Béjart Ballet Lausanne: Light

Béjart Ballet Lausanne: Light Choreography: Maurice Béjart (1981) Music: Antonio Vivaldi, The Residents, Tuxedomoon Costumes: Henri Davila, based on models by Nuno Côrte-Real Lights: Dominique Roman With Kateryna Shalkina (Light) Elisabet Ros (The Woman) Lisa Cano (Venezia) Julien Favreau (Poverello) Gabriel Arenas Ruiz (The Marquis) Oscar Chacon (The Red-haired Priest) Marco Merenda (Giraluce) and the dancers of Béjart Ballet Lausanne A great success for Béjart in the 80s, Light has never been re-released since. Gil Roman, artistic director of Béjart Ballet Lausanne, summarily resurrects this somewhat kitsch piece, conceived by the choreographer as a bridge between San Francisco and Venice. An opportunity for the company’s soloists to showcase their talent in splendid solos and duets with very pure lines. To evoke Venice, its palaces, its Grand Canal and its red-haired priest, Béjart chose the music of Antonio Vivaldi, in particular his religious music, in a recorded interpretation which today sounds horribly dated. Today we no longer play Vivaldi like Rondo Veneziano! San Francisco is embodied by the figure of a pioneer, Elisabet Ros, who gives birth to a child of light, Light. The argument – an apparition of Saint Francis of Assisi to this American pioneer – is as convoluted as the successive appearances of a marquis, characters from the comedia dell’arte, the red-haired priest Vivaldi or Saint Francis himself. even. The painted canvases of Nuno Côrte-Real, pale copies of the paintings of Canaletto or Guardi, add a cardboard dimension to this carnivalesque vision of the Serenissima. But, leaving aside this dreamlike and somewhat ridiculous vision of the City of the Doges, which has aged rather poorly, Light offers magnificent moments of dance. The corps de ballet, particularly male, illuminates the collective parts with all kinds of colors. As for the soloists, if Elisabet Ros dances the role of a somewhat mannered mother, the blonde and slender Kateryna Shalkina (Light) is of exceptional finesse! From her appearance, which marks the start of the second part of the ballet, she literally lights up the show. As for the male dancers, Julien Favreau is wonderfully ascetic as François, the Poverello of Assisi, Gabriel Arenas Ruiz impressive as the marquis. All bear the mark of quality of this company of very great dancers, serving a Béjartian repertoire of unequal value, but always of great interest.