
The Taming of the Shrew : a French at the Bolshoi!
To take on The Taming of the Shrew’s choreography and direction is no piece of cake. You need courage and a particular attitude to do so. Luckily French choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot, director of the Ballet de Monte-Carlo since 1993, doesn’t lack any of these qualities. For his first collaboration with a ballet company other than his, no less than the Bolshoi Theatre, Maillot chose to take on quite a challenge, betting on the outstanding technique and talent of the Bolshoi dancers. In order to get to know the dancers and to gauge how far he could go with them, he spent 3 years meeting the dancers back and forth between Moscow and Monaco. Jean-Christophe Maillot breathed new life into the Shrew by choosing not to offer only a remake of a classical machist textbook but to focus on the strong, free and sensual image of an ill-tempered woman. This perspective changes everything and draws the outline of a ballet based on the meeting between two extraordinary people with strong personalities, seemingly incompatible at first but meant for each other in the end. Maillot gives us a delighted vision of love through four contrasted couples in total, who find what they have always been looking for against all odds. Working together with Jean-Christophe Maillot, friend and artist Ernest Pignon-Ernest and writer Jean Rouaud took care to curate with passion the most beautiful Shrew ever brought to life. This ballet will be broadcast live to cinemas across the globe on Sunday January 24! Recorded screenings will follow on varying dates. Find out where and when this ballet is showing in your area here: http://bit.ly/BolshoiTaming