Cendrillon – Thierry Malandain

Everyone knows the story of Cinderella. Few tales have achieved such a degree of universality, so familiar is the situation and so timeless are the emotions involved.

The great quality of Thierry Malandain's ballet is precisely that it offers a refined interpretation without losing any of this universality. The choreographer uses a classical vocabulary whose clarity and aesthetics sweep away the superfluous, leaving us to appreciate the psychology of the characters. This sobriety is echoed in the set design, in one tableau, which eschews the multiplication of sets and props, except for a wall of high-heeled shoes that line the backstage area and serve as a backdrop for the entire ballet.

Thierry Malandain has endeavoured to emphasise contrasts to better depict this world where the innocent beauty of Cinderella rubs shoulders with the ugliness of her stepmother and daughters. Through this last trio (performed by men), the choreographer has imagined a concentration of the darkest aspects of humanity. Egocentrism, humiliation, idiocy... all embodied by sick bodies that take on the frightening aspect of a children's tale. What a contrast to Cinderella, whose beauty is matched only by her gentleness and restraint! Throughout the ballet she appears like a spot of white on a black canvas. During the famous ball, her simplicity and luminosity take on their full force.