With Cri de cœur, Alan Lucien Øyen became the first Norwegian artist ever invited to create a full-evening work for the Paris Opera Ballet — a rare privilege within one of the world’s most storied institutions. Commissioned by Artistic Director Aurélie Dupont, the production stretched the company into uncharted theatrical territory through a hybrid language of movement, spoken word and shifting scenography.
A collage of dance, theater, film, and song that lays bare a raw authenticity rarely seen on the Garnier stage.
At its centre is Marion Barbeau in the role of a young woman whose story moves between the real and the surreal, surrounded by family, strangers and memories that collapse and reform in dreamlike succession. Among the cast, Helena Pikon of Tanztheater Wuppertal appeared as a guest artist, bringing her singular presence to the Opera stage.
The scenic design by Alex Eales evoked cinematic trompe-l’œil dioramas — panels on wheels that opened and collapsed to form bedrooms, kitchens and endless voids. These mutable architectures, paired with live black-and-white video projections, created a stage language that blurred theatre and film, reality and illusion. Costumes by Stine Sjøgren deepened the surreal edge, amplifying the tension between fragility and spectacle.
A nerve-ending work, sometimes prolix but undeniably powerful.
Developed across years interrupted by the pandemic, Cri de cœur carried the sensation of risk and scale: a full-length creation demanding a balance between intimacy and grandeur, confession and collective spectacle. For both company and choreographer, it marked an unprecedented step — a work that dared to open the Palais Garnier to the language of contemporary dance-theatre.
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