The State Ballet Company of Astana Opera Theater—L’Arlésienne and Carmen by Roland Petit

Roland Petit’s Bizet ballets: tales of passion and obsession

Roland Petit (1924–2011) was one of the 20th century’s defining choreographers—his raw physicality and theatrical bite translating drama directly into the body.

In Carmen, seduction, jealousy and the bullring play out through dances of pulsing tension. L’Arlésienne, drawn from Alphonse Daudet’s play, is a slow torment: young Frédéri, engaged to one woman but unable to shake his obsession with another who never appears, dances out his unravelling. Both works are set to Bizet’s celebrated music.

The State Ballet Company of Astana Opera Theater is led by Artistic Director Altynai Asylmuratova, who worked closely with Petit and remained a favoured interpreter of his choreography throughout her career, ensuring that her company’s stagings are true to Petit’s artistic vision.