Boston Ballet Performs CARMEN Next Month

Boston Ballet and Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen will present Carmen, a double bill program featuring Florence Clerc’s Kingdom of the Shades and Resident Choreographer Jorma Elo’s Carmen. The Carmen program runs April 25–May 5 at the Citizens Opera House.

“Kingdom of the Shades is one of the most celebrated and iconic scenes in classical ballet, with the captivating vision of 24 dancers slowly descending to the stage in unison. Jorma Elo’s dramatic, passionate Carmen was last seen live in Boston in 2009,” said Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen. “This program showcases powerful music and dance.”

Kingdom of the Shades

Widely recognized as one of the grandest examples of 19th century Russian ballet choreography, Kingdom of the Shades is a scene from La Bayadère featuring classical solos, pas de deux, and a large ensemble of corps de ballet. With choreography by Florence Clerc, after Marius Petipa, the 25-minute scene showcases 24 Shades, which are dreamlike spirits. The scene is as mesmerizing to watch as it is difficult to perform.

Kingdom of the Shades is Act III from the full-length ballet La Bayadère. In our ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, Boston Ballet has chosen not to present the full-length production of La Bayadère, because we recognize its problematic storyline and strongly disagree with its appropriation of South Asian culture. Instead, we choose to preserve the best of non-narrative classical choreography without perpetuating culturally insensitive and offensive portrayals by presenting an excerpted section of the ballet. The choreography, sets, and costumes of Kingdom of the Shades present the scene as abstract and do not appropriate cultural scenes or clothing. For more information, please visit bostonballet.org.

Florence Clerc is a former Étoile with Paris Opera Ballet and a world-renowned teacher and coach with Paris Opera Ballet, as well as an accomplished stager and choreographer. She was accepted to Paris Opera Ballet School at age 10 and joined the Paris Opera Ballet in 1967. Clerc rose rapidly through the ranks to become a Coryphée, a Sujet and a Première Danseuse. Clerc’s technical brilliance and theatrical presence made her performances memorable, and she was featured in major roles from an early age. She was named an Étoile in 1977 and enjoyed a spectacular career, dancing in all of Paris Opera Ballet’s major works, including The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, La Sylphide and numerous works by Balanchine, Cranko, Petit, Neumeier, Béjart, Robbins and Petipa. Clerc was a favorite dancer and partner of Rudolf Nureyev, who created roles for her in his Don Quixote, La Bayadère, Raymonda, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. She restaged Yvette Chauviré’s Giselleand Nureyev’s The Sleeping Beauty for La Scala, as well as Nureyev’s La Bayadère with Manuel Legris. Clerc choreographed Boston Ballet’s world premiere production of La Bayadère in 2010, restaged Michel Fokine’s Les Sylphides for Boston Ballet in 2012, and recently reimagined the world premiere of Raymonda with Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen.

Carmen

Cancelled due to the pandemic in 2020, Jorma Elo’s Carmen makes its highly anticipated return to the stage. Carmen brings the tragic tale of a fiery antiheroine to life with dynamic, stylized choreography and visually stunning sets and costumes. Elo’s modern adaptation, which originated in 1845 as a novella by French writer Prosper Mérimée, is set in the high-fashion world of the 21st century. The music of Elo’s Carmen features Rodion Shchedrin’s arrangement of Georges Bizet’s famous opera. Boston Ballet premiered Elo’s Carmen in 2006. While the ballet stays true to the original plot, with Carmen betraying Don José for Escamillo, Elo incorporates themes of contemporary celebrity and wealth. After the world premiere, Elo further developed the ballet, and in 2009, the Company premiered Elo’s Carmen/Illusions.

Jorma Elo has created works for companies including American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, New York City Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Vienna State Opera Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Netherlands Dance Theater, and Finnish National Ballet, among others. Elo trained with the Finnish National Ballet School and the Kirov Ballet School in Leningrad. He danced with Finnish National Ballet and Cullberg Ballet until joining Netherlands Dance Theater in 1990, where he enjoyed a 15-year career. Elo was appointed Resident Choreographer of Boston Ballet in 2005 where he has created many world premieres.

“As a creator and choreographer, I am thrilled to revisit Carmen with its iconic music and heart-wrenching story,” said Elo. “Reworking the choreography is an exciting collaborative effort with the dancers. Audiences will experience a dramatic, deep, and expressive world come to life by Boston Ballet’s artists.”

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