{"id":3006,"date":"2019-02-27T04:04:25","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T04:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=3006"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:28","slug":"eric-vu-an","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2019\/02\/27\/eric-vu-an\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00c9ric Vu An"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00c9ric Vu An<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Op\u00e9ra National de Paris: Permanent Guest Artist<\/strong>
\nB\u00e9jart Ballet<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"EricBorn in Paris, \u00c9ric Vu-An joined the Op\u00e9ra de Paris ballet school in 1974.<\/p>\n

At the age of 19, Rudolf Nureyev gave him the role of Basilio in Don Quixote<\/em>\u00a0before giving him a number of roles in Romeo and Juliet<\/em> and Swan Lake.<\/em> Maurice B\u00e9jart chose him for the male lead in The Rite of Spring<\/em> and appointed him to the starring role in Bol\u00e9ro<\/em>\u00a0before choreographing Mouvement-Rythme-\u00c9tude<\/em> for him in 1985 and Ar\u00e9po<\/em> in 1986. At that point, Vu-An’s career as a dancer began reaching international heights. He became one of Maurice B\u00e9jart’s favorite dancers and in 1987, Nureyev offered him a permanent guest soloist contract at the Op\u00e9ra National de Paris. He performed a number of leading roles in the opera’s repertoire, including Le Jeune Homme et la Mort<\/em>\u00a0and Les Intermittences du c\u0153ur<\/em> by Roland Petit, A Midsummer Night’s Dream<\/em> by John Neumeier, Les Mirages<\/em> by Serge Lifar, \u00c9tudes<\/em> by Harald Lander, Rubies<\/em> by Georges Balanchine, In the Middle Somewhat Elevated<\/em> by William Forsythe, and The Afternoon of a Faun<\/em> by Vaslav Nijinsky.<\/p>\n

In 1995, he was appointed artistic director at the Ballet du Grand Th\u00e9\u00e2tre in Bordeaux and created a new version of Don Quixote<\/em>. Claude Bessy called on him to attend the Op\u00e9ra de Paris ballet school as a guest teacher. In 1997, he was appointed director at the Ballet de l\u2019Op\u00e9ra in Avignon, choreographing a number of ballets including Ivresses of Dionysus<\/em>, Walpurgisnacht Ballet <\/em>from Faust <\/em>by Gounod, and the version of Copp\u00e9lia<\/em> he created in March 2004.<\/p>\n

Vu-An has been the ballet master at the Ballet National de Marseille (le BNM) since January 1, 2005. In March 2005, he took to the stage at the Op\u00e9ra de Marseille as the Faun in Vaslav Nijinsky’s The Afternoon of a Faun<\/em> and the Moor in The Moor’s Pavane<\/em> by Jos\u00e9 Lim\u00f3n. He created The Little Prince<\/em>, directed by Sonia Petrova for the Les Temps musicaux festival in Ramatuelle on July 26, 2005. In December 2007, he adapted the first act of Swan Lake<\/em>, which he performed alongside the BNM’s dancers as part of the Ouvertures n\u00b09.<\/p>\n

Following an invitation from Christian Estrosi, deputy mayor of Nice, in September 2009, Vu-An took on his new responsibilities as artistic director of the Ballet Nice M\u00e9diterran\u00e9e, thus consolidating the place and quality of dance in Nice alongside the opera house’s new management team. Jean-Christophe Maillot invited him to dance for the 100th <\/sup>anniversary of the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo celebrations, and he performed in Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun<\/em> on December 11 and 12, 2009. In May 2010, he performed in La Campanella<\/em> by Giorgio Mancini. He also staged Maurice B\u00e9jart’s Cantate 51<\/em>. After having created the role of Marco Polo, he performed in Kublai Kahn’s version at the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre de Verdure and the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre National de Nice.<\/p>\n

He successfully staged Don Quixote<\/em> in December 2010, followed by a Chor\u00e9graphes Am\u00e9ricains<\/em> evening in April 2011. In the summer of 2011, he took over the Jardins de Cimiez, much to the delight of an enthralled audience who had flocked there for the performance. He choreographed Copp\u00e9lia<\/em> for the end-of-year festivities, a production that was reused by the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in February 2012. He collaborated with renowned choreographers Lucinda Childs for Oceana<\/em> and Nacho Duato for Por Vos Muero<\/em> and Gnawa<\/em>. In the spring, he put on a 2 Russes \u00e0 Paris<\/em> night and staged Chaconne<\/em> and Allegro Brillante<\/em> by Balanchine and Romeo and Juliet<\/em> and Suite en blanc<\/em> by Serge Lifar, ballets that were then added to the company’s repertoire.<\/p>\n

On April 14, 2008 at the Palais de l\u2019Elys\u00e9e, the President of the Republic awarded Vu-An the insignia of Officer of National Order of Merit, Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, and the Legion of Honour. He was appointed Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in July 2011. He was awarded the Ariston Proballet Prize for dance and arts in May 2011.<\/p>\n