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LA Dance Project is innovative, but has a foot in the past

Classically trained dancer-choreographer Benjamin Millepied is rapidly emerging as a cultural rock star in France. His outstanding technique is the cornerstone of LA Dance Project, the artist collective he founded in 2012.

LA DANCE PROJECT
Le French May

 

Classically trained dancer-choreographer Benjamin Millepied is rapidly emerging as a cultural rock star in France. His outstanding technique is the cornerstone of LA Dance Project, the artist collective he founded in 2012.

"I believe formal technique is required for a company that presents so many different choreographies like Merce Cunningham, William Forsythe, Emanuel Gat, Hiroaki Umeda and Justin Peck," he says. "But even so, historic continuity in dance is important. I often look back in order to move forward."

This back-and-forth process promises to intensify for Millepied, a former principal at the New York City Ballet between 2002 and 2011, during which time he also won mainstream attention for his part in Darren Aronofsky's ballet thriller Black Swan (2010). Millepied is preparing to become director of dance at the Paris Opera Ballet this autumn, and his challenges include maintaining the great classical repertoire at one of the world's grandest ensembles, while taking the company forward.

Birthday boy: Benjamin Millepied turns 37 during LA Dance Project's Hong Kong visit.

Before he starts that adventure, Hong Kong audiences can catch a glimpse of LA Dance Project as it arrives for two performances on June 10 — which is Millepied's 37th birthday — and 11.

This is the company's first visit to China. "In the future, we are hoping to invite Chinese artists to work with LA Dance Project and establish further partnerships," he says.

The programme presents three of the company's most successful works to date, including the recently commissioned (2013) by Emanuel Gat, a revival of William Forsythe's (1993), and Millepied's own (2013), which was inspired by the collaboration between jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels and the late, great Russian-born choreographer George Balanchine almost 50 years ago.

"This programme will showcase the artistic goals of LA Dance Project, which is to promote new collaborative work by emerging and established artists and to revisit influential multidisciplinary collaborations from the past," Millepied says. "It is a contemporary look at dance."

Two years since its debut at the Los Angeles Music Centre Disney Hall, the company has toured in Europe and the US to much acclaim. Millepied says he finds the audience responses "encouraging".

"I also believe that the immersive aspect of the works we present appeals to young people."

For now, LA Dance Project has commitments well into 2016, and Millepied will remain involved as the company's artistic director after moving to Paris.

"I find it intellectually stimulating to be involved with two companies that are so different in scale and repertoire," he says. "But in a way, they are part of one artistic vision."

 

Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, 1 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai, June 10 and 11, 8pm. HK$180-HK$380 HK Ticketing. Inquiries: 3752 9965

 

 

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Look back and move forward
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