"Le ballet" (meaning "The Ballet") is a radio single by Céline Dion from her album D'eux. It was released in January 1996 in France^[1] and was immediately a huge radio hit, ranking as the 6th most economically profitable song of 1996 in France.^[2]

"Le ballet" is a bluesy groove song, with percussive finger snaps, harmonica and electric guitar that shows Dion singing blues for first time. The song is an example of D'eux style that was influenced by continental pop, folk music, jazz and '70s soul. Written and produced by Jean-Jacques Goldman this track is considered an example of Goldman's handling of mature topics and feelings and is known for Dion's imitations of instruments. Starting in her D'eux Tour in 1995, and featured on the Live à Paris album, she used an extended version of this song to introduce all her band members. She performed the song similarly on her Falling Into You Tour.

There was no video for the song made.

"Le ballet" was included as the B-side of "Falling into You" single, released later.

It was also featured on some editions of Céline Dion's greatest hits compilation On ne change pas in 2005.

Formats and track listings[link]

French promotional CD single

1. "Le ballet" – 4:25

References[link]

Daniil Simkin (born 12 October 1987 in Novosibirsk) is a Russian ballet dancer. His parents Dmitrij Simkin and Olga Aleksandrova are also ballet dancers. The family left the Soviet Union in 1990. His parents were engaged to dance in Graz, then took engagements in various cities in Germany before settling in Wiesbaden in 1993, where he spent the rest of his childhood.

Unlike most professional ballet dancers Simkin did not attend a vocational ballet school. He was coached privately by his mother, who became a ballet teacher after retiring from dancing in 1999, while attending regular German high school. He also danced duets with his father, and gained stage experience by appearing in ballet productions in Wiesbaden as a child. As a teenager he won first prize in several of the world's leading ballet competitions.

Simkin's first professional position was with the Vienna State Opera Ballet, where he was a demi-soloist from 2006 to 2008. During this time he made his debut in a principal role as a guest with the Lithuanian National Ballet. In 2008 he became a soloist at the American Ballet Theatre in New York. He is a regular on the international ballet gala circuit, and presented his own gala in Athens in 2009 in collaboration with his father, who now works as a choreographer and stage designer.

Simkin is often spoken of as one of the most significant male talents to emerge in ballet in recent years. He is relatively small and lightly built, and of a youthful demeanour, but he is noted for his exceptional jumps, the speed and precision of his pirouettes, and his instinctive communication with the audience.

Simkin has been noted as one of the first ballet dancers to be active in Web 2.0 media such as YouTube and twitter, and has spoken in interviews about the need for ballet to open up, demystify itself and modernize the way it connects with audiences.

See also[link]

• List of Russian ballet dancers

External links[link]

• Official site
• Official YouTube site
• American Ballet Theatre profile
• Official Twitter Account

Maria Kochetkova (b. 1984 in Moscow. Russia), is a Principal Dancer with the San Francisco Ballet. She trained at the Bolshoi Ballet School for eight years before dancing with The Royal Ballet and English National Ballet in London. She joined the San Francisco Ballet as a Principal Dancer in 2007.

Her classical repertoire includes the title role in "Giselle", Aurora in "The Sleeping Beauty", Kitri in "Don Quixote", Juliet in "Romeo & Juliet", Odette-Odile in "Swan Lake", Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy in "The Nutcracker" and the title role in "Alice in Wonderland". She has also performed in George Balanchine’s "Coppelia" (as Swanilda), Divertimento No. 15, Jewels (Emeralds and Rubies), Serenade and Theme and Variations, Symphony in C (2nd movement), William Forsythe’s in the middle, somewhat elevated and Artifact Suite, Kenneth MacMillan's Winter Dreams, Frederick Ashton's Symphonic Variations, Wayne McGregor's Chroma (opening night for US premiere) and ballets by David Dawson, Derek Deane, Jorma Elo, Mark Morris, Yuri Possokhov, Alexei Ratmansky, Jerome Robbins, Helgi Tomasson, Christopher Wheeldon and Hans Van Manen.

Kochetkova has created principal roles in Yuri Possokhov’s Diving into the Lilacs, Raymonda Pas de Deux and Classical Symphony, Helgi Tomasson’s On a Theme of Paganini and Trio, and Christopher Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour and Number 9.

She performs as a guest artist with the Bolshoi Ballet and Stanislavsky Theaters in Moscow, the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg, the Tokyo Ballet in Japan including performances as Kitri in Don Quixote for the opening night of the 2009 NBS World Ballet Festival in Tokyo and with the Bolshoi's Reflections project (2011) at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

Kochetkova performed the Grand Pas de Deux in San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker which was broadcast by PBS in 2008 and won the solo gold medal in the NBC series Superstars of Dance which was watched by over 10 million viewers.

Kochetkova’s prizes and awards include the Isadora Duncan Award for the role of Giselle and medals at the International Ballet Competitions in Seoul (Gold, 2005), Rome (Gold, 2005), Riety (Gold, 2005), Luxembourg (Gold, 2003), Varna (Silver and the Press Jury Prize, 2002), Moscow (Bronze, 2001). She is also a winner of the "Prix de Lausanne" (2002).

See also[link]

• List of Russian ballet dancers

External links[link]

• Official website
• "Cupcakes & Conversation with Maria Kochetkova". Ballet News. April 1, 2010. http://balletnews.co.uk/cupcakes-conversation-with-maria-kochetkova-principal-san-francisco-ballet/.