More brightly lit and with a more accessible score than Thom Willems composed for the other works, it is a beautiful piece, developing and extending simple classical movements. The first explores double work with two couples, Emilie Cozette and Benjamin Pech, Eleonora Abbagnato and Nicolas Le Riche. The other two Forsythe pieces, Woundwork 1 and Pas./Parts, were also created on the company, in 1999. Alice Renavand – In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated.

The work demands attack, great speed and technical confidence, to a greater extent than some of the dancers could fully achieve. The dancers were mostly younger, less senior than in the later pieces, although Alice Renavand, Vincent Chaillet and Aurélia Bellet are experienced and made an impression. Equally paradoxically it actually celebrates classical technique more than was fully understood at the time of its creation by the way it extends, distorts, inverses the technique. Paradoxically, this work, which pioneered the deconstruction of classical ballet has itself become a classic of its kind, performed by many companies. The contemporary programme opened with In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, created for the company in 1987. It’s a big span and in the event the performances were a little uneven while I was there. Don Quixote, that most exuberant of the Petipa classics, at the Bastille three pieces by deconstructionist William Forsythe and one by postmodernist Trisha Brown at the Garnier. The Paris Opera Ballet traditionally celebrates Christmas by offering two contrasting programmes at their two houses. William Forsythe / Trisha Brown: In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated | Woundwork 1 | Pas./Parts | O Zlozony/O Compsite Valentine Colasante and Marc Moreau – In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated.

Paris opera garnier schedule 2013