The cradle of ballet, tracing the origin of ballet as a theatre art back to its foundation by Louis XIV in 1669.

"At its debut in 1866, La Source already had it all: dagger-wielding Muslims dominating veiled women, a magic flower in a green ecology, and a full blown environmental crisis at the end. When the Paris Opera ballet restages this Orientalist and colonial drama in 2011, and again in 2014, the contemporary context of homegrown jihad, climate politics and a law banning the dissimulation of the face in public spaces, keeps it relevant. At four historic performances, over 150 years, this book explores the resonance of La Source's double narrative in its contemporary contexts: the biopolitics of bodily hybridity and regeneration and the cosmopolitics of the exploitation of human and natural resources"--

Marian Smith recaptures a rich period in French musical theater when ballet and opera were intimately connected. Focusing on the age of Giselle at the Paris Opéra (from the 1830s through the 1840s), Smith offers an unprecedented look at the structural and thematic relationship between the two genres. She argues that a deeper understanding of both ballet and opera--and of nineteenth-century theater-going culture in general--may be gained by examining them within the same framework instead of following the usual practice of telling their histories separately. This handsomely illustrated book ultimately provides a new portrait of the Opéra during a period long celebrated for its box-office successes in both genres. Smith begins by showing how gestures were encoded in the musical language that composers used in ballet and in opera. She moves on to a wide range of topics, including the relationship between the gestures of the singers and the movements of the dancers, and the distinction between dance that represents dancing (entertainment staged within the story of the opera) and dance that represents action. Smith maintains that ballet-pantomime and opera continued to rely on each other well into the nineteenth century, even as they thrived independently. The "divorce" between the two arts occurred little by little, and may be traced through unlikely sources: controversies in the press about the changing nature of ballet-pantomime music, shifting ideas about originality, complaints about the ridiculousness of pantomime, and a little-known rehearsal score for Giselle. ?

Dare Me meets Black Swan and Luckiest Girl Alive in a captivating, voice-driven debut novel about a trio of ballerinas who meet as students at the Paris Opera Ballet School. "Enthralling...irresistible." ––New York Times "A standing ovation to this debut." ––E! News Thirteen years ago, Delphine Léger abandoned her prestigious soloist spot at the Paris Opera Ballet for a new life in St. Petersburg––taking with her a secret that could upend the lives of her best friends, fellow dancers Lindsay and Margaux. Now thirty-six years old, Delphine has returned to her former home and to the legendary Palais Garnier Opera House, to choreograph the ballet that will kickstart the next phase of her career––and, she hopes, finally make things right with her former friends. But Delphine quickly discovers that things have changed while she's been away...and some secrets can't stay buried forever. Moving between the trio's adolescent years and the present day, The Ballerinas explores the complexities of female friendship, the dark drive towards physical perfection in the name of artistic expression, the double-edged sword of ambition and passion, and the sublimated rage that so many women hold inside––all culminating in a twist you won't see coming, with a magnetic cast of characters you won't soon forget.

Gerard Uferas spent a year with the Paris Opera Ballet family, and his photographs lead readers into the private world of the Opera Garnier, Paris’s landmark opera house. He took his camera backstage, into the wings, the practice halls named after the great figures in the history of ballet, and the ornate neo-Baroque foyer where the dancers gather to warm up before each performance. His images retrace the constant work, sometimes trying, often exhilarating, that fills the days at the ballet, revealing the concentration that precedes a dancer’s entrance on to the stage, the poise and gestures, the moments of exertion and of rest. Uferas reveals the secrets of a usually cloistered world, documenting the toil, the dedication, and the months of preparation that culminate in moments of breathtaking beauty on the stage. By capturing forever the ephemeral art of the dance, the photographer has created an enduring homage to the otherwise fleeting professional lives of the dancers. The result is an art that transcends both dance and photography; a unique partnership with its own exquisite choreography.