From Andersen's fragile Little Mermaid to Dvořák's romantic Rusalka, from the Hollywood nautical fantasies of Esther Williams to the cruel world of synchronised swimming today, it has never seemed easy for a young girl to construct her femininity painlessly around swimming pools.
And in Dvořák's opera, as in the changing rooms of our modern swimming pools, we can truly speak of an injunction to femininity, so constant, archetypal and cruel is the pressure exerted on adolescent girls, in the 19th century as today. By setting this new production of Rusalka in the world of synchronised swimming, this production traces the difficult birth of a fragile young girl's femininity, seen in its most moving, but also most cruel, light. It is the story of an idealistic and determined young swimmer. The story of a hypersensitive little mermaid, a little spoiled, but terribly endearing.
A production initiated by the Région Sud, co-produced by Arsud, Opéra de Marseille, Opéra de Nice, Opéra Grand Avignon, Opéra de Toulon Provence-Méditerranée.