Mythologies modern classical dance production for 20 dancers. Original music for symphony orchestra by Thomas Bangalter (previous of Daft Punk fame). Choreographed and directed 2020 by Angelin Preljocaj at the Grand-Théâtre de Bordeaux, France. Stars 10 dancers from the Ballet Preljocaj and 10 dancers from the Ballet de l'Opéra de Bordeaux. Romain Dumas conducts the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. Scenography by Adrien Chalgard; costumes by Adeline André; lighting by Èric Soyer; video projections by Nicolas Clauss; assistant director was Youri Aharon Van den Bosch. This was shown extensively on the French TV channel culturbox. It was published in 2023 in an 89 minute YouTube file. Directed for TV by Thomas Pascal. I said this was Grade A+ material even as a YouTube video. Now it’s out in Blu-ray. And it seems that the YouTube video may be gone.
This is one of the very best new ballet productions to be staged in recent years. As I said before, Preljocaj has a refreshing style that mixes modern dance with military precision in larger formations with unusual props and concepts, here including even a magic trick. Above all, he is a genius at displaying feminine sexuality in a slick, tasteful way.
This abstract production has no through-story. It treats 23 ancient and modern myths in separate scenes without a break: (1) Premiers Mouvements, (2) Le Catch, (3) Thalestris, (4) Les Gémeaux I, (5) Les Amazones, (6) L'Arrivée d'Alexandre, (7) Treize Nuits, (8) Danae, (9) Zeus, (10) L'Accouchement, (11) Les Gorgones, (12) Renaissances, (13) Le Minotaure, (14) Eden, (15) Arès, (16) Aphrodite, (17) Les Naïades, (18) Pas de Deux, (18) Circonvolutions, (20) Les Gémeaux II, (21) Icare, (22 )Danse Funèbre, and (23) La Guerre.
Bangalter's score may be the best modern ballet music yet written. When I saw this cold (in June 2023) I kept thinking, “How did they manage to make electronic music sound so outrageously beautiful? Eventually, the camera moves the view back and you suddenly see the symphony orchestra! I expect this music to be an audience favorite when played by symphony orchestras in pop concerts.
All of the above I wrote based an a YouTube recording. And now it’s out in Blu-ray with 4K resolution to boot! While watching the YouTube version, I had a list of the 23 scenes. But I still often had trouble telling exactly what I was seeing. I’ll be getting the Blu-ray disc for sure so I can see exactly what I’m watching at all times. And in the meantime, it seems that maybe some of the YouTube materials I saw before have been discontinued.
Everything about this show is exciting, especially the clever choreography and the giant super-high-def video backgrounds. Thomas Pascal's video pace is faster than I would want, but I think it's good enough to avoid the dread diagnosis of DVDitis. WikipediA has a good article on this ballet with a rundown of dance critic opinions. There are a bunch of horrible YouTube trailers out for this that are from early versions of this production or which are unofficial trash. Below is one trailer that comes, I think, from Thomas Pascal’s recording at Bordeaux—but this doesn’t do justice on my desktop display to how this looks in my home theater:
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