Fondation pour la danse Thierry Malandain – Académie des beaux-arts
This competition for young ballet choreographers was born of several observations:
• More than ever, the Ballet continues to enchant a wide audience with works from its repertoire and new creations.
• Despite this popularity, there are fewer than 400 dancers employed on permanent contracts in France. This is all the more paradoxical given that this vocabulary, as well as ballet as a theatrical genre, received their 'letters of nobility' in France before spreading throughout Europe and then the whole world.
• Few troops compared with other countries.
• Relatively few young choreographers claim an attachment to academic vocabulary.
• It is often difficult at the moment, for a young classical/neo-classical choreographer to be able to emerge or launch a creative project. Hiring a group of classically trained dancers who can be available for several weeks to create a piece, finding theatres where they can be programmed... are activities that are all too often out of reach.
On the strength of these observations since 2016, the Opéra National de Bordeaux, the CCN Malandain Ballet Biarritz as part of the Pôle de Coopération Chorégraphique du Sud-Ouest, and the CCN/Ballet de l'Opéra national du Rhin have been organising the Young Ballet Choreographers Competition with the support of the Ministry of Culture.
To support the emergence of young ballet choreographers, the partners have decided to set up a competition for :
• Identify new talent and give them an opportunity to create and present their work
• Help to create a "call to action" and stimulate vocations that until now have not dared to try their luck
• Bringing together different ballets (CCN Ballets and Ballets d'Opéra) around a cooperation project with a European dimension
• To create a high-profile event - a showcase - that brings together ballet, young people, creation and emerging talent, and that mobilises the profession around the issues facing ballet.
In addition to supporting the emergence of young choreographers and new talent, one of the challenges identified is the renewal of the Ballet Repertoire and to mobilise the profession around the current challenges facing Ballet:
• Creation and production of new choreographies,
• Touring business model,
• Conditions for the emergence of young classical/neo-classical choreographers,
• Training and careers for dancers, including medical prevention, retraining, etc.
Le Pôle de Coopération Chorégraphique du Grand Sud-Ouest regroupe le Ballet de l’Opéra National de Bordeaux, le Ballet de l’Opéra national du Capitole de Toulouse et le CCN Malandain Ballet Biarritz. Ces 3 Ballets du Sud-Ouest portent aujourd’hui l’esthétique de la danse classique de ses racines jusqu’à ses formes les plus actuelles.
Avec le soutien de la Direction générale à la création artistique du ministry de la Culture, l’objectif du Pôle de coopération chorégraphique est d’engager une réflexion commune sur le Ballet d’aujourd’hui : création et production de nouvelles chorégraphies, modèle économique des tournées, conditions d’émergence de jeunes chorégraphes classiques / néo-classiques, formation et carrière des danseurs…
Ainsi, régulièrement des réunions sont organisées avec les directions des douze Ballets français existant en partenariat avec l’Association des Centres Chorégraphiques Nationaux et la Réunion des Opéras de France.
Fondation pour la danse Thierry Malandain – Académie des beaux-arts