artpost: flight, the way they move together


Ascension, by Jacob Sutton, featuring ballet dancers Hannah O’Neill and Germain Louvet

This September marks the launch of the Paris National Opera’s Third Stage. While the Palais Garnier and the Opéra Bastille are, of course, world renowned sites of cultural and architectural interest, this particular ‘scène’ is not a stage in the physical sense, but exists in the rather less tangible online realm.

Launching from the Opera’s website, which has recently been treated to a slick overhaul, the digital platform will feature a mix of mediums including the work of film makers, choreographers, visual artists, directors and writers. Third Stage will also allow ballet and opera aficionados from all over the world to delve into an exceptional set of archives, created in partnership with the INA (French National Audiovisual Institute).

One of the original films currently being featured on the site, and exclusively on Telegraph Luxury, is Jacob Sutton’s Ascension, which showcases the spectacular architecture of the Opera Bastille and the Palais Garnier, as well as the breath-taking skills of ballet dancers Hannah O’Neill and Germain Louvet. A contrast of behind-the-scenes and front of house, the film flits back and forth between shots of the dancers below stage at the Opera Bastille, dressed in black to match their sombre, industrial surroundings, and in the glittering golden foyer clothed in softer pastel shades and bathed in light.”