"FAUST" Le Ballets de Monte Carlo video version
Saturday 25. April at 16:00 - 18:00
Kino Artis, Tallinn
Faust
Music: Franz Liszt, Faust Symphony
Jean-Christophe Maillot approaches the romantic myth as a story of inner fracture. For this production he chooses a rare and demanding genre — the symphonic ballet, constructing a choreographic narrative within Liszt’s powerful, multilayered score.
Maillot’s dance language is recognisable from the very first movement. This is a ballet where beauty is born not of pose, but of tension between bodies, of the instant before touch, of a pause filled with meaning. The movement vocabulary is at once classically precise and strikingly alive — lines break, balance wavers, and from this emerges a sense of authenticity.
The protagonist, torn between a thirst for knowledge, belief in meaning, and a painful awareness of the limits of body, time, and life itself, stands between three forces embodied in figures: Faust himself — a man of doubt and desire; Marguerite — earthly and spiritual beauty, the feminine ideal; and Mephistopheles — the incarnation of absolute evil.
Maillot sharpens the relationships between these characters to an extreme, transforming dance into a drama of passions, conflicts, and metaphysical choice. The choreography demands not only technical mastery, but total psychological identification with the role — Faust must be lived through. The performers do not display form; they think through movement.
The distinctive beauty of Maillot’s dance lies in vulnerability. His characters rarely “win”; they doubt, resist, attract, and repel. Masculine and feminine exist not as roles, but as forces in constant dialogue. This is why his ballets feel simultaneously sensual and intellectual, fragile and powerful.
The ballet is dedicated to Maurice Béjart, for whom the figure of Faust was one of the most compelling.
Jean-Christophe Maillot
Jean-Christophe Maillot is one of the most influential figures in contemporary ballet. For over 30 years he has served as Artistic Director of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, transforming the company into an internationally acclaimed ensemble known for its artistic rigor and emotional depth. A graduate of the Paris Conservatoire, he has worked successfully with leading opera and ballet companies worldwide, including the Paris Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, and the Mariinsky Theatre.
Maillot is renowned as a master of dramatic ballet. His productions are distinguished by precise dramaturgy, expressive physicality, deep psychological insight into character, and a high level of musical culture, combining diverse musical styles. He boldly bridges classical and contemporary aesthetics, meticulously develops each role, and demands from dancers not only technical excellence, but also true stage intelligence.
Most of Maillot’s works reveal his preference for major literary narratives and powerful musical scores. He has a rare ability to transform every movement into a statement and every scene into an emotional and intellectual experience. His productions are always sensual and intellectually charged — ballets that stay with the audience long after the curtain falls.
Kino Artis • Estonia puiestee 9, 10143 Tallinn, Harju maakond, Estonia
