In a cafe located just opposite the Opera, we wait with a steaming cup of tea in hand Marion Barbeau, singular and inspired dancer. She arrives a few minutes late, her hair slightly wet. She has just come out of rehearsal. “Sorry, I hurt my back, I had to go to the physio”, she apologizes. Immediately, a flash of the film In body by Cédric Klapisch comes back to us: Elise, a classical dancer played by Marion Barbeau, collapses in the middle of a performance.
The film, which hits screens March 30, tells the story of a ballerina who rebuilds after a serious injury. Between Paris and Brittany, Elise invents a second life, this time focused on contemporary dance. A journey that resonates strangely with that of its interpreter, Marion Barbeau. Today first dancer at the Paris Opera, she explores new repertoires and the cinema makes her eyes soft. The dancer tells us about the adventure of this very first shoot.
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We’ve been following you for years at the Opera, we see you in the film In body by Cedric Klapisch. How was this project born?
Cédric has been used to recording shows at the Opera for several years. We had the opportunity to work together on a ballet by Hofesh Shechter, The Art of not looking back, in 2018. A year before making the film, he told me about this project. I thought it was to collect testimonials from dancers. But following this discussion, he tested the waters to find out if I was interested. After the first confinement, everything accelerated. He offered me, among many other people, to pass the casting.
How were you selected?
Cédric’s priority was to choose a dancer who knew how to act, rather than the opposite. He didn’t want to act like black swan. This person also had to be able to do both classical and contemporary, especially choreography by Hofesh Shechter. It started to tighten.
And you kept talking…
Cédric was very curious to know how women managed this heavy past of classical ballet. We still descend directly from Louis XIV. Things have evolved but, despite everything, we tell stories that are more than 100 years old. How to be both a feminist and a classical dancer? This question interested him very much. We very quickly talked about classic versus contemporary. What to do with this baggage when you want something else? While respecting it, without denigrating it. I’ve been thinking about it for years too. The topic of injury came later.
Have you, like your character Elise, ever been injured at the risk of your career?
Not really. Injury is really part of our lives. I have someone very close who was seriously injured at the Opera. We know it can happen and there is a lot of work to do to avoid it. It is also a question of experience. When you’re young, you start, you do just about anything, but the body ages. You have to learn to take care of it.
Was it together, with Cédric Klapisch, that you created the role of Elise?
It was he who invented this character with Santiago Amigorena. He called me regularly and asked me questions to be closer to the daily life of a ballerina. For my part, I was coached by Ariane Schrack before and throughout the film, at my request. It’s my dancing side. We don’t go on stage without rehearsing first, I needed to work. She made me discover the Meisner technique based on several exercises to try to forget herself, to listen to her partner. I built the character with her. We started from a list of adjectives that qualified Elise, and Ariane asked me to choose those that corresponded to me, Marion. And then the opposite. It allowed me to detach myself, to understand that it’s a real role of composition, of construction, that it’s not me.
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On the set, how was the relationship with the other actors?
It was exhilarating, enriching. They were all adorable, very different. I learned a lot by observing, they welcomed me without judgment, in real teamwork. For my first day of filming, I was with Denis Podalydès, that got me into the mood! We played very difficult scenes, like the end of the film where Elise explains to him that he never said I love you to her.
Is there a difference between dancing in front of a camera and dancing in front of an audience?
When we dance in front of an audience, the spectators will look at our whole body. In the cinema, we do zooms, the camera is subjective. In the first scene of the film, there is a focus on my hand. At that time, I was only thinking of her, whereas in a show, you can think about it but you mustn’t forget that it’s a global vision. There, there is attention to detail. And then throughout the choreographic part, it wasn’t me who was dancing but my character, Elise.
What surprised you in the way Cédric Klapisch films dance?
In the scenario, there is a part with classic and another with contemporary. He said that his way of filming was coordinated with the dance: very cut-out at the start of the film, and much more freestyle for the residency in Brittany. I loved this way of doing it. The film is a tribute to dance. It exudes Cédric’s love and respect for this art.
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This film resonates with your personal journey. You are also exploring the contemporary…
I still love classic, I’m just really curious about something else. It is also the result of encounters. It started with Hofesh Shechter in 2018, on The Art of not looking back. We were only women on stage. There was a kind of power, without anyone trying to show it. It is our weaknesses, our otherness, our personalities that created it. It touched me a lot. Recently, I discovered Sharon Eyal, while creating Fauna performed at the Opera in December. In classic, everything is very framed, codified, there is a placement to respect. There it was different. We had to go find ends in his bodyas if our bones were tearing.
You have known several dance directors, Brigitte Lefèvre, Benjamin Millepied, and Aurélie Dupont. Have these changes affected your career?
For me, things really changed when Benjamin Millepied arrived. We were a small group that he wanted to push. He was blamed for that. Together we created Clear, Loud, Bright, Forward. It brought an opening to the outside world. He was also the one who got me out of the corps de ballet, and who allowed me to do my first classical roles. And then Aurélie Dupont replaced him. She pushed me to assume my desire to do contemporary work. She is also very interested in this dance, she has programmed many choreographers. It is the first to have invited Hofesh Shechter for example.
At the Opera, the place given to the contemporary is more and more important, but do you think that is enough?
The contemporary becomes legitimate. But it will never be the same as the classic. It’s not a contemporary company, it’s a classic company. I would like it to be more of a place for experimentation, like the Amandiers theater or that of the City of Paris. With the means of the Opera, it would be great.
To climb the ranks of the Opera, you passed very demanding internal competitions. Is it exhausting or does it give strength?
Both. It is such a difficult and thankless exercise. It’s tiring, but I learned a lot. During one of my first competitions, I experienced what is worst for artists on stage: I felt like I was split in two. I watched myself dance and judged myself. After this competition, I did a whole lot of work so that it wouldn’t happen again. To have fun despite everything, you have to find ways to manage your stress. It is a learning for life. But it is difficult. During the preparation, we are in a parallel world. We work as much as at any time of the year, and on top of that we have to train for the competition.
When a contest doesn’t work, do you want to throw in the towel, leave?
It happened to me. Because beyond the extra money, the competition makes us evolve, access roles. Sometimes you feel really ready and it doesn’t come (note: Marion Barbeau has passed the competition three times to become first dancer). A dancer’s career is so short that you think if it’s not now, it never will be. And that’s true. I think it could have broken careers and created a lot of frustration.
Personally, I tell myself that in the end I’m happy not to have gone too fast, otherwise I would only have known the classic. This is what the prima ballerina mainly does. Being in the corps de ballet makes it possible to meet more choreographers. We can work on contemporary dance for more time because we don’t have a classical role to play. I do not regret my journey. There was a time when I wanted to leave for a more contemporary company, but I told myself that it was not the right time, especially since the conditions at the Opera are still very good.
And now, you no longer plan to leave?
Yes. Having made this film, In Body, made me want to continue in cinema but also in contemporary dance. At the Opera, we are lucky enough to be able to take a sabbatical year. I’m leaving two and a half months from April. I’m coming back to do a production, and then I’ll take a whole year. I have a choreographic project with a friend, Laura Bachman, the premiere of which will be danced in Brussels in January 2023. Concerning the cinema, I made the clip Slow wild which will be released in April, in duet with an actor Bastien Bouillon and directed by Baptiste Debraux. It only amplified my desire to play, and not necessarily dancers… It’s a bit of an adventure: my whole life is meticulous since I was 8 years oldfor the first time this is not the case.
Finally, when you reflect on your career, what is your finest moment at the Opera?
It’s hard to choose. I think of the show that nested the ballet Nutcracker and the opera Iolanta, in which I participated (note: Marion Barbeau played the main role and was acclaimed by critics). I worked with opera director Dmitri Tcherniakov. It was real acting. Two hours of onstage with huge sets and production.
There is another moment that was quite strong: the duet with Simon Le Borgne on the ballet body and soul by Crystal Pite. We were a couple when it was created in 2018. When we took it over in January this year, it was more difficult because we are no longer together. It was very cruel for us but at the same time it was even stronger, it served the part. On stage, everything is a little exacerbated, we are on edge, vulnerable. You can’t cheat.
Dance is a passion, a need. VSa comes from when we are little and we dance like we breathe. On do not judge yourself. In my family, there has always been a lot of music. My dad loves rock. With my sister and him, we were dancing on The Cramps. There was something very animal, tribal, trivial, and also very instinctive. Like at Hofesh Shechter. VSit has nothing to do with ballet, and that’s how I started.
The trailer for the film “En corps” by Cédric Klapisch: