VIDEO: LES BALLETS DE MONTE-CARLO Comes To Segerstrom Center for the Arts

Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo is a classical ballet company established in 1985 by the Princess of Hanover in accordance with the wishes of her mother, Princess Grace, who wished to perpetuate the long tradition of dance in Monaco and its famous Ballets Russes. It is the official national company of the Principality of Monaco.  The appointment of Jean-Christophe Maillot in 1993 brought the company renewal and international renown thanks to his choreographies, acclaimed the world over.

For their triumphant return to Southern California, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo will be performing Coppél-i.A., Jean-Christophe Maillot’s new creation, marking his return to life-size storytelling. The Company’s Choreographer-Director revisits this famous Romantic piece, with an original musical score, exploring the ways in which the development of artificial intelligence is shaping our society today and examining what it means to search for the ideal partner in a technologically advanced society.

Coppél-i.A. projects the audience into a near future in which two young lovers, Frantz and Swanhilda, have their lives upended by an artificial being - shaking their foundations and challenging what they thought they knew of love. Is the ideal partner the flesh-and-blood creature we have always known or the abstract being which questions our position in the human species?