Behind the shows staged by Polaris, the company behind Beauty and the Beast at the Château de Maisons (78), New Year's Eve at the Château de Champs-sur-Marne (77) and Queen's Night at the Basilica of Saint-Denis, several hundred volunteers worked, rehearsed, learned, danced and performed... To bring these immersive performances to life, which are particularly popular in the Paris region. We take you behind the scenes of a volunteer role on one of these shows.
First, there was the first meeting, the dance auditions, the results and the first emails to indicate when rehearsals will take place. Every Tuesday evening, from 8.45pm to 10pm, we meet for over an hour of dance to learn the choreography, inspired by traditional dances of the Middle Ages. For five weeks, our teacher Paula will be busy teaching us tempo, steps, arm movements... All in rhythm with the music and well synchronized, to give future spectators the illusion ofa real period ball. For the volunteer actors, it's the same thing: five weeks of weekly training to work on posture and diction, and to be ready to interpret Segur, Henri IV or Tadeusz on D-day.
Then came the first dress rehearsal, on Saturday March 16, a private evening spent rehearsing for long hours in the exceptional setting of the necropolis of the kings of France. Several rehearsals later, it's time for another rehearsal at the beginning of April, with all the extras, professional and amateur actors, dancers, guides... It's also time totry on our costumes for the big day: for the dancers, we wear a long, colorful velvet skirt, a white blouse topped with a corset, laced up at the front. Hair, make-up... Everything is designed to take the public through the centuries, from Sainte-Geneviève to Marie-Antoinette, via Catherine de Médicis and Aliénor d'Aquitaine. In all, over 150 volunteers will take the public on an immersive theatrical adventure at the heart of French history, starting on April 19.
Finally comes the big day, the opening night, and just as well, since my group opens the ball - literally and figuratively - with three shows on Friday the 19th. The first visitors are here, and the stress is still there too. At the end of the show, all the spectators meet in the crypt of the basilica, the most beautiful place, with its multi-storey stained glass windows reflected on the floor every evening. Each of the queens arrives on the arm of her escort for a dance, and then it's our turn to take center stage. Turns, bends, curtsies... From now on, the show will be performed every evening from Thursday to Sunday, taking spectators on a long journey through the centuries and, above all, to the discovery of the great queens of France.
Dates and Opening Time
From April 19, 2024 to May 5, 2024
Location
Saint-Denis Basilica
1, Rue de la Légion d'Honneur
93200 Saint Denis
Official website
www.lanuitdesreines.fr
