Crossings, Noé Soulier et le Junior Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris, Villa Hegra, Al-‘Ula

Crossings: A Choreography by Noé Soulier with the Participation of the Junior Ballet of the Opéra de Paris, presented by Villa Hegra.

Curators: Wejdan Reda and Arnaud Morand

“CROSSINGS”, AN IN-SITU DIALOGUE BETWEEN BODY AND LANDSCAPE

On December 13 and 14, 2024, the Junior Ballet of the Opéra de Paris, composed of 18 young dancers aged 18 to 22, performed for the first time in two shows in the heart of AlUla, within the canyons of this exceptional region. Noé Soulier’s creation Crossings, lasting 45 minutes, was specially designed to integrate harmoniously with the environment, with dancers moving directly on the sand and without any sound accompaniment.

The curators of the first phase of Villa Hegra’s program, Wejdan Reda and Arnaud Morand, state: “In the majestic and demanding desert of AlUla, Noé Soulier breathes a unique sense of scale into this new work: the dancers sometimes appear minuscule in the face of the vastness of the canyons and rock formations. Their bodies harmonize with the setting, becoming an extension of the landscape itself.”

Indeed, Crossings is a nomadic work that explores the relationship between the movement of bodies and the spaces they inhabit. It draws inspiration from the uniqueness of the place, marked by the millennia-old history of AlUla as a crossroads of civilizations.