Malandain Ballet Biarritz presents Nocturnes, an interpretation of the overwhelming sorrow love can cause. It showcases funeral dances from the end of the Middle Ages on Les Nocturnes, a collection of 21 music pieces Frédéric Chopin created between 1827 and 1846. Broadening the relationship between life and death, the show describes the relationship between the passage of time and death, picturing it as the brotherly reunion of all humans, becoming more than just life or death. Picturing everlasting melancholy, Nocturnes draws its inspiration from Chopin’s dark romanticism and medieval funeral dances.
In his Nocturnes music pieces, Chopin explores the dreaminess of love through the depth of his melancholic nature. Chopin’s description of a feeling suffused with an obscure mist drove Thierry Malandain to compare it with popular funeral dances from the end of the Middle Ages. They symbolized the passage of time and pictured death as the brotherly reunion of people from all walks of life. Nocturnes paints the picture of a dream crushed by the weight of everlasting sorrow.
Alejandro Sánchez Bretones, Alessia Peschiulli, Allegra Vianello, Claire Lonchampt, Clémence Chevillotte, Frederik Deberdt, Giuditta Banchetti, Guillaume Lillo, Hugo Layer, Irma Hoffren, Ismael Turel Yagüe, Jeshua Costa, Julen Rodriguez Flores, Julie Bruneau, Laurine Viel, Loan Frantz, Marta Alonso, Mickaël Conte, Noé Ballot, Patricia Velázquez, Raphaël Canet, Yui Uwaha.
Costumes: Jorge Gallardo
Lighting: Jean-Claude Asquié
Photographer: Olivier Houeix
Costume designer: Véronique Murat
Thanks
Co-production Teatro Victoria Eugenia Donostia / San Sebastián – Ballet T, Reims Opera, National Choreographic Center / Malandain Ballet Biarritz
The Malandain Ballet Biarritz was supported for this tour in Montreal by the Institut français – Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region convention, the Basque Country Agglomeration Community as part of the BERPIZTU cultural support plan as well as by the Etxepare Institute.
