THE AMERICAN FRIENDS OF LES ETES DE LA DANSE / AFLED
Les Etés de la Danse is an annual dance festival that began in July 2005 with an extremely well received engagement of the San Francisco Ballet. Addressing the lack of major performing arts presentations during the summer in Paris, the festival brings the world’s greatest companies to enthusiastic audiences in the European capital of dance. It’s Honorary Chairman is former First Lady of France, Bernadette Chirac.
In 2006, 2009 and 2012, the festival presented the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to great critical and popular success. Other companies that have performed at the festival to large crowds and rave reviews include the National Ballet of Cuba (2007); Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal (2008); the National Ballet of Novossibirsk from Siberia and a contemporary program with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Ana Laguna (2010); and the Paris premiere of Miami City Ballet and Mikhail Baryshnikov’s dance-theater piece “In Paris” (2011). In 2012, the festival presented the Paul Taylor Dance Company in addition to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
The 2013 season will feature the Vienna State Opera Ballet under the artistic direction of former dancer Manuel Legris, who was named “Etoile” of the Paris Opera Ballet by Rudolf Nureyev in 1986. In 2014, 2015 and 2016, the festival plans to present the San Francisco Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Company, an “encore” of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and a number of other American dance companies.
In recognition of the festival’s close ties to the American dance community, The American Friends of Les Etés de la Danse (AFLED), a U.S. based, tax-exempt organization, was established in 2012 to provide support for the festival’s presentation of American companies and artists.
Board of Trustees:
Marina de Brantes, Chairman ; Edward A. Reilly, President
Jacques Bouhet, Treasurer ; Hal J. Witt, Secretary
Cheryl Bergenfeld, Betsy Bernardaud, Susan Fales-Hills, Alison Mazzola
Contact: Valery Colin, Director of Les Etés de la Danse at 33 (0)1 42 68 2215 or info@lesetesdeladanse.com, or Hal J. Witt, Secretary of AFLED at 917-543-3835 or halwitt@verizon.net.