“In the Flood myth common to various different cultural traditions, the jubilant gure of Noah embodies a kind of breakthrough in humanity’s history. In summing up the past and preparing us for the future, Noah symbolises the coming of a new and better world. This second Creation erases the rst, which has been wrought by the machinations of evil and humanity’s degeneration. This is a new Adam, drawn from water rather than the earth, who, in Genesis, acts rst as a mortal and then a symbol of life because, upon leaving the womb and cradle that is the Ark, Noah and his offspring will repopulate the world.
This epic tale is one in a long line of similar stories and can be interpreted on several levels. Saint Augustin sought to show that the Ark’s proportions were the same as the human body’s, “which is also the body of Christ, which is also the Church”, while Paul Claudel saw the salvational Ark as a cathedral, its nave the prow of a ship navigating the heavens.
We might also imagine Noah as humanity collectively seeking refuge within itself to cast off a past existence and start afresh, mining the abyss of its own being for new sources of energy. That is why, with the exception of the dove - a sign of hope in a new life -, we will not board all the animals. Instead, the movement of humanity will be represented by the symbolic, dancing gure of Noah beneath the light of a new sun.”
Thierry Malandain
CREATION 2017
Creation / Basque Eurocity
Teatro Victoria Eugenia de Donostia / San Sebastián
January 14th and 15th 2017
Creation / French Premiere
Chaillot - Théâtre National de la Danse (Paris)
beetween May 10th and 24th 2017
Music Gioacchino Rossini - Messa di Gloria
Choreography Thierry Malandain
Set and costumes Jorge Gallardo
Lighting design Francis Mannaert
Dressmaker Véronique Murat
Set and accessories production Frédéric Vadé
Coproducers Chaillot – Théâtre National de la Danse (Paris), Opéra de Saint-Etienne, Donostia Kultura - Teatro Victoria Eugenia de Donostia / San Sebastián – Ballet T, CCN Malandain Ballet Biarritz
Partners Opéra de Reims, Théâtre de Gascogne - Le Pôle, Theater Bonn (Germany), Forum am Schlosspark - Ludwigsburg (Germany)
Lenght 70’
Ballet for 22 dancers
In 2017, at the end of the Paris performances of Noé in the Chaillot-Théâtre national de la Danse, the Malandain Ballet Biarritz received the prize of the « Best Company », adwarded by the Professional association of Theatre, Music and Dance criticism.