Garden Party With Twists & Turns
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Contrary to what many would expect, transport strikes aren’t the only events happening in Paris this summer: A new festival has blown into town, called “Les Etes de la Danse,” which will be headlined in its inaugural year by the San Francisco Ballet. The festival is taking place in the gardens of the Hotel Rohan-Soubise, the mostly 18th-century pair of hotels particuliers (one turret dates to 1375) that house the French National Archives.
Explaining the festival’s unique choice of venue, Valery Colin, a former Opera de Paris dancer who organized “Les Etes de la Danse,” recalled that “in the 1970s, we used to dance in the Cour Carre of the Louvre, and I always kept a magical memory of dancing in the open air in such a special place.”
In the courtyard of the Rohan-Soubise, a summer stage has been artfully inserted between two rows of trees, its 2,000-seat capacity ideal for appreciating the performances of the 80 dancers of America’s first professional ballet company.
On July 11, the night I went, there was a three-part performance, incorporating pieces with choreography by the late George Balanchine as well as the artistic director of the San Francisco Ballet, Helgi Tomasson. In a perhaps unwitting compliment to the pastel Paris sky, the smiling dancers of Balanchine’s “Square Dance” all wore sky-blue outfits. After the finale of 12 dances that Balanchine choreographed to as many George and Ira Gershwin numbers, from “Strike up the Band” to “I Got Rhythm,” the audience banged their chairs in appreciation. Perhaps an improved era of Franco-American relations is on its way.
The “classical” portion of the festival has now concluded. The July 15 and 16 programs feature three works that had their world premieres here earlier in the month: “Spring Rounds” by Paul Taylor, “Elemental Brubeck” by Lar Lubovitch, and “Quaternary” by Christopher Wheeldon. From July 20 through 23, the three-act “Don Quixote” will be performed, with choreography by Helgi Tomasson and Yuri Possokhov.
Ticket prices start at just under $30 and can be purchased on the spot the day of the performance. For more information, call 011-33-1-42-68-22-15 (or 0892-707-507 within Paris) or visit www.lesetesdeladanse.com.
