Opera Ballet Vlaanderen opened their program Rites with a stunning version of Ravel’s Bolero choreographed by Shahar Binyamini!
Originally created for Ballet BC in Vancouver, Canada: his work was brilliantly interpreted by an amalgam of the Vlaanderen dancers with dancers of the Koninklijke Balletschool Antwerpen, and Junior Ballet Antwerp, making an ensemble of fifty artists shining with an impressive coordination in a highly technical movescape of Binyamini’s Bolero X concept.
Bolero X was superbly accompanied by the Flanders Opera Ballet Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of conductor Karel Deseure.
The only mellow note in Bolero X was the lighting and costume design by Binyamini, which did nothing to enhance his oeuvre: although he is a brilliant choreographer he has fallen into the current malaise in the contemporary dance world of ignoring the golden rule that “Dance is made to be seen!”
Putting dancers in black tights on a black dance floor, surrounded by black curtains with Darth Vadar lighting effects, while leaving the dancer’s torsos quasi-nude: made for an almost non-human Minotaur group engaged in a pulsating, undulating, rutting ritual. If this was Binyamini’s intention in his interpterion of Ravel’s work then it is a complete success!
Dancers in Bolero X:
Charles Antoni, LouizaAvraam, Janne Boere, Yannis Brissot, Pauline Callebaut, Morgana Cappellari, Brent Daneels, Yaiza Davilla Gomez, Ana"fs De Caster, Gloria De Meester Marine Garcia, Matthew Johnson, Ausia Jones, Aleix Labara i Cerver, David Ledger, Philipe Lens, Valeria Marangelli, Lisa Mariani, Ester Perez, Taichi Sakai, Willem-Jan Sas, Niharika Senapati, Gaetano Signorelli, Saul Vega Mendoza, Rune Verbilt, Madison Vomastek, LateefWilliams
Koninklijke Balletschool Antwerpen: Isabella Chang Brahim, Bo De Paepe, Merel De Weze, Maeli Duch8teau, Marika Fukuda, Taisei lshiguro, Mariko Kakefuda, Mei Katsuki, Louise McGavin, Ururu Nakanishi, Ofelia Roch, Simona Vermeyen
Junior Ballet Antwerp: Valentine Chaumet, Ludovico Gallo, Arisa Hirono, Halle McGregor, Liz€! Mentz, Silvio Nikolov, Benedetta Sicilia, Mila Thys, Ines Valet, Phoebe Watson
The last work on the program was the immortal Le Sacre du printemps of Pina Bausch to the music of Stravinsky accompanied by the Flanders Opera Ballet Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of conductor Karel Deseure.
A true pleasure for the connoisseurs and public who know and appreciate the work of two of the monuments of twentieth century dance and music.
The interpretation and staging of the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen was pure and true to the intentions of the original creators of the chef d’oeuvres.
A must see for all: especial bravas and bravos to the marvelous dancers and superb musicians!
Dancers Le Sacre du printemps :
Charles Antoni, Louiza Avraam, Janne Beere, Yannis Brissot, Pauline Callebaut. Morgana Cappellari, Brent Daneels, Yaiza Davilla Gomez, Ana"fs De Caster, Gloria De Meester, Marine Garcia, Towa lwase, Matthew Johnson, Ausia Jones, Aleix Labara i Cerver, Pier Paolo Lara (gastdanser), David Ledger, Philipe Lens, Valeria Marangelli, Lisa Mariani, Cassandra Martin, Allison Mcguire, Ester Perez, Taichi Sakai, Willem-Jan Sas, Niharika Senapati, Gaetano Signorelli, Saul Vega Mendoza, Rune Verbilt. Madison Vomastek, and Lateef Williams.
A very special brava to Towa Iwase for her superb interpretation of the chosen sacrificial maiden!
PKO
Date line: Wednesday, January the 21st, 2026
Shahar Binyamini's hypnotiserende Bolero X - Video
La valse comme rituel - Video
Pina Bauschs iconische Le Sacre du printemps - Video
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Crowd #2 rewritten with OBV
Gisèle Vienne
An ode to counterculture
OPERA GHENT | Wed, June 4 8 pm
OPERA ANTWERP| Sat, June 21 8 pm
Crowd Gisèle Vienne Photo Koen Broos
Giséle Vienne presented, her long awaited creation, CROWD #2 at the Opera Gent on Wednesday the 4th of June 2025, before an expectant crowd of dance aficionados.
First the dancers of the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen: Anaïs De Caster, Ausia Jones, Cassandra Martin, Towa lwase, Aleix Labara i Cerver, Austin Meiteen, David Ledger, Janne Boere, LateefWilliams, Lisa Mariani, Madison Vomastek, Marine Garcia, Matthew Johnson, Morgana Cappellari, Niharika Senapati, Rune Verbilt, Taichi Sakai, Willem-Jan Sas, Yaiza Davilla Gomez, and Yannis Brissot were magnificent! Their marvelous collective technical control, linked to impressive improvision skills and expressive capabilities, gave Vienne’s oeuvre some substance of value.
The soundscape consisted of excerpts from: underground Resistance, KTL, Vapour Space, DJRolando, Drexciya, The Martian, Choice, Jeff Mills, Peter Rehberg, Manuel Gottsching, Sun Electric, and Global Communication, were consistently loud and non-essential to the understanding of the concept.
Vienne, with sophomoric diligence, has tried to give a visual movescape summation of the crowd and mob theories of Sigmund Freud and Elias Canetti. Unfortunately, despite long months of analysis, with the dancers and members of the production team, the objective of creating a chef-d'oeuvre, defining mob and crowd ultimately through dance as a theatrical realization, falls drastically short of viability.
The reasons for the shortcomings of the theatrical presentation are multiple:
First, a theatre piece should be self-evident without the need of copious program notes explaining the objectives of the set piece.
Second, Vienne, as dramaturge, has chosen to follow the theories of Freud rather than Canetti; Freud favors individual behaviors being dictated by the sub conscious where as Canetti splits behavioral comportment as being vastly different in crowd and mob configurations. According to Freudian theories “Crowd” reacting to internal stimuli, while Canetti postulates “Mob” actions respond to external political or social pressures.
Third, Vienne refers to the Berlin 90s substrata rave scene without citing its strong political reasons for the extravagant crowd behaviors bordering on mob actions.
Fourthly, the use of film and photography technics, such as freeze-frame and slow motion (much favored in the contemporary dance world) do not lend themselves to clear delineation of fluid chorographic intentions.
Fifthly, Vienne does not clearly develop her movement language of the “jerk response” as a leitmotif for behaviors.
Finaly, without further extrapolations; the main reason for the unsatisfactory theatrical result is the failure to engage the audience in the crowd world without a clear plot, lacking a redemption for the constant violence beyond a kiss as catharsis is insufficient for the resolution of the crowd paradigm.
PKO
LIEU - l’Opéra de Gent
Review by: Patrick Kevin O'Hara
Date line: Wednesday, June the 4th, 2025
Gisèle Vienne — Crowd - Video
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« FIELD / Minus 16 » par l’Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (Opera Ballet de Flandre)
Kirsten Wicklund / Ohad Naharin
Représentation à l’Opéra de Gent du 19 décembre 2024
© Filip Van Roe
L’Opéra Ballet Vlaanderen a présenté le jeudi 19 décembre 2024 à l’Opéra de Gant un programme éclectique permettant de découvrir l’envergures artistiques de la compagnie.
Une mise en scène fine, permet au spectateur d’entrer dans l’univers de chaque ballet de manière subtile.
Avec « Field » Kirsten Wicklund propose une pièce où les danseurs évoluent dans un décor et des costumes opalescents. Les musiciens de l’orchestre symphonique de l’OPV sont un accompagnement vivant et vibrant pour cette œuvre.
Tout se déroule dans une grande fluidité. Pourtant au travers de cette douceur apparente on entrevoit une certaine violence. A un moment, un danseur semble phagocyté par un groupe, a un autre on assiste à un magnifique solo où l’interprète va jusqu’à l’épuisement total … Les danseurs sans ostentation, déploient une palette artistique et technique exceptionnelle.
L’ensemble du ballet laisse entrevoir un monde mystérieux où les êtres sont plongés dans des situations dont le sens leur échappe…comme dans la vie.
© Filip Van Roe
En seconde partie, l’Opéra Ballet Vlaanderen, interprète « Minus 16 ».
Ce ballet chorégraphié par Ohad Naharin en 1999 est une pièce qui se déploie sur des musiques à la fois exigeantes et populaires.
Des effets répétitifs et géométriques, une invitation à s’exprimer pour le public, des interprètes généreux, et décomplexés … ont un effet jubilatoire sur l’audience.
Cette pièce tout à la fois, festive, ludique, participative, intergénérationnelle, fait aimer la danse et donne envie de danser.
Bénédicte O’Hara
LIEU - l’Opéra de Gent
Review by: Bénédicte O'Hara
Date line: 19 décembre 2024
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