Born of the turbulent history that led to Perm, on the edge of the Urals, becoming the town which harboured the famous Kirov during the Second World War, the Ballet of the Tchaikovsky National Opera has been able to build on this heritage to become one of the most important repositories of the spirit of the great Russian Ballets.
To have these fifty-five dancers come to France as part of the Franco-Russian Year is a significant first. We have chosen to present the masterpiece of the classical repertoire in its purest form, a symbol of harmony and perfection, “Swan Lake”. The rigour, demands and precision that its performance requires always attract admiring audiences.
The male dancers of the Perm Ballet, breaking with all subtleties of the dance and with the intensity of the book, excel in this masterly Lake, which bears the signature of the unforgettable star Natalia Makarova. An exceptional opportunity to discover the sensitivity of this interpretation and the technical distinctiveness of the classical Russian school at its very best.

Source: Maison de la Danse programme

Natalia Makarova is a dancer and Russian ballet mistress born in 1940. After training at the Leningrad Choreographic Institute, she joined the Kirov (the informal name for the Mariinsky Theatre and its ballet), where she performed from 1959 to 1970. After this, she joined the Royal Ballet in London and began her international career. When political circumstances allowed, she performed with the Kirov again in 1988 and 1989. As ballet master, she has staged “Paquita”, “Bayadère and “Swan Lake”. After her remarkable interpretations of pieces like “Giselle”, she diversified her roles by dancing the great modern works. Jerome Robbins created “Other Dances” for her in 1976 and Maurice Béjart “Méphisto Valse” in 1979. 

Source: Dictionnaire de la Danse, Philippe Le Moal, Larousse, 1999

More information: larousse.fr

Author, filmmaker and video artist Charles Picq (1952-2012) entered working life in the 70s through theatre and photography. A- fter resuming his studies (Maîtrise de Linguistique - Lyon ii, Maîtrise des sciences et Techniques de la Communication - grenoble iii), he then focused on video, first in the field of fine arts at the espace Lyonnais d'art Contemporain (ELAC) and with the group « Frigo », and then in dance.
   On creation of the Maison de la Danse in Lyon in 1980, he was asked to undertake a video documentation project that he has continued ever since. During the ‘80s, a decade marked in France by the explosion of contemporary dance and the development of video, he met numerous artists such as andy Degroat, Dominique Bagouet, Carolyn Carlson, régine Chopinot, susanne Linke, Joëlle Bouvier and regis Obadia, Michel Kelemenis. He worked in the creative field with installations and on-stage video, as well as in television with recorded shows, entertainment and documentaries.

His work with Dominique Bagouet (80-90) was a unique encounter. He documents his creativity, assisting with Le Crawl de Lucien and co-directing with his films Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux and 10 anges. in the 90s he became director of video development for the Maison de la Danse and worked, with the support of guy Darmet and his team, in the growing space of theatre video through several initiatives:
       - He founded a video library of dance films with free public access. This was a first for France. Continuing the video documentation of theatre performances, he organised their management and storage.
       - He promoted the creation of a video-bar and projection room, both dedicated to welcoming school pupils.
       - He started «présentations de saisons» in pictures.
       - He oversaw the DVD publication of Le tour du monde en 80 danses, a pocket video library produced by the Maison de la Danse for the educational sector.

       - He launched the series “scènes d'écran” for television and online. He undertook the video library's digital conversion and created Numeridanse.

His main documentaries are: enchaînement, Planète Bagouet, Montpellier le saut de l'ange, Carolyn Carlson, a woman of many faces, grand ecart, Mama africa, C'est pas facile, Lyon, le pas de deux d'une ville, Le Défilé, Un rêve de cirque.

He has also produced theatre films: Song, Vu d'ici (Carolyn Carlson), Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux, 10 anges, Necesito and So schnell, (Dominique Bagouet), Im bade wannen, Flut and Wandelung (Susanne Linke), Le Cabaret Latin (Karine Saporta), La danse du temps (Régine Chopinot), Nuit Blanche (Abou Lagraa), Le Témoin (Claude Brumachon), Corps est graphique (Käfig), Seule et WMD (Françoise et Dominique Dupuy), La Veillée des abysses (James Thiérrée), Agwa (Mourad Merzouki), Fuenteovejuna (Antonio Gades), Blue Lady revistied (Carolyn Carlson).

Source: Maison de la Danse de Lyon

The ballet of the Perm Tchaikovsky National Opera is one of the most prized artistic companies in Russia and is recognized worldwide. Perm was the host city of the famous Kirov Ballet, when it was evacuated from Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). During World War II, Kirvo dancers such as Ulanova, Dudinskaya, Sergeyev, Vecheclova, by their excellence, deeply influenced the emergence of the Perm Ballet, which is in third position nationwide after the Bolshoi and the Marinski, who shares the quality criteria and the style of the Kirov high school. Perm is also the city of Serge Diaghilev, impresario of great notoriety, emblematic character who reformed the choreographic art of the XXth century.

Source: French press