A ballet company of its own does not have to be a burden on a self-respecting opera house, on the contrary. The case of the Paris Opera Ballet is illustrative of the extent to which it is a machine for generating audiences and money when it is offered with quality and making repertoire profitable.
If a season of this company, with twelve or thirteen programs, involves an investment of around eight million euros, with the box office it can raise up to twenty. Not only is it not loss-making, as feared by the main opera coliseums in Spain – which lack their own ballet – but it is highly profitable. And in the case of the Paris Opera, which has been plagued by strikes and a pandemic – with which 195 million euros were lost – the Ballet's profit can be invested in the institution in the always onerous opera programming that takes place in La Bastille but also at Garnier. At the end of the day, the Ballet couldn't spend more on more productions either, since rehearsal time is what it is.
The Paris-Ballet pairing is a mechanism that has been working for centuries. This prestigious company feeds above all on the talents that emerge from its own School. And it programs enough to make money with the price of tickets: 190 shows between Garnier and Bastille. And good management of reruns and copyrights elevates many of the programs to zero cost.
It would be different to start now to create a company in an opera house: as with everything, it would involve an investment that would take time to pay off. But the public would make an appearance. In the City of Light – where visits to the Palais Garnier are also an important source of income – tickets sell out just as the season goes on sale, without even needing to show off the names of its étoiles. It has been now, with the arrival of José Carlos Martínez to the direction, that the most faithful followers have expressed their desire to know in advance which étoile dances in each performance - as Covent Garden does - and to be able to choose, instead of finding out fifteen days before the show.
“Selling the étoiles is not something this institution has needed to do. Even when I was a dancer, there was the speech of 'you don't come to see a person, you come to see the Paris Opera Ballet'. The Anglo-Saxon culture of the Royal Ballet, where the other day Marianela Núñez posted a post on Instagram with the artists' door full of people waiting for her at the exit, is very different. In Paris it's about coming to see the Season's Canon, the corps de ballet. But that does not stop us from talking about the stars, and it is something that we have begun to do, because there is a global frustration in that aspect. I have received many emails from ballet lovers thanking me, because they have finally been able to choose who they are going to come see,” says Martínez.
Among the most disputed artists at the Garnier are now Dorothee Gilbert, Hugo Marchand, Germain Louvet... or the young Guillaume Diop whom Martínez has just named étoile. Then there are those who have fans of hers, like the prima ballerina Roxane Stojanov, who wonder when she is going to be named an étoile. Even from the corps de ballet, the Canarian with a French mother Enzo Saugar, who has had some leading role, has created expectation and the label spreads through the networks
The death of ballet is less likely than the death of opera. If Paris schedules twenty-five performances of Giselle, she sells out the entire house. And their annual Swan Lake always sells out. The renewal of the public is constant, even if it is for the girls who go to school and their families.
To enter the company, priority is given to students from the School, from all over the world. But it is not exclusive. If ten retire (at age 42), ten enter; and if necessary, external auditions are held.
Another question is the mechanism by which étoiles are named. There are really no rules. There is a set number, between 8 and 10 men and between 8 and 10 women, and from there it is free. “If three leave and you see that you don't have someone to name, you wait. It is at the discretion of the director,” explains Martínez, who has just named three, with very different profiles.
“It is part of the message I wanted to send to all the dancers: Marc Moreau, 37, who was in the corps de ballet when I was an étoile, is a sure value, someone to count on and who always contributes. Then there is Diop, just the opposite: 21 years old and with incredible possibilities, which proves that with talent you can move up quickly. You can climb slowly or you can climb fast, and it is a way to motivate everyone. And then Hannah O’Neill, 30 years old, and with a special light on stage.”
