BALLET DE L'OPÉRA GRAND AVIGNON

Biography

The Company

The Ballet de l’Opéra Grand Avignon, under the artistic direction of Emilio Calcagno, consists of a permanent ensemble of twelve dancers, joined by two apprentices.
Since his appointment in 2021, the new director’s artistic vision has opened the company increasingly toward contemporary dance. From the 2021–2022 season onward, choreographers such as Carolyn Carlson, Pontus Lindberg, Kaori Ito, and Martin Harriague have created new works for the company, enriching the repertoire with fresh choreographic writing.
Because the dancers are permanent members of the ensemble, the company can also carry out audience development initiatives throughout the season, along with numerous outreach activities in collaboration with the Pôle d’Intervention Chorégraphique.
The Ballet is regularly invited to perform at the Chorégies d’Orange Festival as well as in regional, national, and international theatres.
The 2022–23 season saw the commission of several new works, including the evening The Firebird and Boléro, choreographed by Edouard Hué and Hervé Koubi. After Storm (created in 2022), D’un matin de printemps marks the second creation by Emilio Calcagno for the company.

Emilio Calcagno is an independent voice in the contemporary dance landscape and has been Director of Dance at the Opéra Grand Avignon since September 2021.
Originally from Sicily, he arrived in France in 1989 to study at the Centre International Rosella Hightower, and later at the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine in Angers, under the direction of Joëlle Bouvier and Régis Obadia.
In 1995 he joined the Ballet Preljocaj, performing on some of the world’s most prestigious stages. He later became responsible for the company’s pedagogical and European projects.
His early creations explored the boundary between dance and the world of comic books, followed by works with a strong cinematic dimension—an artistic language with which his contemporary movement vocabulary constantly engages. Fascinated by fantasy and the world of childhood, Calcagno often creates immersive works inspired by fairy tales, including Peau d’Âne, Les petites histoires de… (inspired by a film by Tim Burton), and Pinocchio (2021).
With works such as Catania and Isola, Calcagno explores the cultures of the Mediterranean in a continuous movement between France—the country that welcomed him—and Sicily, his homeland. Guided by a deep sense of listening and sensitivity, he intertwines bodies and landscapes while addressing questions that are geographical, disciplinary, psychological, and cultural.
Through the power dynamics he reveals, new shared territories emerge, encouraging audiences to look beyond borders.