CARCASSONNE
Internationally renowned choreographer Benjamin Millepied dives into the world of Barbara for his new creation: a tribute to her sensitive and timeless universe through a subtle choreographic language, blending restrained emotion, poetic movement, and powerful expressiveness.
Deeply influenced since childhood by French chanson, he draws from this intimate memory a dance impulse fueled by the singer’s powerful melodies and finely crafted words. Within a minimalist space, bathed in light and pure white drapes, bodies appear and disappear, embodying the full range of emotions that runs through Barbara’s work — between nostalgia, passion, tenderness, and tragedy. In Du bout des lèvres, Barbara’s songs become the very breath of movement. In the spirit of Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer or Balanchine’s great ballets, her waltzes resonate through dance as a celebration of life. Benjamin Millepied reveals a raw humanity, a vibrant poetry, faithful to the intensity of one of the most moving voices of the 20th century.
Benjamin Millepied is an internationally acclaimed choreographer, director, and former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. Born in Bordeaux, France, and raised in Senegal, he trained at the Conservatoire de Lyon before joining the School of American Ballet in New York. He entered the New York City Ballet in 1995 and became a principal dancer in 2001, performing leading roles in works by Balanchine, Robbins, and many others, while launching a prolific career as a choreographer. Since then, he has created works for some of the world’s greatest companies, including the Paris Opera Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and the Dutch National Ballet, often collaborating with visual artists and composers such as Nico Muhly, Daniel Buren, and Barbara Kruger.
In 2012, he co-founded L.A. Dance Project, a company known for its innovative performances and artistic residencies, supported by Van Cleef & Arpels. As Director of Dance at the Paris Opera (2013–2016), Millepied launched a digital platform, a dance medicine program, and commissioned numerous works from contemporary choreographers. He also invited, for the first time, the Batsheva Dance Company to perform on the Paris Opera stage. He choreographed and appeared in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, and in 2023 directed his first feature film, Carmen (Sony Pictures Classics), for which he received a nomination at the Chita Rivera Awards for Best Choreography.
In 2022, he launched the Paris Dance Project with Solenne du Haÿs Mascré, an initiative dedicated to dance education and the creative process, notably including La Ville Dansée, a public space event supported by Chanel and Richard Mille. Together with Solenne du Haÿs Mascré, he also founded Paris Danse, a production company dedicated to the creation and distribution of his choreographic works.
For more than twenty years, Benjamin Millepied has conceived and commissioned interdisciplinary projects. As a choreographer, he is both classical and modern, deeply inspired by music. His works are born from the scores and artists he collaborates with, merging sound and movement to create unique experiences that immerse audiences in the very heart of music.
In November 2026, Benjamin Millepied will present for the first time at the Folies Bergère three brand-new creations driven by love, joy, and freedom: Barbara, Du bout des lèvres, inspired by the world of singer Barbara; Summerland, a luminous journey into the universe of November Ultra; and Move Me Once More, Le dernier Cabaret, co-written with Léa Mysius — an incandescent cabaret.
