Ponant Announces Voyage in Partnership with the Paris Opera Ballet
PONANT has announced an exclusive partnership with the Paris Opera (Opéra national de Paris) for a themed voyage from Athens to Venice in 2024. The seven-night itinerary, August 1-8, 2024, on L’Austral, will welcome six dancers from the Opera’s ballet company, including prima ballerinas Valentine Colasante and Mathieu Ganio, for a program of performances both at sea and ashore, themed lectures, and introductory ballet classes. Rates start at $4,182 per person based on double occupancy.
The prima ballerinas and dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet will take part in two sessions with guests, where they will share details about their careers and what drives them. There will also be two screenings of performances and excerpts from documentaries on dance, followed by a discussion. PONANT and the Paris Opera Ballet have also created two “danced lectures” involving rehearsing the pas de deux in front of an audience, an invitation to find out what goes on behind the scenes when preparing a ballet. To complete this immersive onboard experience, travelers will have the opportunity to take part in an introductory classical ballet class with a dance teacher from the Paris Opera. The dancers will hold two exceptional performances planned with extracts of the great classical and contemporary ballets in the Municipality Theatre of Corfu on August 3, 2024 and the Dubrovnik Theatre Marin Držić on August 5, 2024.
“What the Paris Opera Ballet and PONANT have in common is that both are driven by an all-consuming desire to share, to be open to others and the world. Through this partnership, they are offering travellers an opportunity to discover the Opera’s classical and contemporary dance treasures and to exchange views. It is an odyssey that I know in my heart will inspire the six dancers as they perform against a backdrop of theatrical Greek and Croatian landscapes,” says Alexandre Neef, Director General of the Paris Opera.
“We are delighted and proud of the confidence and trust placed in us by the Paris Opera in forging this partnership. Dance has the power to unite, transport and invite people to share. It is the essence of PONANT’s Explore to Inspire philosophy. It is also in the spirit of the new collection of themes, Travel is an Art, for voyages ever richer in meaning and inspiration; and truly unforgettable moments,” states Hervé Gastinel, CEO of PONANT.
To find more information on the two prima ballerinas, please see below:
Valentine Colasante, prima ballerina at the Paris Opera Ballet: “A pure product of the Paris Opera,” as she describes herself, Valentine Colasante joined Paris Opera’s dance school at the age of eight and was hired by its Ballet company at 17, climbing the hierarchy to become a prima ballerina at 29. A natural born dancer, her mother was a dance teacher and her father a jazz musician in Paris. Whether being electrifying as Kitri, scintillating as Raymonda or dazzling as Pina Bausch, Valentine Colasante lights up the world’s most prestigious stages with her radiant presence.
Mathieu Ganio, prima ballerina at the Paris Opera Ballet: Son of two dancers, one a prima ballerina at the Paris Opera Ballet, the other a soloist at the Marseille Opera Ballet, Mathieu Ganio was destined for stardom. Since he first appeared on stage, in 1986 at the tender age of two, Mathieu Ganio has given it his all to meet this destiny. His elegant movements and qualities as a partner combined with a rare charisma have earned him international acclaim and raised him in 2004 to the rank of prima ballerina. In 2020, Mathieu Ganio was elevated to ‘Officer of Arts and Letters,’ France national order for cultural merit, for his contribution to dance.