The award-winning choreographer and director of the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, Jean-Christophe Maillot, will be releasing his autobiography ‘la danse en festin’ on 31 October. The book marks the 30th anniversary of his time at the helm of the ballet company.
‘La danse en festin’ is no ordinary book. It’s a multi-disciplinary exploration, where painters, dancers, guest choreographers, writers, visual artists and musicians weave an artful dialogue. The work demonstrates that the choreographer is unclassifiable and is both a perfectionist and a playful artist.
Featuring 300 photographs of performances, rehearsals and portraits, the book invites readers to get a closer glimpse into the lives of performers and the universe of the choreographer. Jean-Marie Laclavetine, a longtime friend of Jean-Christophe Maillot, is the author of the introduction and chapter openings.
Jean-Christophe Maillot’s repertoire of 80 ballets (40 created in Monaco) draws from the world of art in the broadest sense, where each ballet feeds into the following work. Over the last 30 years, Jean-Christophe Maillot has created an ensemble of 60 pieces ranging from great narrative ballets to shorter formats. Neither classical nor contemporary, Jean-Christophe Maillot is known for his refusal to adhere to one style.
Jean-Christophe Maillot studied dance and piano at the Conservatoire National de Région de Tours, before joining the Rosella Hightower International School of Dance in Cannes until he won the Prix de Lausanne in 1977. He was then hired by John Neumeier at the Hamburg Ballet, where he danced in principal roles as a soloist for five years. An accident brought his dancing career to an abrupt end.
In 1983, he was appointed choreographer and director of the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Tours, which later became a National Centre of Choreography. He created around twenty ballets for this company and in 1985, founded the Dance Festival, “Le Chorégraphique”. In 1987, he created Le Mandarin Merveilleux for the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, which was a great success. He became the company’s Artistic Advisor for the 1992-1993 season and was then appointed Director-Choreographer by HRH the Princess of Hanover in September 1993. His arrival at the Ballets de Monte-Carlo set the company on a new path of maturity and excellence.
Published by Éditions Gallimard, the 19x26m paperback is 304 pages long and will be sold for €45.
