The plot is inspired by the drama of Mayerling : January 30, 1889, Rodolphe, heir archduke of Austria and son of Emperor François-Joseph I and the famous “Sissi”, was found dead in the company of his mistress, Baroness Mary Vetsera.
The ballet, created in 1978 by the eminent British choreographer Kenneth MacMillan for the Royal Ballet in London, relays the most widespread thesis, that of the murder of Mary followed by the suicide of Rodolphe, even if the hypothesis of a double assassination persists. Politics. The story was brought to the big screen, notably in Terence Young’s film with Catherine Deneuve and Omar Sharif (1968).
In the Zambelli studio at the Palais Garnier, rehearsals take place in a good-natured atmosphere between star dancers Hugo Marchand and Dorothée Gilbert, under the leadership of international rehearsalist Karl Burnett.
The complicity between the star couple of the Ballet de l’Opéra does not make the movements less complex but helps to relax the atmosphere. For other dancers, an “intimacy coordinator”, a profession that already exists in filming and which is emerging in the world of dance, has been hired to put them at ease.
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Mayerling is probably the most demanding ballet in the repertoire for the male lead: three muscular pas de deux with Mary Vetsera and others with several female characters including his wife, Princess Stephanie. There are acrobatic lifts, kisses in extreme positions, moments when Prince Rudolph rocks his partner’s body up and down.
“Fortunately, with Hugo, we are used to dancing together and we know each other very well”Dorothée Gilbert told AFP. “When you find yourself with your head down and you do a lot of acrobatic positions, you have to have immense confidence in your partner”. Even this seasoned dancer said she was a little nervous before approaching a passage where the Archduke tears off Mary Vetsera’s suspenders. “There is the notion of respect for the body of the other which is even more advanced because we do violent things”, specifies Hugo Marchand.
The two stars laugh a lot during rehearsals, also a way of “discharging the violence of relationships”, says the dancer, who made a “work of introspection” for this “difficult role”. At a passage, he leads Dorothée Gilbert, holding her by the hair, a fake pistol in her hand; at another, he picks her up and puts her down so that she lands in a splits.
The dancer is also concerned that the public informs itself before coming to see this ballet which shows “male-female relations and interactions of 150 years ago, in a very complicated geopolitical context, with schizophrenic, sick, drugged and consanguineous characters for the most part”. And let the spectators be warned of these “violent scenes which serve the characters but which are not insignificant to live in a theater”.
For Karl Burnett, who is used to transmitting ballets by MacMillan, known for their very physical pas de deux, discussions before and during rehearsals are crucial. “In the past, everything was done without asking questions, but that’s no longer possible today, you always have to have a conversation: when I remount this ballet, I try to find out if the dancers have any problem with these topics”, he explains. In a profession as tactile as dance, “putting your hands everywhere is something dancers take for granted. But I make sure it’s done in a safe environment”, he adds.
“Mayerling” at the Opéra Garnier, choreography by Kenneth MacMillan
16 performances from October 25 to November 12, 2022
1 youth preview on October 22, 2022