Last weekend’s Gala, first mask-free performance

On 18th October 2020 (Sunday), for the first time since March, we did a gala near Paris without masks. In order to do that, all ten of us did two Covid tests during the week before the show. We performed once again the program Joyaux du Ballet with the company 3e Etage, with a few minor adjustments. The curfew in Paris was effective on the day of our gala, but since it was scheduled to be at 4pm, the show was neither cancelled nor shifted. (Curfew is presently effective from 9pm to 6am in Paris)

It was a special type of stage, I can’t remember if I ever danced on a stage like this… apart from the theatre studio of the Royal Ballet School. The first row of audience is at the same level of the stage. So basically the audience watches the performance from above and we dancers are very close to the first row of spectators, we literally perform right in front of them! As usual, I enjoy trying out different stages in different theatres, this time was no exception.

In this gala, I also performed a new role in a piece called La Valse Infernale, a diabolical and technically challenging piece on Franz Liszt‘s music of the same title (Reminiscences de Robert le Diable – Valse Infernale). Below is a wonderful recording by Earl Wild of it. The piano part is seemingly as challenging as the choreography…. if not more!

The show went very well for me, one very good point is that Espace Carpeaux is just next to Paris! After the performance, I was back home in less than 30 minutes.

Since we started performing again in September, after each gala we naturally wonder if it would be the last one of the year… The spread of Covid-19 is totally out of control in France. The country registered more than 52,000 positive cases in one single day yesterday. All the indicators are getting worse day after day, and the hospitals in France are already full and saturated. Many scientists and doctors are suggesting stricter measures to help the medical workers, who are very much under pressure again… Is a 9pm-6am curfew enough to control the epidemic!? The government is expecting to see an eventual positive impact of the curfew in the next few days, otherwise they mentioned considering another lockdown in France……