Klemark Performing arts & Music Management

ABOUT THE COMPANY 

With more than eighty works to his credit, Thierry Malandain developed a very personal vision of dance. Deeply linked to the concept of «Ballet» as an aesthetic movement, he gives priority to the dancing body and the celebration of its sensuality and humanity.

Men and Dance are in the heart and soul of Malandain Ballet Biarritz.

Deep human values underpin Thierry Malandain’s approach, as he leads a troupe of performers who master the grammar of classical dance with a contemporary expression. His search for meaning and aesthetics led to a timeless tough energetic and sober style, which draws its wealth from the roots of dance as well as a dynamic vision of this art.

«My culture and my genetic heritage come from classical dance and I assuredly remain attached to it. While I gladly admit that some of classical dance’s artistic and social codes are from another time, they give me the information I need to run and develop this company as an organism. As DNA found in all living cells and passed down through generations, this information might be altered over time to result in species diversity and evolution. That is why my dancing style leaves room for variation. Considered as a classical choreographer for some, a contemporary one for others or even seen as hereditarily neoclassical, I am simply on the lookout for a dance I like. A dance that would not only leave traces of pleasure but that would also revive the essence of the Sacred as an answer to the difficulty of being.»

Throughout his creations that might be both serious and bold, Thierry Malandain is committed to developing a writing whose goal is to find harmony between classical and contemporary dance and between history and today’s world. He then alternates between his own versions of classical ballets, like Roméo et Juliette, Cendrillon, Casse Noisette or L’Après-Midi d’un faune, and pure creations, such as Magifique, Une Dernière Chanson, Estro, and Lucifer, choreographed to a previously unreleased score composed by Guillaume Connesson.

Thierry Malandain is also open-minded towards the works of his contemporaries, as evidenced by the numerous aesthetically different choreographers he supports through the Centre Chorégraphique National in the framework of the Accueil Studio or Le Temps d’Aimer festival in Biarritz, for which he works as artistic director.