Merce cunningham /? william forsythe at Opéra National De Paris - Palais Garnier

Three pieces enter the repertoire in an evening devoted to the American school. First presented in 1968, Walkaround Time experiments with the scenic potential of the readymade: Merce Cunningham depicts ordinary movements whilst David Behrman composes music based on “found sounds”. These coinciding modernities take full advantage of the structure, transparency and secret mechanism of Marcel Duchamp’s famous Large Glass which inspired the sets. The evening continues with two ballets by the Paris Opera Ballet’s associate choreographer William Forsythe. After Trio, created in 1996 for the Frankfurt Ballet, Workwithinwork, presented two years later, pushes the framework of classical ballet to its limits. To the musical backdrop of Luciano Berio’s Duetti per due violini the dancers perform a palette of wordless encounters, an interrupted series of silent ideograms brilliantly combining attention to detail with freedom of movement.