Le Songe by Monaco Monte-Carlo Ballet

Le Songe by Monaco Monte-Carlo Ballet

Time:October 20th-22th

Venue:SAIC·Shanghai Culture Square

LE SONGE, a dream-like comedy surfing on the wings of the maddest desires, is created based on the play by William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Its Choreography and direction come from Jean-Christophe Maillot.,and music pieces by Felix Mendelssohn, Daniel Teruggi and Bertrand Maillot. Its Premiere of was at Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on December 27, 2005. Jean-Christophe Maillot activates here the three driving forces of his imaginary: theatre, music and dance for an orchestra, in an enchanting disorder.

Tender, mischievous, ingenuous, dazzling, earthy or serious, three generations of dancers represent a human microcosm that gets entangled with humour and grace in the net of its impulses.

In 1909, Serge de Diaghilev presents his Russian Ballet in Paris for the first time. They set up in Monte-Carlo which becomes their creative workshop for the next two decades. Since the Principality, Diaghilev has reformed ballet in his time in all its forms. Upon his death in 1929, the company was dissolved. In 1985, the Monte-Carlo Ballet Company was born thanks to the want of H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover, who wanted to enroll in this dance tradition in Monaco. In 1993, H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover nominates Jean-Christophe Maillot as the head of the Monte-Carlo Ballets.

Born in 1960, Jean-Christophe Maillot studied dance and piano at the Conservatoire National de Région de Tours and then entered into the International School of Dance in Cannes, joining Rosella Hightower until winning the Prix de Lausanne at the age of 17. In 1983, he was appointed choreographer and director of the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Tours, which later became a National Centre of Choreography. He created around twenty ballets for this company and in 1985, founded the Dance Festival, "Le Chorégraphique". In 1987, he created Le Mandarin Merveilleux for the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, which was a great success. His arrival at the Ballets de Monte-Carlo set the company on a new path that quickly developed the level of maturity and excellence for which this company of 50 dancers has been renowned for 20 years. He has created almost 40 ballets for the company, some of which, such as Romeo and Juliet (1996), Cinderella (1999) La Belle (2001) and Casse-Noisette Compagnie (2013) have forged the reputation of the Ballets de Monte-Carlo across the world.