January 5th, 2016
Bonjour Paris! Since Sunday we have been in the city of love, where classical ballet has its origins. On five evenings we will perform at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées »From black to blue« by Mats Ek. We are very happy to participate in his farewell evening. The theatre is one of the oldest in Paris and today the home of the National de France Orchestra. But now enough information, we are now rushing into the turmoil and soaking up the magic of Paris before the rehearsals continue tomorrow morning. Salu
January 6th, 2016
It's finally time. The premiere of »From black to blue«, with three different pieces by Mats Ek at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, is about to take place. Today’s rehearsal day should give us the finishing touch. Are all the props there? Is the light as it should be? Does every single spotlight work and above all: does every costume fit? After the training, we dancers all prepared for the premiere in very different ways. Some went through their steps again in the ballet hall, others sweated in the hotel's own sauna or quite classically: they slept. 6.30 pm – off to the mask, you want to look good after all. The specially flown make-up artist from our house gives us the finishing touches before it says »Curtain up! She was Black« from Semperoper Ballet« at 8 pm. We are curious what the reactions will be like.
January 7th, 2016
We are thrilled, so much applause after yesterday’s premiere feels incredible. Paris loved our show and the whole program. It was a great first performance. To balance the stress of the last days, we finally had some time to stroll through Paris this morning. What could be better than going shopping in THE fashion metropolis at a pleasant 11°C and some fog? Armed with coffee and croissant we plunged into the Paris fashion world before we continued with the corrections at 3 pm. What can be improved? Where was the assignment too early or too late? All this kept us busy until 6 p.m. when we went into the mask and in a few minutes we will be standing in front of numerous spectators again.
January 8th, 2016
Once again we are honoured to perform here in Paris. Yesterday’s show was again phenomenal. Merci! We had this morning off. Some of us used the time to visit the museums of the city. Others, on the other hand, had a certain goal in mind: the shopping streets of the city. With a lot of new input in their pockets and in their heads, we went back to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. There we went through some passages again to correct ourselves and to tune in to today's performance. After all, we want to be well prepared for every show. Three times we will show »She was Black« here in Paris. Although it's always the same piece, every evening is unique.
January 10th, 2016
Thank you Paris, for this great finale of Mats Ek’s »From black to blue«. We are incredibly proud to have witnessed a part of this impressive choreographic career. But as nice as the time in the French capital was, we are happy and relieved to be back in Dresden tomorrow. Now that the last show is over and the tension is slowly diminishing, we feel how exhausting the days in Paris were. Tuesday is free for all participants before the next rehearsals for »Tristan + Isolde« and »La Bayadère« continue on Wednesday. In the middle of April we will be in St. Peterburg. Be curious what we will experience there!