Ballet of the Paris Opra/
Kammerballett, c. Hans van
Company Wayne McGregor
McGregors codes at the
Opra
Tree of Codes dir. and chor Wayne McGregor,
mus. Jamie xx, visual conception Olafur Eliasson
Paris, Opra Garnier
If one wanted an example of modern clas-
sical ballet technique it would suffice to take
a work by British choreographer Wayne
McGregor and in particular Tree of Codes
created in 2015 at the Manchester Interna-
tional Festival and revived a few months later
in New York. BALLET2000 reviewed it on
that occasion; we are taking another look at
it now because the work, created for some
dancers from the Opra and others from the
choreographers own company, was presented
in Paris last February.
This is an emblematic work of McGregor
who is always seeking unprecedented expe-
riences. It was inspired by Jonathan Safran
Foers Tree of Codes from which the chore-
ographer took the title and method of com-
position. How did this young American writer
proceed? Safran Foer took the book of an-
other author, Street of Crocodiles by Bruno
Schulz, allowed some of the letters of the
title to drop out (Tree of Codes is what re-
mains of Street of Crocodiles) and, by leav-
ing some blanks and spaces, composed a dif-
ferent text out of it. This fascinated
McGregor for whom this book of gaps con-
Julien Meyzindi, Jrmie Blingard, Daniela Neugebauer
Company Wayne McGregor Paris Opra Ballet: Tree of Codes,
c. Wayne McGregor (ph. L. Shao)
Zurich Ballet:
Manen (ph. C. Quezada)
jures up endless imagery and the
desire to rewrite it in movements,
images and sounds.
McGregor worked with visual
artist Olafur Eliasson, a wizard of
illusionism (slanting mirrors mul-
tiply the reflection of the danc-
ers and jumble up real and virtual
space), and with DJ Jamie xx
whose extremely poetic music con-
jures up magnificent landscapes.
But what is most amazing about
this revival is the osmosis between
McGregors dancers and those
from the Opra. Rehearsals with
McGregor entail long improvisa-
tion sequences and the dancers had
time to mutually discover and
boost one another. Those from the
Opra contributed a more classi-
cal rigour while those from the
Company Wayne McGregor a
more modern freedom. The interaction gives mination to outdo themselves. In his solo,
rise to virtuosic dancing with grands jets Blingard, whose image is reflected to infin-
and arms opened out as wide as possible, ity thanks to the mirror, gives the impres-
plis and pirouettes executed at flash-light- sion of constituting an entire corps de bal-
ning speed, and great allure. let all by himself.
This gymnastic dancing suits Marie-Agns The living body juxtaposed with the vir-
Gillot very well and she and the more slinky tual is a new experience for the public that
Jrmie Blingard hurl themselves into it with allows itself to partake in the experiment
gusto, surrounded by Sbastien Bertaud, where the boundaries between image, sound
Julien Meyzindi, Daniela Neugebauer and and movement have been broken down.
others, all of whom seem driven by a deter- Sonia Schoonejans
30