What a wait! What excitement! The name of the new dance director of the Opéra national de Paris is… José Martinez! The news was announced at 10 am, Friday October 28, during a special gathering with the dancers of the ballet, which Alexander Neef, director of the National Opera of Paris, and José Martinez wanted to inform the first. A few days before the famous ballet promotion competition, which is being held on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 November, the new director will be on the benches of the jury, surrounded by his peers.
José Martinez, 53, knows the house like the back of his hand. He performed everything there, from ballets from the repertoire by Rudolf Nureyev (1938-1993) to pieces by Mats Ek and Pina Bausch (1940-2009). Sacred star in 1997 for his performance in La Sylphideone who proved as subtle and precise in prince roles as in stranger characters like Nosferatu, in contemporary choreography by Jean-Claude Gallotta, retired in 2011, in a production he himself directed, The Children of Paradise. From 2011 to 2019, he returned to Spain, his native country – he was born in Cartagena – to lead the national dance company in Madrid. Since then, he has worked as a freelancer with various companies.
Finally, the lighthouse troop has a captain. Since the surprise resignation of Aurélie Dupont, which took effect on July 31, the appointment of the new director or the new director of dance at the Opéra national de Paris has caused a lot of talk, talk, buzzer and beyond. More than logical. This position of high responsibility, very visible and coveted, at the heart of the most subsidized French star institution in the performing arts (approximately 95 million euros in subsidies out of the 230 million overall budget for the 2019-2020 season) attracts all eyes and deserves the most careful attention.
Rumors, hypotheses and prognoses, we have heard it all. Alongside the mission entrusted to an advisory selection committee set up by Alexander Neef, “to support him in the choice of the next incumbent”, and composed, under the leadership of Bernard Stirn, honorary chairman of the board of directors of the Opéra national de Paris and member of the Institute, choreographers Carolyn Carlson, Angelin Preljocaj and dancer Charles Jude, Neef himself has picked up his phone. He thus solicited possible candidates including Cédric Andrieux, director of choreographic studies at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris, Maud Le Pladec, director of the Center chorégraphique d’Orléans, or even Noé Soulier, choreographer at the helm of the National Center of contemporary dance from Angers.
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