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Faun/
Boléro/
Canvas

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Experience three ballets to legendary music

Four up-and-coming choreographers have been invited to create three works for the Norwegian National Ballet with music by Ravel, Debussy and Chopin.

A Boléro by Samantha Lynch and Afternoon of a Faun by Whitney Jensen and Anaïs Touret can now finally be performed in front of a live audience. “Youthful and fresh, minimalistic and theatrical, and a bit like life itself,” Inger Marie Kjølstadmyr wrote in Dagsavisen following the stream premiere last year. The two ballets are joined by a brand-new work by Brazilian Juliano Nunes, a rising star in the international dance world. In the orchestra pit, the National Opera Orchestra will be performing music by some of the world’s greatest composers. 

A woman’s desire 

Afternoon of a Faun portrays female desire. It is inspired by the poem ‘The Afternoon of a Faun’ by Stéphane Mallarmé, but with a twist: the protagonist is no longer a male faun, but a woman. 

Fourteen dancers are in the performance, dancing to Peter Baden’s electronic soundscape based on Claude Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, a piece that is considered the beginning of modern music.  

Intense Ravel  

Samantha Lynch’s A Boléro is choreographed to Ravel’s famous Boléro from 1928, in which the same melody is repeated over and over again – with growing intensity and an explosive climax, and with the two dancers in constant flux.  

Lynch has been listening to Boléro since childhood and wanted to toy with the undertones and rhythmics in the music.   

Hotshot in the ballet world 

Juliano Nunes has created Canvas to Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Nunes has distinguished himself with his innovative approach to translating the language of ballet into something modern and era-appropriate. He explores movement with sensitivity – and when the entire company takes the stage, this choreography will be unlike anything you have ever seen before.   

  • Free introduction 1 hour before the performance

Artistic team and Cast

  • Conductor
    James Gaffigan 
  • Participants
    Norwegian National Ballet, Opera Orchestra
    • Faun
      • Erika Pastel
        • 14. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 19. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 20. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 23. Oct 2022 18:00
      • Isabel Vila
        • 22. Oct 2022 13:00
    • Mannlig nymfe
    • Mor
      • Klara Mårtensson
        • 14. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 20. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 23. Oct 2022 18:00
      • Celine Kraal
        • 19. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 22. Oct 2022 13:00
    • Far
      • Leonardo Basilio
        • 14. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 20. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 23. Oct 2022 18:00
      • Simon Regourd
        • 19. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 22. Oct 2022 13:00
    • Elsker
      • Martin Dauchez
        • 14. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 20. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 23. Oct 2022 18:00
      • Simon McNally
        • 19. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 22. Oct 2022 13:00
    • Bolero
      • Emma Lloyd
        • 14. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 20. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 23. Oct 2022 18:00
      • Douwe Dekkers
        • 14. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 20. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 23. Oct 2022 18:00
      • Nora Augustinius
        • 19. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 22. Oct 2022 13:00
      • Silas Henriksen
        • 19. Oct 2022 19:00
        • 22. Oct 2022 13:00

Director James Gaffigan

With The Norwegian National Ballet, The Opera Orchestra

AFTERNOON OF A FAUN 

ChoreographersWhitney Jensen and Anaïs Touret
Music Claude Debussy, Peter Baden, Zauberberg by Kassel Jaeger, Stephan Mathieu and Akira Rabelais 
Set Designer Whitney Jensen, Anaïs Touret and Martin Dauchez 
Costume Designer Martin Dauchez
Lighting Designer Paul Vidar Sævarang
Sound Designer Peter Baden 

A BOLÉRO 

Choreographer/Set Designer Samantha Lynch 
Music Maurice Ravel 
Costume Designer Bregje van Balen 
Lighting Designer Paul Vidar Sævarang 

CANVAS

Choreographer Juliano Nunes 
Choreographer Assistant Gregory Lau
Music Frédérik Chopin 
Pianist Christopher Park
Costume Designer Mikaela Kelly 
Lighting Designer Tom Visser

Pandemic possibilities

Although the pandemic closed our doors, it opened up other spaces. Whitney Jensen, Anaïs Touret and Samantha Lynch all dance with the Norwegian National Ballet and are part of the the company’s choreography initiative. During the pandemic, they debuted as choreographers on the Main Stage with Afternoon of a Faun and A Boléro. 

Samantha Lynch previously created C aura for Chamber Dance and the duet for: jake, which she performed and created together with Douwe Dekkers. Before A Boléro returns to the Main Stage at the Oslo Opera House, Lunch has been invited to create a new choreography for the Zurich Ballet’s junior company. Lynch is a principal dancer with the Norwegian National Ballet and has also been the head of the NNB RAW since taking the initiative to create the choreography workshop in 2018.  

Anaïs Touret has been called a rising star in the international magazine Dance Europe and has been invited by both the Royal Opera House and German OsterTanz Festival with her work Let's Play. In Norway, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) described her as “an exciting choreographer” after the premiere of Wagō. 

Touret and Whitney Jensen choreographed Afternoon of a Faun as a team. Jensen has forged an impressive career as a dancer, first as a soloist with the Boston Ballet and currently as a soloist with the Norwegian National Ballet, and has danced leading roles in Swan Lake, La Bayadère and Onegin, to name only a few. As a choreographer, Jensen created the To Fly duet for Chamber Dance on the Second Stage.