To speak of that ballet is very difficult because the theme is so popular as a fairy tale, adapted by Perrault from German folklore and then recuperated from the same folklore by the Grimm brothers, and what's more turned into an unforgettable film by Walt Disney. Angelin Preljocaj was thus trying to break a mould in which that character and her story had been cast seemingly for ever. And it is a success. Because first the setting, the stage direction are very interesting and rich. Rich are the costumes. Rich are the main ideas of the setting like the enormous magic mirror coming down from the sky, or like the deep underground mine turned into a vertical surface on which the seven dwarfs are dancing like dragon-flies on their strings.

"Mythologies" brings together ten dancers from the Ballet de l'Opéra national de Bordeaux and ten dancers from Ballet Preljocaj. With them, the choreographer explores contemporary rituals and the founding myths that shape our collective imagination. With music composed by Thomas Bangalter, ex-Daft Punk, and performed by the Orchestre de chambre de Paris under the direction of Romain Dumas, this powerful, evocative work explores what lurks in the recesses of our existence, through our ideals and beliefs, bringing ancient mythologies into dialogue with those of our own time.

A filmed performance of Stravinsky's ballet Les Noces (The Wedding), depicting a bleakly cynical interpretation of the marriage ritual.

A filmed performance of Stravinsky's ballet Les Noces (The Wedding), depicting a bleakly cynical interpretation of the marriage ritual.

To speak of that ballet is very difficult because the theme is so popular as a fairy tale, adapted by Perrault from German folklore and then recuperated from the same folklore by the Grimm brothers, and what's more turned into an unforgettable film by Walt Disney. Angelin Preljocaj was thus trying to break a mould in which that character and her story had been cast seemingly for ever. And it is a success. Because first the setting, the stage direction are very interesting and rich. Rich are the costumes. Rich are the main ideas of the setting like the enormous magic mirror coming down from the sky, or like the deep underground mine turned into a vertical surface on which the seven dwarfs are dancing like dragon-flies on their strings.

Polina is a young dancer from a modest family. After years of ballet academy, she is accepted by the Bolshoi; still, she decides to try and audition of a modern dance company in France. She makes it, but her journey will not end there...

The strange co-existence of acceptance and rebellion, the collision of space and time, tell us that at the very moment the message is given, fertilisation takes place. We are, as it were, inside biology, the very act of conception. This coming to life in gradual stages takes us to the heart of the process of creating art; the message is no longer an abstraction, it is reality. Rather than something finished, isn’t what we call nowadays conceptual art the portent of a new art, the Annunciation of an art yet to be born?

The strange co-existence of acceptance and rebellion, the collision of space and time, tell us that at the very moment the message is given, fertilisation takes place. We are, as it were, inside biology, the very act of conception. This coming to life in gradual stages takes us to the heart of the process of creating art; the message is no longer an abstraction, it is reality. Rather than something finished, isn’t what we call nowadays conceptual art the portent of a new art, the Annunciation of an art yet to be born?

The strange co-existence of acceptance and rebellion, the collision of space and time, tell us that at the very moment the message is given, fertilisation takes place. We are, as it were, inside biology, the very act of conception. This coming to life in gradual stages takes us to the heart of the process of creating art; the message is no longer an abstraction, it is reality. Rather than something finished, isn’t what we call nowadays conceptual art the portent of a new art, the Annunciation of an art yet to be born?