Le Jeune Homme et La Mort, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Florence Faure

From White Nights (1985). Le Jeune Homme et La Mort, originally choreographed by Roland Petit in 1946 and performed anew by Baryshnikov and Florence Faure, was filmed at the Bristol Hippodrome. The gentleman paging the curtain for Baryshnikov is John Randall, the theatre’s technical director at the time. *** Choreography: Roland Petit Music: Johann Sebastian Bach Scenario: Jean Cocteau Designs: Georges Wakhevitch Premiere: 25 June 1946, Ballets des Champs-Elysées, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris Original cast: Jean Babilée, Nathalie Philippart The Ballets des Champs-Elysées was a chic, intimate troupe, creating new works with charismatic young dancers and a distinctive sensibility. Its founders included Boris Kochno and Jean Cocteau, both veterans of Diaghilev’s company who saw ballet as a meeting-place of the arts, the home of artistic collaboration. The company’s productions were smallscale but accomplished. Roland Petit made his