We were lucky enough to witness an elevation to étoile. In contrast, étoiles are appointed by the director of the Opéra national de Paris (the collective name for the ballet and opera) on the recommendation of the dance director. To move up the hierarchy, a dancer has to undergo an annual exam in which he or she performs solos, one assigned and one personal choice. There are 154 dancers split over five categories, which, from bottom to top are quadrille, coryphée, sujet, premiere danseur and étoile. In fact, its cutthroat atmosphere is notorious.
The organization of the Paris Opera Ballet is like none other. He wanted a rehearsal room that had high ceilings for lifts and a floor as wide as the Garnier stage. The Don Quixote rehearsal was in the space that Rudolf Nureyev carved out beneath the Garnier's dome at the very top of the building when he was director of dance (1983-89). The tutus are affixed by clips, one above the other. Most amusing are the specially designed vertical hangers for tutus, which are suspended overhead from the ceiling. Only current repertoire is actually stored at the Garnier. The dyeing room with brightly coloured swatches of fabric everywhere, the millinery room festooned with hats, the wardrobe rooms with their cutting tables and sewing machines, make the Garnier feel like an industrial metropolis. The stage can be lifted in panels so the company can take it with with them when touring theatres have an inadequate bounce factor. In the 19th century, a clever engineer created the Garnier's sprung floor by cutting tennis balls in half for the hardwood to rest on. Modern-day sprung floors are often supported with foam backing. The angle, in fact, seems quite steep.ĭance needs a sprung floor that absorbs shocks while providing a softer landing. What one doesn't see from the house is the 5 per cent rake of the stage. Perhaps the best moment for me was to stand on the Garnier stage looking out at the opulent theatre. (Tourists can visit the Garnier's public spaces for €10 ($14) which raises €7-million a year for company coffers.) Last March, I was among a group of Canadian journalists invited to Paris to meet with the company, where we had a backstage tour of the opera house, which also included a ballet rehearsal of Don Quixote. Little-known architect Charles Garnier was the surprise choice when he won the 1860 competition to build the new Paris opera house, which opened in 1875. The home of the Paris Opera Ballet is the grandiose Palais Garnier, once the largest stage in the world. Louis XIV established the umbrella organization, which includes both the ballet and the opera, in 1669. The Bolshoi and Mariinsky troupes may be more famous, but the Paris company has the august lineage. The company is not only the oldest in the world, it is arguably the finest. When ballet cognoscenti say "Paris Opera Ballet" it is with deep reverence.
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