Once in a while, a prince will soar onto the stage fully formed and ready to take the repertoire by storm. The preternaturally elegant Hugo Marchand has done just that at the Paris Opéra Ballet. In Pierre Lacotte’s La Sylphide, the ballet that earned him a promotion to étoile at just 23, Marchand articulated the […]

“Women are often presented as soft, fragile little creatures in ballet,” says Léonore Baulac. “We’re not.” The Paris Opéra Ballet’s newest female étoile is discussing her unease at some of the 19th-century narratives she portrays. “It was real acting,” she says with a laugh of La Sylphide. “James kills her by taking away her wings, […]