![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/sut-l-dance-iloveparis-01.jpg\")
San Diego Ballet dancer Jessica Conniff will perform in the company\u2019s spring dance concert \u201cImpressionism: I Love Paris\u201d at the San Diego Museum of Art, May 22-24. (Canela Photography)<\/p>\nSan Diego Ballet\u2019s artistic director Javier Velasco has two things in common with French artists Edgar Degas and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: an affinity for the City of Light and a passion for creating work inspired by dancers.<\/p>\n
For next weekend\u2019s \u201cI Love Paris,\u201d the final show in a series of ballet concerts celebrating the San Diego Museum of Art\u2019s centennial, the theme is Impressionism. Works from the museum\u2019s collection, including Degas\u2019 \u201cThe Ballerina\u201d and Toulouse-Lautrec\u2019s colorful depictions of Parisian dancers, catalyzed Velasco\u2019s choreography.<\/p>\n
Degas is known for depicting ballet dancers in a behind-the-scenes way, at rehearsals or backstage, paintings that suggest the reality of their difficult lives.<\/p>\n
But Velasco points out that his gauzy artworks, with their nearly blended pastel hues, are more of an exploration of color and light.<\/p>\n
San Diego Ballet dancer Jessica Conniff will perform in the company\u2019s spring dance concert \u201cImpressionism: I Love Paris\u201d at the San Diego Museum of Art, May 22-24. (Canela Photography)<\/p>\n
\u201cImpressionism is about movement and color, both in music and in art,\u201d Velasco said. \u201cYou\u2019re dealing with light and energy and that\u2019s the focus. The subject becomes the artist\u2019s tool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Velasco chose the sensual music of Impressionistic composer Claude Debussy\u2019s \u201cPrelude to the Afternoon of a Faun\u201d to create a pas de deux that pays tribute to the beauty of the human body.<\/p>\n
The tentative, repeating melody was based on a poem about a faun who becomes emotionally stirred by a group of young girls as he awakens from his afternoon nap.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like that piece because it has the quality of a very hot afternoon, where you push your body to move,\u201d Velasco described. \u201cThere\u2019s a weight to it and the movement is very sculptural \u2014 you\u2019re using human flesh as clay and it is erotic. The presentation of it is very modern. It\u2019s about a young man who is involved with his own beauty, and he has an encounter with a young lady, who is more involved with her beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Songs from the swinging compilation album \u201cA Bachelor in Paris\u201d accompany another ballet work.<\/p>\n
![\"French](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/sut-l-sdma-degas.jpg\")
French painter Edgar Degas\u2019 1876 work \u201cThe Ballerina\u201d is the inspiration for a dance work in San Diego Ballet\u2019s upcoming \u201cI Love Paris\u201d dance concert. (San Diego Museum of Art, purchase through the Earle W. Grant Acquisition Fund, 1976)<\/p>\n
Released on Capitol Records in 1996, the disc includes tracks such as \u201cC\u2019est Magnifique\u201d by Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra and a horn-driven \u201cLa Vie en Rose\u201d by Sam Butera and The Witnesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all of these songs that you associate with Paris, but they aren\u2019t highbrow, or played in the way that you are used to hearing them,\u201d Velasco explained. \u201cI love the version of \u2018La Vie en Rose\u2019 and I had a blast putting it together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ballet will be performed against a backdrop of posters created by Toulouse-Lautrec, who famously captured can-can dancers with their black stockings, towering headpieces and voluminous petticoats.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a can-can in it,\u201d Velasco revealed. \u201cBut it\u2019s an inverted can-can. It\u2019s not just a bunch of girls in a line kicking \u2014 it\u2019s a large group piece and it\u2019s going to be a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
The concert also includes \u201cWater Lilies\u201d by choreographer and former San Diego Dance Theater artistic director Jean Isaacs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to see a retrospective of her work earlier this year and I asked her if we could perform that piece in this concert,\u201d Velasco said. \u201cIt was based on Claude Monet\u2019s \u2018Water Lilies,\u2019 and it used Impressionistic music. I thought it would fit really well into our concert because the museum just had a Monet acquisition. I spoke with Jean and she\u2019s having one of her dancers, Blythe Barton, come in and she will be in the piece and set it on the company.\u201d<\/p>\n
Velasco visited Paris in 2008 and found the city to be an \u201cenchanting, romantic hub.\u201d<\/p>\n
He remembered the tree-lined boulevards and drifting along the Seine River. He recalled a floor show at the former Lido de Paris cabaret on the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es and wondered at the immensity of the Eiffel Tower.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor \u2018I Love Paris,\u2019 I wanted to go with an uplifting feeling,\u201d Velasco said. \u201cThat\u2019s what this ballet is about. It says \u2014 let\u2019s live in this moment of delight.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Diego Ballet presents \u2018I Love Paris\u2019<\/p>\n
When: 7 p.m. Friday, May 22; 8 p.m. Saturday[, May 23; 2 p.m. next Sunday, May 24<\/p>\n
Where: San Diego Museum of Art, James S. Copley Auditorium, 1450 El Prado, San Diego<\/p>\n
Tickets: $45-$65<\/p>\n