Salvation and performance
In many traditional ballets, salvation or redemption emerges as the key narrative element, as the resolution of a complex dramatic plot. The figure who brings about this resolution acts as the agent of transformation, the catalyst who restores balance or offers hope. Over time, choreographers have reimagined these redemptive arcs, altering the course and meaning of the stories they bring to life, shaped by their ideological leanings and the historical contexts in which they worked. Depending on the identity of the resolving agent, different scenic perspectives and dramaturgical outcomes unfold. Moreover, dance itself – even abstract ballet devoid of narrative – invites reflection on the transience of the human body. As a form of art rooted in something so fragile, fleeting and mortal, dance constantly raises questions about presence, disappearance and the possibility of achieving salvation through permanence. These themes have been central to my writing on performance and dance.
Features
Inventing the diva: ballet stars of the 19th century. Today’s dancers dazzle onstage – yet offstage they reveal a human world of physio sessions, heartbreaks, swollen ankles and tough days. They leave soirées at grand opera houses in hoodies and trainers, returning to a life that feels unexpectedly close to our own. The contrast with the so-called golden age of ballet, when the art form took its current shape, could not be greater. Bachtrack, Dec. 2025.
Reviews
💎️ My critic’s pick for 2025: Paris Opera Ballet in Alexander Ekman’s “Play”. 🌞️ What is life if not a game? The Paris Opéra began 2025 in dazzling style with Alexander Ekman’s masterpiece “Play.” During the Christmas season, as we said goodbye to one year and welcomed the next, the work returned with its gallery of absurd characters and surreal juxtapositions: the corps de ballet improvising games on stage, women on pointe wearing helmets and antlers, an astronaut, a couple performing the most romantic pas de deux, a bare-chested man with a huge white crown and an enormous skirt, and a second act that spiraled into a bureaucratic nightmare of office rhythms and shifting cubes. [...]
Notre-Dame de Paris – Paris Opéra Ballet. Fjord Review, Dec. 2025.