Seeing designs in motion is the most beautiful thing of all.
And — go down!
OK — and … The piece is called “Nuit Blanche”.
The idea was to evoke a moment suspended in time,
starting with classical gestures
and making them relevant to the present and give them a new vision.
And that, for me, is also what is at the heart
of Maria Grazia Chiuri’s work, as well as Philip Glass’s music.
It’s about bringing these talents together for a contemporary proposition
that is completely anchored in tradition.
You can see how the clothing describes the movement in a way, accentuates it.
And then, put to this classical yet modern music, it’s wonderful.
- There, and then you bring your hand up. - All the way up?
The second movement is very difficult, it lasts sixteen minutes.
The music is very emotional with a lot of momentum,
and in those sixteen minutes with the entire ballet corps onstage,
they’ll go through all the emotions a couple can experience.
So there’s a moment when they come together, drift apart,
lose each other, and reunite….
That says it all, right there!
The music of Philip Glass is a centripetal energy,
it is the research of the center,
and it is freedom.
In my opinion the association with the ballet was a brilliant thing.
You’re always a bit late for the arabesque.
Can you go sooner? Voilà.
The choreography is full of movements.
Very physical.
But it’s beautiful. With costumes it’s even easy,
because you can move them.
When you put a costume on, or when you see your partner in her dress,
it’s a different interaction.
You immediately have some fantasy in your head.
Wow… I am really moved.
- You are so intense… - Arabesque !
The last ten days are really the final stretch.
We’re in the studio and Maria Grazia was there to check
and even enrich her work.
It’s the same for me: I see the costumes
and the width of a dress will inspire a movement.
So, I’ll increase the movement.
It’s a permanent dialogue
between Paris and Rome, France and Italy.
That was really the most important thing to bring to it.
- It also depends on the flowers? - Yes, we don’t see the flowers.
We worked hand-in-hand with the House of Dior.
There were sometimes a few difficulties, because you have to correct, reflect,
and you also need to try them on the dancers!
The dancers also collaborated with us a lot.
In the end, you have to let the dancer dance
and just forget the costume.
I think it’s better to just fix it in place
because earlier I saw that he pulled at it at times.
Or if actually that will tear it. I don’t know. What do you think?
That’s exactly what I was thinking this morning;
the only doubt that’s left is fix it in place or not?
That’s Eleonora Abbagnato’s costume…
She’s the first star dancer to perform for this occasion,
but she’s also the director of our ballet corps.
As you can see, we only have very light colors:
a milk white, a wool white…
It’s very very light.
And all the flowers you see, we sewed on.
With the branches, the leaves. They’re very beautiful.
Maria Grazia thought about reexploring a theme
she developed for her first Dior Haute Couture collection:
the theme of the journey,
highlighted here by this embroidery made of pressed flower applications,
layers of tulle, to recall
the ancient custom that one had to dry the flowers in the herbarium,
as a souvenir of a particular moment.
In the beginning, we didn’t know that she had designed flowers,
so it’s incredible because we started with these movements,
and they were like these flowers coming up, growing.
They are handmade flowers,
and I think it’s really interesting to see
something so beautiful that’s squeezed and still has its beauty.
We wanted to have something like a garden.
It was an idea that Monsieur Dior really loved.
In fact, it was an homage to his sister and her love of flowers.
But of course we approached the idea in a more contemporary way,
with a palette that started with very light colors
but also moves into dark,
and in the end the flowers blend with the body itself.
And then we also wanted to express a certain romanticism,
a fragility but also a certain strength.
You’re sublime, the music is magnificent.
We wanted everything to be harmonious
and above all to have a strong emotional impact
on the artists themselves.
Because it’s something that translates in their movements
and then transmitted to the audience.
You are so beautiful and gifted!
Doesn’t it make you want to know how to do the same thing?
Personally, I would love to do that!
You know, every time the curtain goes up,
it’s a unique performance that you cannot repeat.
When the curtain goes up, you look at each other’s eyes,
and there’s something so intimate happening.
I think the audience can feel it.
And that’s different every night.