Manuel Legris

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Manuel Legris on May 15, 2009 at the Opéra Garnier

Manuel Legris (born October 19, 1964 in Paris ) is a French ballet dancer and ballet director.

Life

Manuel Legris was trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School and in 1980 engaged in the Paris Opera Ballet. In 1986 he was appointed Danseur Etoile by the then ballet director of the Paris Opera, Rudolf Nureyev . He danced the great parts of the classical and modern repertoire and appeared in numerous world premieres. In December 2005 the Stuttgart Ballet offered him the title role in Onegin , which he danced with Maria Eichwald and the company during a tour of Japan and in January 2006 in Stuttgart. He has made guest appearances worldwide with the most renowned ballet companies as well as with his own ensemble Manuel Legris et ses Etoiles . In May 2009 he gave his farewell performance as Danseur Etoile at the Paris Opera, since then he has appeared as a guest soloist at this house and at other stages in Europe as well as in Asia and America. Manuel Legris has been director of the Vienna State Ballet since September 1, 2010 . Until December 2019 he was also artistic director of the ballet school of the Vienna State Opera .

Vienna reference

In the course of his career as a dancer, Manuel Legris performed frequently in Vienna. He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera on January 27, 1985 as Béranger in Rudolf Nurejew's Raymonda , in 1989 he appeared as Jean de Brienne in Raymonda and as Prince Florimund in Nurejew's Sleeping Beauty . In 1999 he returned to the Vienna State Opera to dance in the season end gala of the Vienna State Opera Ballet. He had other appearances in the Haus am Ring in 1999 as Des Grieux in Kenneth MacMillan's Manon , in 2001 in the end of the season gala and in 2003 in the Nureyev gala. He also appeared in Manon in 2000 as part of a guest performance by the Vienna State Opera Ballet in Madrid . Manuel Legris also made guest appearances with foreign companies at the Vienna State Opera - in 1989 with the Tokyo Ballet, and in 2000 with the Paris Opera Ballet as part of ImPulsTanz . In guest appearances by the Paris Opera Ballet on other stages in Vienna, he danced in 1986 at TANZ 86 in the Theater an der Wien and in 2005 as part of ImPulsTanz in the Burgtheater . In 2008 he appeared in the ImPulsTanz ballet gala in the Burgtheater. The Solo Angel , created by Renato Zanella for Manuel Legris, premiered in 1999 at the Vienna State Opera. In the ORF broadcast of the Vienna Philharmonic 's 2001 New Year's Concert , Manuel Legris danced the solo Kobold in a choreography by Zanella.

Ballet Direction

On September 1, 2010, Manuel Legris took over the management of the Vienna State Ballet, which appears on around 85 evenings per season in both the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Volksoper . In his first season (2010/2011) he set the unusually high number of a total of eight premieres in both houses. He himself was responsible for the rehearsal for the extremely successful premiere of Rudolf Nureyev's version of Don Quixote . He appeared as a dancer at the opening of the Vienna Opera Ball in 2011. In its second season (2011/2012) another five premieres followed, this time Legris taking over the rehearsal of Pierre Lacotte's romantic ballet La Sylphide together with Elisabeth Platel . In the season (2012/2013) there were u. a. Rudolf Nurejew's ballet The Nutcracker , which was rehearsed jointly by Manuel Legris, Aleth Francillon and Nathalie Aubin. In the 2013/14 season, u. a. Rudolf Nurejew's Swan Lake after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, which was also rehearsed by Manuel Legris. The 2014/15 season brought u. a. John Neumeier's two ballets, Josephs Legende and Verklungene Feste . In the 2015/16 season, u. a. with Le Corsaire Manuel Legris' first independent full-length choreography. In 2016/17 he presented a. a. with Daniel Proiettos Blanc another new creation for the Vienna State Ballet. In the 2017/18 season, in addition to the three-part ballet evening, “MacMillan | McGregor | Ashton “u. a. Edward Clug's "Peer Gynt" was also on the program.

On December 12, 2017, Legris officially announced his departure from the Vienna State Opera at the end of the 2020 season. In June 2018 it was announced that Martin Schläpfer would succeed him as director and chief choreographer of the Vienna State Ballet and the Ballet Academy on September 1, 2020.

In February 2020 it was announced that he would move to La Scala in Milan at the end of 2020 and succeed Frédéric Olivieri as ballet director.

repertoire

Manuel Legris' repertoire in the ballet of the Paris Opera included leading roles in classical productions, leading roles in works by Frederick Ashton , George Balanchine , Maurice Béjart , Trisha Brown , John Cranko , Nacho Duato , Mats Ek , Michail Fokin , William Forsythe , Jiří Kylián , Pierre Lacotte , Harald Lander , Serge Lifar , Kenneth MacMillan , John Neumeier , Rudolf Nurejew , Roland Petit , Angelin Preljocaj , Jerome Robbins , Twyla Tharp , Antony Tudor , Rudi van Dantzig and other important choreographers.

Prizes and awards

His prizes and awards include: Gold medal at the Osaka Ballet Competition (1984), Prix du Cercle Carpeaux (1985), Prix Nijinsky (1988), Benois de la Danse (1998), Nijinsky Award ("Best Dancer in the World, 2000" ), Prix Léonide Massine (2001), Chevalier des Arts et Lettres (1993), Officier des Arts et Lettres (1998), Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite (2002), Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (2006), Commandeur des Arts et Lettres (2009), Honorary Member and Ring of Honor of the Vienna State Opera (2018).

Filmography

  • Roméo et Juliette (Rudolf Nureyev)
  • Le Specter de la rose (Michel Fokine)
  • Notre-Dame de Paris (Roland Petit)
  • L'Arlésienne (Roland Petit)
  • La Belle au bois dormant (Rudolf Nureyev)
  • Don Quixote (Rudolf Nureyev)
  • Sylvia (John Neumeier)

bibliography

  • Kishin Shinoyama, Manuel Legris à l'Opéra de Paris .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ According to the report: Head of the Ballet Academy recalled. In: ORF.at . December 20, 2019, accessed December 20, 2019 .
  2. orf.at: Schläpfer becomes director of the Vienna State Ballet . Article dated June 22, 2018, accessed June 22, 2018.
  3. Georg Leyrer: Viennese ballet director Legris follows director Meyer to La Scala. In: Kurier.at . February 18, 2020, accessed February 20, 2020 .
  4. ^ The Nureyev Gala was a celebration for Legris . Article dated June 30, 2018, accessed June 30, 2018.