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As people abroad may wish to know what this is all about, a few thoughts.
First of all, the new étoile's face - well, her beauty is comparable to that of Moira Shearer. Emilie Cozette is a Fragonard painting come to life.
As for her body - it is the original of the Aphrodite of Knidos.
A fact alone, that is certain to provoke jealousy both among her peers, and amongst gum-shoe wearing ol'hags like the author of these lines, in the general public.
Now, her dancing is both elegant and, despite her height and large bone structure, very feminine. No hyper-extensions, no vulgarity of any kind. One has considerable pleasure in watching this kind of dancing, as the steps are all there, nothing is fudged, it is all beautifully articulated, and there is little forcing. Her placement is excellent, producing a line that is cool, calm and assured, the only slightly disruptive feature being a weakness between the shoulder-blades, that causes the head to drop forward slightly in all sustained positions.
Her stage personality, though distant, and perhaps not very imaginative, is nevertheless most agreeable, as she makes no attempt to play upon her beauty, or to charm and seduce the public.
Her batterie is as neat as one can expect from someone who is five foot eight or nine, and she disguises with considerably more elegance than does Marie-Agnes Gillot, the fact that that at so great a height, with a large bone-structure, her ballon and elevation are somewhat anecdotal.
However, the latter aspect makes her difficult to partner. On that account, I would imagine, on the upcoming tour to Australia Karl Paquette, the only man in the troupe strong enough to lift her with ease, and equally tall, fair-haired and beautiful, will be appointed étoile as well.
Personally, I find the appointment of Mlle. Cozette far less controversial than everything else we have been subjected to in the last five years, with the exception of that of Mlle. Pujol, who really is an excellent dancer.
Although one might not be swept up in enthusiasm, no-one would, in all fairness, find much to object to in this appointment, were it not for the persistence of Other Problems, starting with the disastrous artistic policy conducted by Management over the last decade.
For those who do not know, the 2007/2008 will be entirely modern works, with but two exceptions at the Christmas.
The all-modern policy, that management has been attempting to winch into place both at the Opera and throughout the country, can only be sustained by individuals of great physical beauty, as choreographically the content has, in the main, been less than nil and/or verging on outright, unabashed pornography - 'racolage', as the French call it.
The public will look at anything, anything at all, when presented by someone as extraordinarly handsome, and with so pleasant a personality, as Cozette or Belingard. It's that simple, and it IN NO WAY detracts from the actual qualities of Cozette, as a classical dancer. Because, I stress, she IS a very, very good classical dancer.
A a result of that policy, several leading individuals have quit, and there seethes what might be described as a 'guerre larvée' with others.
Would one's opinion of that policy alter, should the Muse in person, along with, say, three or four other very distinguished artists, finally be appointed to august rank?
NO.
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