than the unbelievable. (Thierry Malandain)

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