Malandain Ballet Biarritz

Running time: 1h35 including interval. First part: 25 minutes. Interval. Second part: 40 minutes. L'Amour sorcier. L'Amour sorcier unfolds among the Gypsies of Andalusia, in an atmosphere of superstition and sorcery.

We see the love of Candelas and Carmelo disturbed by the apparition of the ghost of a young man who, until his death, had been Candelas's fiancé. The spell will be definitively broken when Candelas manages to divert the jealous attention of the revenant towards another young girl.

By bringing the dead closer to the living, this legend overlays other traditional tales, such as those recounting the invitation of the deceased to rituals celebrating the advent of spring.

Ceremonies which, in their function of regenerating the world, use fire as a symbol of the supremacy of light over darkness.

This is recalled by the danza ritual de fuego composed by Manuel de Falla to drive away the jealous spirit and allow Candelas to live by the glow of a new love. Following which the revenant will detach itself from her to wed, in a funeral marriage, a sacrificed young girl.

Without fully stripping L'Amour sorcier of its Andalusian picturesqueness, it is the perpetual cycle of death and life that I have set myself to explore.

Through this choice, and following an approach that universalises the subject, the principal roles are partly performed by the whole company of dancers. Finally, the stage is covered with petals the colour of ash. Black roses that love has fled, before it retu