Benjamin Troy Walton

4/5/17

Dance 110

The Ballet L’Envol d’Icare

Melanie Schreiber
Why ballet? Why do we dance? We dance because we are able to find beauty in movement.

We do we watch others dance? Because we enjoy the expression of art through the use of our

bodies. The title of the ballet that was watched was called “The Ballet L’Envol d’Icare” or “The

Flight of Icarus”. This ballet was performed at the Opéra national de Paris (Paris National Opera

House). The choreographer of this beautiful ballet is named Thieryy Malandain. Thierry

Malandain said this to describe his ballet, “…Their dancing which weaves various movements

together is a reminder of the crane dance, reflecting the labyrinth’s twists and turns.” The story

of Icarus basically revolves around this kid who made these wings and his father told him not to

fly to high or the glue that held his wings together would melt due to the heat of the sun, so

Icarus and his father left the labrynth and flew away, but Icarus got carried away and flew too

high and his wings eventually melted. Icarus fell from the sky into the see below and he

drowned because his father could not save him. Thierry Malandain did a great job of telling this

story through a dance that consisted of 14 dancers. The movements he made were all very

purposeful and sought to convey the actions of the characters as well as their feelings. There

was one particular moment in the piece that I thought was beautiful. Icarus was dancing with a

woman and she eventually came up behind him and held him as if to comfort him. When

Benjamin Pech is dancing, the way he leaps and turns makes it seem like he truly is about to

take flight. The musical composer was Alfred Schnittke. His compositions made the audience

have a sense of discovery. It sounds cautious and sentimental. To show the audience how the

characters feel without giving them any dialogue. The music also feels very dark sometimes to

foreshadow Icarus’s death and during his death. The Set and costumes were the work of Alain

Lagarde and they were very interesting. The set had many ledges that the dancers could climb
on or jump off to symbolize Icarus wanting to jump off and take flight. Overall, the dancers

worked very well together and they did a wonderful job of telling the story through the use of

dance, music, set, and lighting.