Tribute performances by the Ballets de Monte-Carlo

The WaltzChoreography by George Balanchine
The Child and the SpellsChoreography by Jean-Christophe Maillot

Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo wished to pay tribute to Prince Rainier III through two works for which he had shown a particular attachment. The first is George Balanchine's La Valse , created in 1951 (performed by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo in 1994). Prince Rainier appreciated this ballet because of Ravel's score, of which he was a fervent admirer, and because of the choreography of George Balanchine, whom he had welcomed on several occasions with La Princesse Grace at the Monte-Carlo Opera. The famous choreographer of the Ballets Russes, for whom the Principality was a creative workshop, had partly inspired the desire to create a new ballet company in Monaco, which was done by Princess Caroline in 1985.

The second work presented will be a new version of L'Enfant et les Sortilèges by Jean-Christophe Maillot. The 1992 premiere was an opportunity for Prince Rainier III and the Choreographer-Director of the Ballets de Monte-Carlo to exchange views in all simplicity. On Ravel, of course, who had created the music in Monaco in 1925, and on the ballet of the young choreographer who had touched Prince Rainier III by the way he approached childhood, an age for which he has always felt a deep nostalgia. Jean-Christophe Maillot wished to rework this ballet in order to propose a contemporary version and thus honor this Prince who crossed two centuries and knew how to understand the evolutions of History by being part of it.