THE UNINVITED

The ballet of the State Opera Stara Zagora celebrated the International Day of Dance on 28 and 29 April 2023 with the premiere of three dance performances from the Ballet Without Borders cycle. In two consecutive evenings dance fans will meet the world achievements of contemporary dance and timeless classics. Especially for the multinational ballet troupe of the Stara Zagora Opera with artistic director Sylvia Tomova, the world-famous choreographer Claude Brumachon staged the duets "The Neopitomen" and "The Pedestal of the Maidens". He worked in Stara Zagora with the renowned dancer and his collaborator Benjamin Lamarche. Our talented dancer with a unique individual choreographic style and handwriting, Christian Bakalov, for whom the duet "The Neopitomen" was created in 1992 with the participation of Fernando Zevada, both soloists of the Young Ballet of France at that time, was brought in as an assistant. The assistant team also included Elisabetta Gareri, a long-time distinguished dancer with Claude Brumachon and Benjamin Lamarche's company at the National Choreographic Centre of Nantes, which they founded, and she went on to accompany Claude and Benjamin in various choreographic and transmission projects with Compagnie Sous La Peau. Both duets are realized with the kind support of the French Institute in Sofia and the Embassy of the Republic of France in Bulgaria.

"There is immortality in the Neopitomen. A paradigm of duet, of freedom and complicity, "Neopitomen" travels in bodies. They invite themselves in, settle down and reveal to the dancer that unsuspected thrill that each of us possesses. Eight minutes that you have to understand from the inside, that you have to live in a thrill as animal as it is human," say Claude Brumachon and Benjamin Lamarche.

"The Neopithecines enters the repertoire of the Paris Opera, danced at the Palais Garnier in March and April 2021. For choreographer Claude Brumachon and his lifelong collaborator, dancer Benjamin Lamarche, this is a most prestigious achievement. "I'm very emotionally lifted. Especially since this duet tells a little bit of our story, with a dancer who is very refined, technical, and the other one is out of control, seething. Seeing this somewhat rebellious work in this dance institution that is the Paris Opera moves me a lot."

Now Claude Brumachon and Benjamin Lamarche have chosen the young talents of the Stara Zagora Opera Ballet, Semyon Sidenko and Auguste Nystrom, to dance their duet "The Neopitomen" on 28 April, and on 29 April the audience will see Maxim Sidenko and Marcelo Molina.

"The Neopitomen continues to tour the world - after Stara Zagora, Claude Brumachon and Benjamin Lamarche will stage it at the Scala di Milano with Roberto Bolé.