They dance with passion, and it is palpable. With their program “Picasso and Dance” against a backdrop of stage curtains, sets, and costumes made according to Picasso’s original designs, these young Europeans barely in their twenties hailing from Italy, Holland, Spain, Portugal, and France, all members of this troupe of “pre-professionals” created in 1999 by Jean-Albert Cartier and Hélène Traïline, have literally enchanted the audience at the Opéra de Nice. A successful step in their tour that totals about fifty performances in three months.
From the first scene of the program, “Parade,” a piece by Jean Cocteau set to music by Erik Satie, the original choreography by Léonide Massine, revived by Susanna Della Pietra and supervised by Lorca Massine, introduced impressive pantomimic figures blending gestural rigor and fantasy: Stefania Mancini astonishes with her flexibility, rhythm, and dynamism in the role of a cheeky schoolgirl while Matthieu Neumeyer and Ari Soto genuinely amuse the spectators by portraying the burlesque attitudes of a whimsical horse. More classic in style, Vivian Sauerbreu and Olivier Coeffard perform a graceful pas de deux in complete harmony, showcasing the joy of dancing together.
With a markedly more traditional style, “Pulcinella” offers collectively synchronized stage movements to music by Igor Stravinsky inspired by Pergolese, featuring dancers with still remarkably homogeneous physiques. Boys and girls successively take the stage, adding even more power and intent to the overall expressiveness. Harmony Ricci and Matthieu Neumeyer perform a pas de deux with rare sensitivity, all smiles, in a new choreography by Anna Maria Stekelman.
More whimsical, more spirited, and more mobile too, a hallmark of choreographer Thierry Malandain, “Mercure,” a “plastic pose” in three scenes set to music by Erik Satie, portrays the tumult of love with a particularly sensual “dance of tenderness.” This is followed by the far more hilarious “bath of the three Graces” danced by three performers, Daan Visser, Ari Sotto, and Mattia Carchedi, whose generous female accessories allow them, as it were, to underscore what they present.
A change of pace for the finale: six dancers from the Flamenco School of the Royal Conservatory of Madrid freed the audience from the perennial dusty Spanish stereotypes by unveiling an authentic “Suite of Andalusian dances” in a magnificent choreography revived and adapted by Beatriz Martin and Ricardo Franco. In a cabaret setting with hues as sanguine as the Iberian temperament, Carolina Perez Sanchez, Lucia Martinez Sainero, Sandra Ventas Quintana, Adrien Perez Esparragoso, Oscar Manhenzane Gutierrez, and Christian Gonzales Jurado completely transported the audience into a rhythmic universe punctuated by deep melodies and bodies arching under the dramatic load. Oscar Manhenzane Gutierrez states he has been practicing Flamenco “since the age of three”: needless to say, he radiates happiness even in the most challenging and intense moments of his performances. In an entirely introspective dance, marked by restraint and concentration, Sandra Ventas Quintana moves with elegance while throwing back her “bata,” the heavy train of her dress, in a performance that seems to naturally fit into the choreography.
At the conclusion, Eric Vu Han, the new director of the Ballet Corps of the Opéra de Nice, also did not hide his enthusiasm. An additional sign of satisfaction for the Europa Danse troupe, from a renowned dancer now responsible for evolving the Ballet Corps of the Opéra de Nice.
