Etoiles: Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet (2001) Tout près des étoiles: Les danseurs de l'Opéra de Paris (original title)

Director:

Nils Tavernier

Writer:

Nils Tavernier

Release Date:

14 March 2001 (France)

Genre:

Documentary | Music

Plot Keywords:

Dance | Opera House | Place Name In Title | Dancing | Dance Teacher

Cast

Aurélie Dupont	...	Les Étoiles
Laurent Hilaire	...	Les Étoiles
Nicolas Le Riche	...	Les Étoiles
Manuel Legris	...	Les Étoiles
José Martinez	...	Les Étoiles
Elisabeth Platel	...	Les Étoiles
Jean-Guillaume Bart	...	Les Premiers Danseurs
Marie-Agnès Gillot	...	Les Premiers Danseurs
Clairemarie Osta	...	Les Premiers Danseurs
Nathalie Riqué	...	Les Premiers Danseurs
Wilfried Romoli	...	Les Premiers Danseurs
Céline Talon	...	Les Premiers Danseurs
Miteki Kudo	...	Corps de Ballet (Sujet)
Sylvain Durand	...	Les Pianistes de cours
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Claude Bessy	...	La Directrice de l'École de Danse
Maurice Béjart	...	Choreographer
Jirí Kylian	...	Choreographer
Brigitte Lefevre	...	Directrice de la Danse

Directed by
Nils Tavernier

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Nils Tavernier

Produced by
Agathe Berman	....	executive producer
Frédéric Bourboulon	....	producer
Agnès Le Pont	....	producer

Cinematography by
Dominique Le Rigoleur
Nils Tavernier

Film Editing by
Florence Ricard

Production Management
Pierre Carrique	....	production manager
Abraham Goldblat	....	post-production manager

Sound Department
Christian Fontaine	....	sound mixer
Denis Martin	....	sound
Hamid Naghibi	....	sound mixer
Xavier Piroëlle	....	sound (as Xavier Pirroëlle)
Denis Tribalat	....	sound (as Denis Triballat)
Stéphane Venet	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Luc Pallet	....	first assistant camera
Stéphane Patti	....	assistant camera
Eric Philbert	....	assistant camera
Emmanuel Pineau	....	assistant camera
Vincent Tessier	....	still photographer

Editorial Department
Frédéric Casnin	....	color timer
Christine Maffre	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Collegium Instrumental de Brugges	....	orchestra
Sylvain Durand	....	composer: additional music "Celtic Folk" and "Adage"
Sylvain Durand	....	musician: piano for "Les choses de la vie", "Don Quichotte", "Celtic Falk" and "Adage"
Richard Rodgers	....	composer: song "My Funny Valentine"

Other crew
George Balanchine	....	choreographer: ballet "Apollon Musagète"
Dominique Baron	....	production administrator
Gilles Baron	....	choreographer: ballet
Sandrine Brauer	....	clearances
Maurice Béjart	....	choreographer: ballet "La IXème Symphonie"
Florence Dard	....	staff: Little Bear
Pierre Darde	....	choreographer: ballet "Orison"
Jirí Kylian	....	choreographer: ballet "Doux Mensonges"
Pierre Lacotte	....	choreographer: "La Syphide"
Agnès Le Pont	....	staff: Little Bear
Veronique Marty	....	production assistant
Rudolf Nureyev	....	choreographer: ballet "Le Lac des Cygnes" (as Rudolf Noureev)
Timothée Pamart	....	staff: Little Bear

Thanks
Hugues R. Gall	....	thanks: Directeur de l'Opéra National de Paris
Muriel Hallé	....	thanks: Délégués du ballet
Brigitte Lefevre	....	thanks: Directrice de la Danse
Laurent Queval	....	thanks: Délégués du ballet

Production Companies

• Little Bear
• Gaïa Films
• Canal+ (participation)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (participation)
• Opéra National de Paris (supported by)

Distributors

• Pyramide Distribution (2001) (France) (theatrical)
• MK2 Éditions (2004) (France) (DVD)
• First Run Features (2002) (USA) (theatrical)
• First Run Features (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Opéra National de Paris  production supported
• Ballet de l'Opéra National de Paris  ballet company
• Opéra National de Paris  ballet production

Also Known As:

"Tout près des étoiles: Les danseurs de l'Opéra de Paris" - France (original title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

France:U | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud)

Company:

Little Bear

Soundtrack:

Le Lac des Cygnes

Perhaps of greater interest to dancers than the general public.

The general message of this video is that it's extremely difficult and physically demanding to be a dancer. This is an idea that was probably absorbed by the dance public quite a while ago and I, for one, am not anxious to hear it again. And yet, this video drums it into our heads repeatedly while showing the brutality of the "Etoile" (star) survival-of-the-fittest system.

I also fail to see why so much is made of Bejart's work. And especially since the "Ninth Symphony", admittedly not a ballet but more of a "circus" in my opinion, is set to Beethoven's music. For some reason, Beethoven, for all his greatness, seems to be one of the least danceable composers to ever be choreographed. Maybe his actual ballet music like "The Creatures of Prometheus" might be done more successfully.

To me, the Kylian section is more interesting.

I found this video to be quite tedious despite some passing pleasures along the way. No doubt it would be of greater interest to dancers and ballet fans.