Cendrillon - Ballet Julien Lestel

Through a taut and expressive choreography, Lestel highlights the psychological violence inflicted on Cinderella, as well as her inner strength, ready to emerge. Julien Lestel transposes the tale into a corporate world run by an authoritarian mother. Cinderella is a subordinate employee, harassed by her stepmother and stepsisters. The godmother becomes the embodiment of her desire for emancipation and quest for freedom. The prince, founder of a start-up, charismatic yet fragile, embodies another form of loneliness; their meeting is not a rescue, but a moment of mutual recognition. The twelve strokes of midnight do not signal the end of a spell, but echo the harassment she has endured; the meeting is not a “happy ending,” but the beginning of a rebirth. The music, which combines Prokofiev’s work with Ivan Julliard’s electronic creations, underscores this tension between the external world and inner life, submission and emancipation, tradition and modernity. Opening the evening: excerpts from the ballet Libre, choreography by Julien Lestel, with students from the Marseille National School of Dance