Quatre Tendances

Sol León and Paul Lightfoot. Sleight of Hand. Softly, as I leave you. Sad Case. Sh-Boom! - entering the repertoire. Ballet de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux | Éric Quilleré, director of dance.

For the 11th edition of Quatre tendances, the Ballet de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux offers a portrait of two major choreographers of the contemporary scene who have worked with the company since 2021.

Theatricality, expressiveness and speed of execution are the hallmarks of Sol León and Paul Lightfoot's aesthetic. Sleight of Hand turns the stage into an immense game of chess in which the dancers move, driven by precise mechanics: the pulse of Philip Glass's music.

To the sound of the mambo in Sad Case, a grimacing score unfolds in which the dancers' caricatural postures question the very notion of the group, while Softly as I Leave You tightens the space around a duo trapped in a box, all the better to show the couple and their imbalances.

Sh-boom, finally, is a striking example of the dark humour and luminous irony the choreographic duo has developed since their earliest years. Four pieces, one shared principle: harnessing the power of movement to turn dance into an art of satire, both funny and biting.

Production: Opéra National de Bordeaux. Production: Opéra national de Paris, Nederlands Dans Theater (Sleight of Hand). Ateliers de l'Opéra National de Bordeaux.