Jean-Guillaume Bart’s ‘La Source’—A New Image of Classical

SIFF’s first screening of a ballet on film this season was the Paris Opera Ballet’s new production of La Source, a 19^th century ballet once lost to time and now reinvented by choreographer and former principal dancer of the Paris Opera, Jean-Guillaume Bart. La Source is Bart’s first major choreographic work, and longtime artistic director Brigitte Lefèvre took considerable risk in granting Bart the opportunity to realize his dream of recreating the ballet. Her conviction was clear—directors cannot afford to invest the amount of time and resources necessary to create a full-length ballet in someone they do not believe in (especially with ornate costumes designed by couturier Christian Lacroix, rich in moody colors and glittering with Swarovski crystals). If only there was a larger audience in Seattle to have seen and known of it.

Paris Opera Ballet in La Source Photo by Opéra national de Paris/A. Deniau

Though Bart worked with a dramaturge to flesh out the story, it has obvious problems that render La Source conducive to being an audience “unfriendly” ballet. It is virtually impossible to relate to the main characters whose actions are largely inexplicable, and even the supposedly tragic end of Naïla sacrificing herself to save Nouredda has no gravity. The magic flower is a perfunctory symbol with little purpose or discernible limits in power, and the addition of characters like Dadjé, a favorite in the Khan’s harem, and the mischievous elf Zaël, while providing significant dancing roles, do little to drive the plot. The mixed score, with its inconsistencies between Minkus and Delibes, also exacerbate the progression of the story, and because Bart also chose to eliminate mime scenes, there are few indicators of what is actually going on, and the audience is left with no reprieve from the dancing. As it is, Bart’s La Source is almost entirely danced through from beginning to end, and without a highly developed story, it almost comes across like a symphonic ballet, except over 2 hours long, with mind-numbing results. Classical ballets also have a tendency to include iconic moments that construct some semblance of a story arc, things that first time ballet goers remember for a lifetime and seasoned balletomanes wait in anticipation for—the mad scene in Giselle, the Rose Adagio of The Sleeping Beauty, the Kingdom of the Shades in La Bayadère, the White and Black Swan pas de deux of Swan Lake—La Source offers none, further flatlining its already insipid libretto, and causing the ballet to move at a painfully slow pace.

Matthias Heymann in La Source Photo by Opéra national de Paris/A. Deniau

However, a few things are certain—the Paris Opera Ballet is a wonder to behold, and Bart is a remarkably gifted choreographer. His sensitivity to the music is innate, and manifested in creative, highly complex sequences of steps that are a feast for the eyes. The influences of the masters are all there, with certain steps and poses paying their subtle respects and maintaining a perception of the art of choreography as a transmissible folklore. One of the highlights was the marvelous petit allegro for Zaël and his quartet of elves, which was highly reminiscent of August Bournonville and Frederick Ashton, perhaps with a dash of George Balanchine, and Matthias Heymann delighted in fleet-footed wonder as the green elf. The pas de deux contained elements of MacMillan, with stunning lines by Ludmila Pagliero (Naïla) and Isabelle Ciaravola (Nouredda), who exhibited the refinement in technique of the French school, showing the most exquisite turnout with the leg extended forward at a tasteful 90 degrees. The entire company is, of course, the picture of elegance, as is the production itself, though the modernized set design offered something of an odd contrast to the more traditional costuming.