To speak of that ballet is very difficult because the theme is so popular as a fairy tale, adapted by Perrault from German folklore and then recuperated from the same folklore by the Grimm brothers, and what's more turned into an unforgettable film by Walt Disney. Angelin Preljocaj was thus trying to break a mould in which that character and her story had been cast seemingly for ever. And it is a success. Because first the setting, the stage direction are very interesting and rich. Rich are the costumes. Rich are the main ideas of the setting like the enormous magic mirror coming down from the sky, or like the deep underground mine turned into a vertical surface on which the seven dwarfs are dancing like dragon-flies on their strings.

Dans un décor loin d'être bucolique, quatre jardiniers, modernes Cupidons aux lunettes noires, rythment le mécanisme des conquêtes sentimentales : on se cherche, on s'aguiche, on s'observe, on se désire, on se refuse mais l'orgueil finit par céder en libérant les ardeurs trop longtemps refoulées. Sur des musiques empruntées à Mozart, Preljocaj campe les stratégies galantes qui aboutissent à l'amour.

Le chorégraphe part ici à la recherche des codes et comportements amoureux de la littérature des xviie et xviiie siècles depuis les amours platoniques de La Princesse de Clèves jusqu'au libertinage des Liaisons dangereuses.

Polina is a young dancer from a modest family. After years of ballet academy, she is accepted by the Bolshoi; still, she decides to try and audition of a modern dance company in France. She makes it, but her journey will not end there...