Replacement in Bluebird

Life in a theatre is always changing.

I thought I had finished all my Bluebird performances, but one day during a rehearsal of Sylvia at the Opéra Garnier, I saw a member of the direction walking straight towards me in the Petipa studio, looking a little panicked. They told me: “You have to go to the Lifar studio in 30 minutes to rehearse Bluebird with Hortense, because you will perform Bluebird tomorrow evening.”

At the very beginning, I started rehearsing with Hortense, but after some casting changes, I finally danced my two Bluebird performances with Elizabeth. Then, for this last surprise replacement show, I went back to dancing with Hortense again.

Changing partners can be a challenge because, even though we are supposed to be dancing the same version of the same choreography, there are always small details that we tend to adapt when dancing a duet: musicality, the way we hold hands, the number of turns… To make our performance seamless, we must talk through and rehearse all these details beforehand. Any hesitation during the performance would make it look “unprepared.”

Having so little time to rehearse together made both of us quite nervous. I was so happy and relieved to have finished my Bluebird performances that I was not mentally prepared to jump back into it again so soon. My focus had already shifted to Sylvia and my other occupations. I had even stopped my usual rituals for top performance — no more anti-stress tea, supplements, massages… I had gone out to celebrate in fancy restaurants and eaten too much!

What really helped was that my partner, Hortense, was even more nervous than I was. By taking on the role of reassuring her, I felt much calmer and more confident myself. And no matter how unprepared we may feel, the magic of the stage always helps us. Just before going on stage, standing in the wings, when we have no choice but to be confident and perform, there’s always a surge of confidence that appears from nowhere and chases all the fear away.

In the end, it turned out to be my best performance out of the three!

Now that all the Sleeping Beauty performances for this series are over, we will be performing it again in June and July. I am fortunate enough to have the trust of the direction to dance Bluebird again in the next series.

For now, I am rehearsing intensely for Sylvia, crossing my fingers that it will go well and be an enjoyable experience. Working with Manuel Legris and his team is such a dream — they are incredibly kind, yet very precise, efficient, and they give excellent advice.

I’m writing this post now over breakfast at my hotel in Blois, in the Loire Valley. We have a three-day weekend before the storm of non-stop dress rehearsals and performances begins again at Garnier!

So I’m allowing myself a two-day break outside Paris, followed by one day of work at the office.

The last time I visited the Loire Valley was with my sister and my cousin, around ten years ago. I loved seeing the many beautiful French castles along the river!

Coming back to this region almost ten years later, I am falling in love with it all over again. I should do this more often — there are still so many parts of France waiting for me to visit.