At the Paris Opera Dance School, Wilfred Romole does not tolerate the boys in their last year, who want to "be ready" for their next career despite a year of great turmoil.
Between the strikes that crippled France at the end of last year and the new Corona virus had been canceled since December, offers of these Paris Opera students, and then had to respect the home quarantine.
The exams were then postponed, especially the entrance examination to the Paris Opera, which is vital and the main objective of the students of this prestigious school, which dates back more than 300 years.
Disappointments rolled. However, the last grade at this elite school leaves more maturity and a second chance for some.
"I quickly realized that an entire generation might be sacrificed," said Elizabeth-Plattel, principal and watchdog of the French style of classical dance. "So I was offered to all students if they did not accept them in the Paris Opera ballet company an additional year at school."
Older students will not meet at the prestigious Garnier Palace, the seat of the Paris Opera at the end of the year, in traditional performances. "For a year, schoolchildren have not faced audiences and stage fright," asserts Elizabeth Platel, a famous former star dancer.
Students resumed lessons in June, just before the summer holidays. 130 out of 150 of them returned after foreigners were stuck from Canada or Australia in their countries.
The boarding school reopened its doors with a pupil in each room instead of three, while folk dance and gesture lessons were suspended. Studios are ventilated regularly while the models are sterilized, and the muzzle placement is obligatory on the move.
Rubens, 18, a student in the last year, is doing exercises. This dancer had an ankle injury before the home stone, and he continued dancing from his home "from almost zero." "It was some kind of prison, but that allowed me to wake up well, and I succeeded in enhancing the quality of my work," he says.
Margot, who is also in the last year, was afraid of "being late" because of the stone, explaining, "It was difficult, but we learned to work on our own."
And quickly organized lessons via the application "Zoom" with individual follow-up. But many conditions were rudimentary, with a window or a chair in the middle of a sitting room as a crossbar.
"They should have been motivated," says Wilfred Romalli, explaining that some of them had a different mindset in June: "They understood very quickly."
While the professor expressed sympathy during the home quarantine phase, the firmness returned to the lady of the situation in the studio. "They should understand that it is necessary to rise again and that it is about their future," he says, but he urges them to stop when they feel any pain.
In this institution known for its rigor and traditions, the crisis has brought the teacher and students closer. "There was a special communication between us," said Girlid Wyatt, a junior professor who accompanied their work through video clips.
And she asserts that the kids "get back in shape very quickly."
Calendar committees for each student will decide whether or not it succeeds.
Elizabeth Platel is attending the new school year "with caution". "We kept the rush. They are kids who really want to dance, but I´m worried about the future of our profession after the pandemic. Are we facing a turn?"
The former dance star, in particular, wants to prepare students for a new reality, explaining, "I want to make them realize the fragility of our profession."
