FIRST PERFORMED AT THE THÉÂTRE VARIA, BRUXELLES, 1990 (CHOREOGRAPHY MICHÈLE ANNE DE MEY,  MUSICAL CONSULTANT THIERRY DE MEY, STAGE DESIGN MICHEL THUNS, LIGHTING DESIGN BERNARD FREYMANN, COSTUMES DESIGN ISABELLE LHOAS)

MUSIC BEETHOVEN (SYMPHONIE « L’HÉROÏQUE », CONTREDANSES N°7, EROICA, VARIATIONS) / MOZART (BASTIEN UND BASTIENNE : OPENING)
REPERFORMED WITH THE ORCHESTRA OPÉRA ROYAL DE WALLONIE-LIÈGE, 2022

This choreography by Michele Anne De Mey, which has met with success since its first performance in 1990, has become a classic of modern dance. In 2022, Sinfonia Eroica, a veritable call to dance, will take on a new dimension, accompanied by the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège’s orchestra. This version places the music and its performers at the heart of the choreographic work, both in the orchestra pit and on the stage, insisting on the relationship between the dancers and the conductor.

Nothing could perhaps give a better definition of the ballet Sinfonia Eroica than the image of a relay runner passing the baton to his or her team-mate: a series of musical and choreographic phrases overlapping, a set of shifting passages, parallel movements and different actions that recount the age-old story of man and woman, couples that come together and then fall apart, how the broader group acts around the couple, depicting the changing and immortal face of the hero. It alternates playful and serious moments, danced and non-danced portions, movement and contemplation, in which energy is wed to emotion and where gestures become one with the music.