Festival Du Monaco Dance Forum 2018 Announced

In the first highlight of the season, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, accompanied by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, led by Kazuki Yamada, will perform a Hommage à Nijinsky, consisting of four choreographies in December.

The evening will start with Daphnis et Chloé by Jean-Christophe Maillot. Created in 2010 for the Celebration of the Centenary of the Ballets Russes in Monaco, this piece, all in impossible caresses, shows the initiation of two young lovers who are frustrated until its completion. Created also for the Centenary of the Ballets Russes, Le Spectre de la Rose by Marco Goecke, plunges us into the dark and powerful world of the German choreographer who received a Nijinsky for Best New Choreographer in 2006. Ties of friendship have since been established between him and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, who are among the best performers of this, so special, choreographer. Two new creations will then be on offer.

The first will be Le Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune by Jeroen Verbruggen, a former dancer of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, who is now on the other side of the curtain and is enjoying a brilliant international career. The evening will conclude with Petrouchka by Johan Inger. This Swedish artist is also a friend of the company, since this is the third time they will perform one of his ballets. This same programme, bringing together Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, will be shown in Paris in February 2019 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées as part of "TranscenDanses."

Jean-Christophe Maillot has then invited a panel of international companies and choreographers to perform in the Principality, thus pursuing his ambition to make Monaco a place of outreach for dance in all its forms. The audience can discover unusual, intriguing, sometimes disruptive dance forms...

Aakash Odedra will take us to the far reaches of India with Rising, a programme composed of four Kathak dance solos. Considered as one of the finest dancers in this age-old form of dance, Aakash Odedra has delighted three great choreographers who have decided to create for him: Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.

Then comes the moment to discover The Great Tamer, the visual shock of the Greek, Dimitris Papaioannou, unanimously praised by critics. The stage director of the ceremonies of the Athens Olympics in 2004 presents us with ten artists, ten Circassians of the absurd, who perceive human life as a discovery, an exploration of its hidden treasures.

In the wake of these shows which skilfully cross modernity and tradition, please note Oskara by Kukai Dantza and Marco Morau/La Véronal which revisits the powerful springs of Basque culture.

The same originality is found in Grand Finale, the energising piece by Hofesh Shechter which reflects the strong and unmistakable identity of Israeli dance.

Finally, to conclude this first highlight of the season, spectators will be invited to embark on the Ark with Noé, with the Malandain Ballet Biarritz which will give two performances of a poetic piece on the theme of water and human renewal in the Salle des Princes in the Grimaldi Forum.

As always, several other events will enrich the programme: a symposium organised with the école Supérieure d'Arts Plastiques of Monaco, a screening of the film Sur les ailes de la danse, organised in collaboration with the Audio-visual Archives of Monaco, workshops to explore the worlds of guest choreographers, as well as renditions of the work offered by the educational unit of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo.