PARIS — Cries of “Merci!” and“Bravo!” erupted from the audi-ence on Friday night when Ben-jamin Millepied took a bow alongwith the dancers of the Paris

Opera Ballet after aperformance at thePalais Garnier. It was aclosely watched mo-ment: Just a day earlierthe opera had an-nounced that Mr.

Millepied would be leaving asdirector of dance in July and besucceeded by Aurélie Dupont, aretired company étoile. (Noteveryone agreed with the shout-outs: “Ridiculous!” a Frenchaudience member commented atintermission.)

The program included theballet’s premiere of a new workby Jérôme Bel and its first per-formance of Jerome Robbins’s

“Goldberg Variations,” set to theBach work.

But it was the premiere of apiece choreographed by Mr.Millepied that the audience waswaiting for. The work, “La NuitS’Achève” (“The Night Ends”) isa sextet to Beethoven’s stormyPiano Sonata No. 23 in F minor,known as the “Appassionata”(played by Alain Planès); itshows Mr. Millepied’s trademarkfluency and skill in its smoothlyevolving transitions from com-plex ensemble interactions to pasde deux tender or tempestuous.

The ballet presents three cou-ples (Amandine Albisson, HervéMoreau; Sae Eun Park, MarcMoreau; Ida Viikinkovski,Jérémy-Loup Quer — all wonder-ful), who embody different emo-tional states in the course ofromantic love. Ms. Albisson andMr. Moreau emerge as the cen-tral storm-tossed pair; perhapsthe others are memories of theirpast or possibilities for theirfuture. (It was a pleasure to seeMr. Moreau, a beautifully refined

dancer who has been much in-jured in recent years.)

A sense of fugitive narrativeemerges more powerfully in the

second and third sections, (“An-dante con moto” and “Allegro manon troppo — Presto”). Here, thedancers, wearing simple shifts,

are mercifully freed from theharsh-toned red, blue and purpleoutfits (by Alessandro Sartori) ofthe opening section, “Allegroassai,” and Mr. Millepied calmsthe pace of the sometimesoverdetailed ensemblechoreography, using stillness as acounterpoint to pounding musicalpassages.

Mr. Bel’s work also occasionedaudience outbursts, with boosand bravos intermingling afterhis 30-minute piece, “Tombe,” inwhich three Paris Opera dancers(Grégory Gaillard, SébastienBertaud and Benjamin Pech)appeared on stage with a non-dancer outsider.

Mr. Bel is a contentious figure,an intrepid tester of theatricalexpectations who doesn’t actuallycreate dance steps. His 2004“Véronique Doisneau” for theParis Opera Ballet was a brilliantexploration of a ballet dancer’slife. “Tombe,” which brings asupermarket cashier (HendaTraore), a woman with an ampu-tated leg (Sandra Escudé) and an

elderly dance fan (Sylviane Mil-ley, via a projected film) succes-sively onstage, is less coherent.Mr. Bel raises some fascinatingquestions, among them, what ispermissible, what are we repelledby, who enters the opera house?But no segment is fully devel-oped, and the rigorous theatricaltiming that often makes a Belpiece gripping isn’t consistentlyin play.

After all this came Robbins’s100-minute “Goldberg Variations”(sensitively played by SimoneDinnerstein): it wasn’t a per-formance for the faint of heart.Both rigorous and playful, aca-demic and fanciful, it allowed thedancers to demonstrate the tech-nical precision and formal perfec-tion they are known for, as wellas a newly buoyant musicalityand spirit. The work showed thebeautiful lines and finesse of themale soloists particularly well.Bravo to them, and to MyriamOuld-Brahm, dazzling among herexcellent female peers.

A Resignation, Then a Premiere: A Choreographer’s Charged Moment

La Nuit S’Achève From complex interaction to tender pas de deux:Dancers in Benjamin Millepied’s work at the Palais Garnier in Paris.

FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

ROSLYNSULCASDANCE REVIEW

The Paris Opera Ballet’s programcontinues through Feb. 20 at thePalais Garnier in Paris;operadeparis.fr.

C2 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2016

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Many of Jérôme Kaplan’sdesigns are closely modeled onthose of 1895, especially theswan-maidens, wearing smallcircular white caps on their hairfrom which low ponytails de-scend past their necks. Thedécor is only approximatelymedieval; I wish it more persua-sively evoked the age of chivalry.(Why are there Persian carpetson the ballroom walls?) But thecolor schemes are sensitive andhandsome, and many crucialpoints accord perfectly with Mr.Ratmansky’s demonstration ofthe 1895 dance drama.

Most obviously, there is noBlack Swan ballerina. (Thatmisbegotten title arrived only inthe 1940s.) Odile’s dark dresscontains several colors as well asblack, and she attempts no swanimitations. (ViktorinaKapitonova, engagingly femi-nine, played the double rolewithout any steeliness on Satur-day.) When she renews her se-duction of the prince, she does soby personal allure. Siegfried’sroyal mother (Nora Dürig) doesnot domineer; she’s reasonable,indulgent, weaker than her son.And after Odette and Siegfried(Alexander Jones, intenselynoble) end their lives, the balletends with an apotheosis in whichthey’re shown standing,transcendently, in a flying swan-carriage; but Odette, thoughdead, is free of her swan past anddressed as a woman.

In dance terms, the produc-tion’s greatest but strangestachievement is to change oursense of Ivanov’s choreographyof the lakeside scenes: an alter-ation more of style than of dancetext. There’s no doom-ladengrand manner. Principally, the

swan-maiden characters are nottragically haunted by a bird form(as has become the stylisticnorm, with mighty wing beatsand arches throughout the armsand torso). Their sprightly firstwaltz suggests their pleasureboth to be in human form and tobe protected by the prince andhis men.

Subtler and more moving arethe fresh nuances that Mr. Rat-mansky gives the final scene,whose Ivanov dances become theballet’s poetic climax. The corpsis shown as a loyal sorority,anxious for Odette, caught upwith her fate, joining together.

When Odette rejoins them, hervacillations of energy are ex-traordinary. In the very samephrase she’s ardent, then forlorn:impulsively spinning in theprince’s hands, then immediatelywilting over his arm: It’s as if thestuffing had been knocked out ofher.

Along the way, fresh lightkeeps changing the ballet. Aspecial triumph is the stage-filling celebratory group waltzfor the opening scene: Mr. Rat-mansky brings Petipa’s forma-tions pulsating to life (20 couples,though the Mariinsky, with itsvast resources, had more). De-

tails — stools, baskets of flowers,a maypole but, above all, stepsand patterns — become fragrant,musical, piquant.

Old films show how, in the firstlakeside scene, the prince’sfriend Benno used to assist inpartnering Odette, but this is thefirst production (in over 40 yearsof watching this classic) whereI’ve seen this happen in perform-ance. Immediately it deepens theballet’s portrait of chivalry:Odette never even sees Benno(Andrei Cozlac) — she acceptshim simply as an extension ofher prospective lover. And in theballroom scene — for the first

time in any production since theearly 1940s — is the climacticmoment when Siegfried kneels toOdile and she grips his knee asshe holds a triumphant ara-besque.

This production may be seenas a sequel to Mr. Ratmansky’s2015 presentation of “The Sleep-ing Beauty” for American BalletTheater. Like that, this is a co-production with Milan’s La ScalaBallet company (which dances itin June and July after it leavesthe Zurich repertory on May 22),and is based in detail on a zeal-ous investigation of the firstMariinsky version and period

style. Footwork, technique (insequences of turns, the headoften “spots” front rather than inthe direction the pirouettes aretraveling), lines and accentua-tion show many persuasivelyidiomatic nuances.

There are, however, severalseeming anachronisms. Satur-day’s two leading men, Mr.Jones and Mr. Cozlac, dressed intights revealing the whole leg(very un-1895), were allowedsome sequences of jumping,stretched bravura that looked atodds with the rest of the staging.(The original Benno was a non-dancing role.)

A few other matters are ques-tionable. Ms. Kapitonova makesimmediate eye contact withSiegfried, whereas evidencesuggests that early Odettesavoided his gaze. A hithertocrucial dance phrase in Odette’smain solo, a pair of jumps thatend with a famous stretch backinto swan arabesque, is herereplaced by a completelychanged sequence. These mat-ters aren’t just for scholars; theydirectly affect audiences.

On Saturday, Rossen Mi-lanov’s sensitive conducting ofthe Philharmonia Zürichbrought fresh life to the score:Dance tempos were heart-eningly brisk. The theater seatsabout 1,000, and its intimateacoustics keenly enhance themusic. The Zurich company ispleasing, able, harmonious; thedancers cope with the chal-lenges of period style with realgrace. And what setting could bemore felicitous for “Swan Lake”than the Zurich Opera House?This wonderful 1891 buildingstands beside Lake Zurich,which mountains surround andwhere swans swim.

Beckoning to Those Radical Swans From 1895From First Arts Page

The Zurich Ballet, with Viktorina Kapitonova at center, performs “Swan Lake,” which recalls a historic rearrangement.

CARLOS QUEZADA

DOLLY FAIBYSHEV FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Eva Edelstein, 12, joined the crowds at the Museum of Modern Art for the final weekend of its sprawling “Picasso Sculpture” exhibition, which was open until midnight on Saturday and Sunday.

A Last-Minute Crush for Picasso at MoMA