UNDER THE PRESIDENCY OF H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF HANOVER

Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo

CHOREOGRAPHER DIRECTOR JEAN-CHRISTOPHE MAILLOT

UNDER-THE-PRESIDENCY-OF-H-R-H-THE-PRINCESS-OF-HANOVER

About Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo

Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo is the official company of the Principality of Monaco. It was founded in 1985 by Her Royal Highness The Princess of Hanover in accordance with the wishes of her mother, Princess Grace of Monaco. The company, which features 50 dancers, has performed in more than 25 countries around the world.

“The great tradition of dance in Monaco only holds meaning when it recalls, above all, its devotion to the tradition of modernity. It is not a nostalgic hold on a glorious past, rather is diligently shrouded in the discovery of new expressions.” - Her Royal Highness The Princess of Hanover.

Jean-Christophe Maillot
Choreographer Director

Born in 1960, Jean-Christophe Maillot studied dance and piano at the Conservatoire National de Région de Tours, before joining the Rosella Hightower International School of Dance in Cannes until winning the Prix de Lausanne in 1977. He was then hired by John Neumeier at the Hamburg Ballet, where he danced in principal roles as a soloist for five years. An accident brought his dancing career to an abrupt end.

In 1983, he was appointed choreographer and director of the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Tours, which later became a National Centre of Choreography. He created around twenty ballets for this company and in 1985, founded the Dance Festival, "Le Chorégraphique". In 1987, he created Le Mandarin Merveilleux for the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, which was a great success. He became the company's Artistic Advisor for the 1992-1993 season and was then appointed Choreographer Director by H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover in September 1993.

History

1909 marks the beginning of a strong presence of choreographic art in Monaco. Serge de Diaghilev presents his Russian Ballet in Paris for the first time. They set up in Monte-Carlo which becomes their creative workshop for the next two decades. Since the Principality, Diaghilev has reformed ballet in his time in all its forms. Upon his death in 1929, the company was dissolved. Several personalities and choreographers revived it under various names but it disappeared completely in 1951.

Sponsors of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo