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Mlle Bessy, la force d'un destin
The Opera of Paris opens its gates for one of its most eminent figures, Claude Bessy, from backstage to coat-hangers, including the roofs.
The unique and sumptuous setting of this portrait, the Opéra de Paris opens up its doors, from the wings to the flies, not to mention the rooftops, for one of its most eminent figures, Claude Bessy. A former Etoile, and director of the dance school since 1972, the Dame traces some sixty years devoted to her art. Nicolas Ribowski follows her reverently through this temple where she seems to reign as lady of the house.
She was nine years old in the 1940s when she stepped onto the Opéra stage for the first time. Under the aegis of Serge Lifar and Georges Balanchine, she would become one of its greatest stars. With the exception of an escapade to the American Ballet, she never left Garnier. A dancer and choreographer, she revolutionised the repertoire by introducing jazz, with the complicity of Gene Kelly. In the 2002 season, “Mlle Bessy” returned to the stage for Le Concours, signed by Maurice Béjart, her longstanding accomplice. Manuel Legris and Laetitia Pujol, her former students, whose partner she is today, narrate this unusual adventure. In the costume wardrobe, she rediscovers that of Phaedra, designed for her by Cocteau. On the rooftops, out of bounds, she scrambles around with Marie-Claude Pietragalla, each one remembering some anecdote as a petit rat in the corps de ballet.
