Lyon Opera Ballet

One of the world’s leading contemporary dance companies, The Lyon Opera Ballet is renowned for its vast repertory of work by emerging and established choreographers. The company has acquired and commissioned ballets by a wide range of international dance makers including Jirí Kylían, Nils Christe, Nacho Duato, Trisha Brown, Ralph Lemon, and Bill T. Jones, among others. Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times hailed Lyon Opera Ballet as “a company full of surprises,” marked by “impressive individuality [and] versatile dancers.” The company returns to Meany Hall with a mixed program: William Forsythe’s Steptext (a quartet set to J.S. Bach), Sunshine by Emanuel Gat and Sarabande by Benjamin Millipied.  

"One of France's national treasures." — San Francisco Chronicle

NOTES

Steptext Choreography by William ForsytheMusic by J.S. Bach, Partita No. 2 BWV1004 in D minor, Chaconne

A fugue on the mechanics of the theatrical ritual, Steptext attempts to suspend the  fundamental and accessorial mechanics of performance which have determined the structure of theatrical representation. "What we see is a series of musical, decorative and choreographic 'suspensions,' resulting in a charged atmosphere of narration, for one woman and three men." -- William Forsythe 

SunshineChoreography by Emanuel GatCreated in September 2014 for the Lyon Danse Biennial.

Sarabande Choreography by Benjamin Millipied"The happiest surprise was Benjamin Millepied's Sarabande, a rollicking work for four men that reminded me of his Troika, made for American Ballet Theatre, in its good-natured jostling, lifts performed with deceptive ease, and mile-a-minute ballon."  --Dance Magazine

CAST

About Lyon Opera Ballet 

Created in 1969 by Lyon Opera Director Louis Erlo, the present Lyon Opera Ballet was established in 1984 when Mr. Erlo invited Françoise Adret to create a new ballet company committed to contemporary choreographers. When Ms. Adret retired in December 1991, Yorgos Loukos, who had been the company's associate artistic director since 1984, was appointed artistic director.

In 1987, the company made its United States debut with a two-week season at City Center in New York, where it presented Maguy Marin's Cendrillon, a magical transformation of the Cinderella story, which became an instant success. The company returned to New York later that spring to present the ballet for an additional two weeks. As France's most well-traveled ballet troupe, the company has subsequently made twenty cross-country tours of the United States.

Committed to showcasing contemporary choreography, Lyon Opera Ballet has, to date, acquired and commissioned ballets by a wide range of international dance makers including William Forsythe, Jirí Kylían, Nils Christe, Nacho Duato, Mathilde Monnier and Jean-François Duroure, Louis Falco, Mats Ek, Christopher Bruce, Ohad Naharin, and Angelin Preljocaj, among others. The company's repertoire features works by many American choreographers as well, including Trisha Brown, Ralph Lemon, Karole Armitage, Lucinda Childs, Susan Marshall, Stephen Petronio and Bill T. Jones.

In 1995, Lyon Opera Ballet was named Opéra National de Lyon, elevating the Lyon company to the same level as the 328-year-old Opéra National de Paris, the only other national opera house in France. That same year, the company performed as part of the United Nation's 50th Anniversary Celebration in San Francisco. One year later, Lyon Opera Ballet was invited to open the 1996 first Lincoln Center Festival in New York, with Maguy Marin's Coppélia. In 1999, it presented the American premiere of Mats Ek's production of Carmen and traveled to Moscow, where it was the first modern ballet troupe to perform at the historic Bolshoi Theater.