Jean-Christophe Maillot

Abstract

Abstract Jean-Christophe Maillot is one of the few French choreographers to have achieved international recognition in the field of contemporary ballet in recent years. This chapter explores his fraught early development as a classically trained artist in the midst of a contemporary dance boom in France and his subsequent career at the helm of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. There, he found the practical support and creative freedom to build a large repertoire, both narrative and abstract, from 1993 onward. Finally, Maillot’s process and style are explored through a case study: The Taming of the Shrew, a ballet he created for Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet in 2014. On the basis of studio-based sociological observations and interviews conducted during the rehearsals, this creation is envisioned as an example of the hybrid nature of new works in ballet today and the influence of the environment in which they are made.