As he embarks on his final season at the helm of Malandain Ballet Biarritz, Thierry Malandain brings to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées an exceptional programme featuring three emblematic works from his repertoire: The Firebird, Boléro and his latest creation, Minuit et demi ou le cœur mystérieux.

Director of Malandain Ballet Biarritz since 1998, Thierry Malandain is one of the leading figures of French dance. A prolific choreographer, he has developed a distinctive artistic language rooted in the classical tradition while constantly seeking new paths for renewal. Deeply musical by nature, he places each of his works in close dialogue with the scores that inspire them. Since founding Malandain Ballet Biarritz, he has built one of the richest repertoires in French dance, shaped by an artistic voice that is at once demanding, sensitive and profoundly human. This programme highlights three works that reveal different facets of his artistic universe and his relationship with music.

With The Firebird, set to Stravinsky’s 1945 suite, Thierry Malandain moves away from the narrative of the original tale to focus on its symbolic dimension. The Firebird becomes a figure of rebirth and hope, a luminous presence connecting heaven and earth. Carried by the power of Stravinsky’s score, the ballet unfolds in broad, generous movements infused with a deeply humanistic spirit.

In Boléro, Malandain engages with the hypnotic mechanism imagined by Ravel. Within an enclosed space, twelve dancers submit to the repetition of a motif that gradually intensifies until reaching its final climax. A work of striking visual impact, it has become one of the signature pieces of the Malandain Ballet Biarritz repertoire.

The evening concludes with Minuit et demi ou le cœur mystérieux, his latest creation. Set to Saint-Saëns’s celebrated Danse macabre alongside several rarely performed orchestral works, Malandain also draws on the world of nineteenth-century poetry. He explores the passage of time, the impulses of the heart and what remains beyond words. An intimate work in which poetry, memory and a gaze turned towards the future intertwine.

An evening celebrating the legacy of a major choreographic voice and the remarkable artistic journey Thierry Malandain has shaped in Biarritz. And who better than the dancers of Malandain Ballet Biarritz to bring these three masterpieces to life and give the evening its full emotional resonance?

OTHER SHOWS