Alaïa Outfitted Dancers in ‘Supple Armor’ for Paris Opera

MAKING A MOVE: Supple armor is how Alaïa describes the costumes its inventive director Pieter Mulier created for “Pit,” a frenetic new ballet by choreographers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber that premiered on the Paris Opera on Friday.

Titled “Pit,” the one-hour ballet is scheduled for 9 performances at Palais Garnier by way of March 30.

Smith and Schraiber are maybe greatest recognized for the 2020 movie “Aviva,” wherein they each starred and danced.

“Pit” contains a “fashionable and figurative” stage design, whereas the music consists of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto and an unique composition by Celeste Oram, including as much as “a sensual, tribal and dramatic universe,” in response to an outline on the Paris Opera website. “A sizzling mess” is how a New York Occasions critic summed it up.

In response to Alaïa, Mulier employed iconic supplies utilized by the home and took inspiration from “the free actions of the dancers.” The garments, all in black and white, had been designed to match the our bodies of the dancers and spotlight their actions.

Smith and Schraiber each educated on the Batsheva Dance Firm in Tel Aviv, Israel, underneath Ohad Naharin.

Iowa-born Smith has created works for the Martha Graham Dance Firm, the L.A. Dance Challenge and the Royal Danish Ballet, whereas Schraiber, an Israeli nationwide, has directed, choreographed and acted in a number of brief movies.

It’s been a busy 2023 thus far for Mulier, who in January unveiled Alaïa’s “summer-fall” assortment at his sprawling rooftop house in Antwerp, Belgium.