Mr Chevalier, the flamboyant new director of the Ballet National Folklorique du Luxembourg, presents an exceptional moment of dance. Ticket link here: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/the-great-chevalier
How do you combine classical ballet, rock music, and haute couture; tradition and innovation, without losing cohesion?
With ease. The secret is to eschew categories and to look at the overall vision as if from the point of view of a raptor. A true artist is an apex predator; we do not see ‘this type of prey’ or ‘that type of prey’. We see only a target to be overwhelmed.
Take as an example, in my own practice, a clear creative parallel that I see between my new work in development for the Ballet National Folklorique du Luxembourg, IMMENSITY, and a recent collaboration with Louis Vuitton for a limited-edition Wagyu leather polo saddle. Remove the shackles of labels from creativity, and we set ourselves free.
Audiences are taught to consume culture as if browsing gift shops in a provincial airport. This is dance. This is fashion. This is music. This is hand-stitched, luxury equine wear. To me, these distinctions are bureaucratic rather than artistic.
How important is keeping tradition alive?
This is everything.
However, I prefer to reframe this question. Keeping something alive implies a desperate struggle, of life support for an ailing form. The question I ask myself is: what force could stop my vision for the Ballet National Folklorique du Luxembourg? There is none. We honour traditions, yes, but we forge onwards; tradition survives not because it is protected, but because it proves itself stronger than the forces attempting to dilute it. It must strike audiences physically and emotionally. Only then does it remain truly alive.
What are the historical links between Edinburgh and the Ballet National Folklorique du Luxembourg?
This is a rich and interesting story, and this is why I am so excited to come to Edinburgh. At first glance, one might imagine very few connections. But in truth, the relationship between Edinburgh and the Ballet National Folklorique du Luxembourg is deep, emotional, and historically layered.
It was very important to me that the production honour Edinburgh not merely as a festival city, but as part of the living mythology of the company itself and the 50th anniversary of a tragic and formative moment in the company’s history. Many people do not realise that the founding sisters of the Ballet National Folklorique du Luxembourg, Josephine and Claudine Bal, maintained profound personal ties to the city following the now infamous 1976 rehearsals for Josiane, the Country Girl at Edinburgh Castle.
I find this very difficult to talk about, please excuse me. During those rehearsals, the Bal sisters’ prized stallion, Claude, was involved in a tragic stampede accident, rampaging down the Royal Mile. Claude required emergency surgery at what is now Summerhall, historically the Veterinary School of the city. His life was only barely saved. Claudine Bal later described the event as “the most psychologically transformative incident of my artistic life.”
For the company, Edinburgh therefore occupies a sacred place somewhere between memory, folklore, trauma, and rebirth. What better atmosphere for great art to flourish!
What are your goals for the dance company?
Total artistic supremacy.
I do not believe national companies should aspire merely to survival. The Ballet National Folklorique du Luxembourg must become unavoidable.
At the same time, our educational responsibilities are profound. Through ‘Mr Chevalier’s Tanzkindergarten’ and our other youth initiatives, we are shaping not merely dancers, but citizens capable of discipline, attention, and cultural devotion. These qualities are increasingly endangered in contemporary society.
What would you say are the identifying features of Luxembourgish folk dance?
Volcanic force with restraint. This is perhaps the defining characteristic.
Luxembourgish folk dance possesses rigour without theatrical narcissism. The emotionality exists, certainly, but it is controlled, architectural, almost mineral in structure. There is extraordinary attention to spacing, rhythm, and grounded physicality. It goes without saying that the world-famous Pigeon Dance is of course emblematic of this.
How do you think dance has changed in recent years, or may change in the future?
We are entering an age of fragmentation. Attention spans collapse, images accelerate, and many performances now seem terrified of truth. In reaction to this, I believe audiences are beginning once again to crave conviction and structure.
The future of dance will belong to artists capable of creating total worlds rather than isolated, ephemeral spectacles. We must be direct, we must mean what we say and be clear in the way we say it. Abstraction is the coward’s parachute.