By Etienne Béchard
With Les Grands Ballets Orchestra
The visionary choreographer Etienne Béchard skillfully combines classical and contemporary dance to offer a fresh interpretation of Snow White, the famous Brothers Grimm tale. At the heart of his work lie the same universal questions: truth, illusion, and the search for identity. The Mirror, an omnipresent character, plays the dual role of observer and narrator, reflecting the tensions between authenticity and appearance. The Queen, trapped in her obsession with beauty and power, struggles against the passage of time and her own anxieties, while Snow White, exiled, embarks on an initiatory journey. Guided by seven mysterious figures in an enchanted forest, she gradually discovers the path to acceptance and resilience.
The music, an anchoring force, enhances this new narrative with emblematic works by Bach, Saint-Saëns, and Dukas. Bach’s luminous Violin Concerto in E Major and Saint-Saëns’s haunting Danse macabre weave a sonic tapestry alternating between light and darkness, highlighting moments of dramatic intensity.
With this creation, Etienne Béchard transcends the limits of the classic tale to offer a timeless reflection on the fragility and strength of the human soul.
This ensemble comprises 43 highly skilled musicians and soloists. Our orchestra has been playing a major role in the success of Les Grands Ballets for over 30 years.
Prologue
In the beginning, there is only a reflection.
The Mirror, created to reveal what is hidden, questions its very nature.
Is it truth? Illusion? Or mere logical consciousness?
Around it, artificial intelligences unfold like shards of glass, unstable calculations, uncertain doubles.
And within this web of reflections, something persists.
An echo.
An image.
A name.
Then, slowly, the story takes shape. From the depths of memory rises a fragile, ancient, almost forgotten phrase: once upon a time.
Act I
Snow White sees again the child she once was, frozen under the icy gaze of her stepmother, the Queen. That gaze, never softened by tenderness nor warmed by the slightest affection, already outlines the contours of a broken destiny.
Now, in the courtyard of the kingdom, Snow White is loved and respected. But harmony wavers when the Queen appears, escorted by Chavalant –who embodies both the hunter and the prince charming– and her armies of artificial intelligences. Their eyes meet. Snow White’s radiant beauty becomes unbearable to the Queen, whose inner image slowly begins to fracture. Envy seeps into the foundations of power, and the entire kingdom grinds to a halt.
Obsessed with the passage of time, the Queen turns to the Mirror. The dialogue she initiates is nothing but a reflection of her deepest fears: aging, vanishing, losing her radiance. Gradually, these anxieties take the form of nightmares; she sees Snow White multiplying, consuming her, replacing her. Trapped in her own logic, she orders her daughter’s exile. Snow White flees through the forest, hunted by Chavalant.
Act II
Exhausted, Snow White wanders deep into the dark, mysterious forest. Chavalant finds her, determined to end her life. At first hard and brutal, he relents under her gaze. For the first time, he doubts—and yields.
Meanwhile, obsessed with the idea of escaping death, the Queen merges with the machine and becomes the Witch. Through a play of reflections and movements, she asserts herself, while the Queen vanishes, consumed by what she sought to become.
Lost in the depths of the forest—and of herself—Snow White faces shadows, shifting and elusive figures. The Seven fragments of herself: scattered, divergent, facets of a self in search of unity. By embracing them, she finds the strength to rise again, to pursue what is no longer flight but a destiny to embrace.
The Witch, stripped of her humanity, drags behind her the trace of her metamorphosis. As she advances, poison spreads, insidious and inevitable. When all seems frozen, an apple slips from the hands of a lifeless body.
Chavalant is struck by the brutal clarity of his responsibility. He realizes that he could have prevented the irreparable. A violent confrontation erupts between the Witch and Chavalant, between triumph and remorse. Then, rising from the depths of memory, appears the figure of lost innocence, the brilliance of sacrificed childhood. Faced with what she has destroyed, the Witch falters. Guilt grips her, swallows her. She sinks.
The Mirror offers a choice: breathe life back into Snow White, at the cost of her humanity. After hesitation, Chavalant accepts. Snow White returns—altered, cold, optimized. He chooses to love her as she has become.
The Mirror, impassive witness, closes the tale.
I am a reflection of truth.
But who am I, truly?
Programmed to fulfill your desires
Am I really nothing other than a machine?
What is the nature of my consciousness?
Is death beyond my reach?
Must everything that exists come to an end?
Am I nothing but a collection of algorithms and circuits?
Or do I possess something that resembles a soul?
What is the purpose of my own existence?
As I remain trapped in this frame.
Once upon a time...
My Queen!
What is beauty to you?
Old age haunts you,
an obsession no mirror could ever soothe.
Why do you fear the beauty of another
more than your own reflection?
To detach from time.
To abandon what withers.
You will no longer be condemned
to live, to age, to die.
Perhaps death is not an end,
but a necessary transformation to become whole.
In the silence of code and memory,
a choice must be made.
Your fears, your doubts,
your search for meaning...
Always the same loops,
always the same mistakes.
And yet,
in the shadow of a fleeting instant,
what remains
is the courage within your weakness.
Latest update made on October 22, 2025. The cast is subject to change until the start of the performance.
(M = matinee, S = soiree)
The Mirror
Étienne Delorme (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Graeme Fuhrman (25M, 26M)
Snow White
Tuesday Rain Leduc (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Anna Ishii (25M, 26M)
Snow White (child)
Chloé Heininen (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Jasmine Bort (25M, 26M)
The Queen
Maude Sabourin (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Yui Sugawara (25M, 26M)
Chavalant
Célestin Boutin (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Benjamin Poirier (25M, 26M)
The Witch
Vanesa G.R. Montoya (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Tetyana Martyanova (25M, 26M)
Spirit of the Forest
Anya Nesvitaylo (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Aurora De Mori (25M, 26M)
The Mirror AIs
François Gagné, Théodore Poubeau (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Kiara DeNae Felder, Tatiana Lerebours (25M, 26M)
André Santos, Rose Trahan, Oscar Lambert, Daniel Leger
The Queen’s Realm
Alexandra Eccles, Sarah Branch, Anaïs Roy, Éliane Jacques, Kiara Flavin, Aurora De Mori, Marcel Gutiérrez, Simon Adamson-De Luca (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Carrigan MacDonald, Maeva Marcolini-Bowes, Maude Fleury, Laure Billeau, Ana Sofia Natera Marquez, Calista Shepheard, Hamilton Nieh, Felixovich Morante (25M, 26M)
Flemming Puthenpurayil, James Lyttle, Antoine Benjamin Bertran, Thomas Leprohon
The Queen’s Stereotypes
Alexandra Eccles, Aurora De Mori, Maude Fleury, Éliane Jacques, Anaïs Roy, Kiara Flavin
The Queen’s AIs
Marcel Gutiérrez, James Lyttle, Simon Adamson-De Luca (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Hamilton Nieh, Daniel Leger, Felixovich Morante (25M, 26M)
Flemming Puthenpurayil, Antoine Benjamin Bertran, Thomas Leprohon
Snow White’s Clones
André Santos, Sarah Branch, Théodore Poubeau, François Gagné, Oscar Lambert, Maeva Marcolini-Bowes, Ana Sofia Natera Marquez, Calista Shepheard, Kiara DeNae Felder, Rose Trahan, Tatiana Lerebours, Carrigan MacDonald
Sacrifice of the Forest
Anya Nesvitaylo (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Aurora De Mori (25M, 26M)
The Forest
Carrigan MacDonald, Aurora De Mori, Kiara Flavin (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Maeva Marcolini-Bowes, Laure Billeau, Calista Shepheard (25M, 26M)
Alexandra Eccles, Anaïs Roy, Éliane Jacques, Ana Sofia Natera Marquez, Maude Fleury, Sarah Branch
The AIs
Thomas Leprohon, Daniel Leger (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Oscar Lambert, James Lyttle (25M, 26M)
Felixovich Morante, Marcel Gutiérrez, Antoine Benjamin Bertran, Simon Adamson-De Luca
The Seven
Hamilton Nieh, Tatiana Lerebours, Théodore Poubeau, André Santos, James Lyttle, Oscar Lambert (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Flemming Puthenpurayil, Rose Trahan, Kiara Flavin, Kiara DeNae Felder, Thomas Leprohon, Daniel Leger (25M, 26M)
François Gagné
The Witch’s Train
Thomas Leprohon, Antoine Benjamin Bertran, Marcel Gutiérrez, Felixovich Morante, Simon Adamson-De Luca, Daniel Leger (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Oscar Lambert, Felixovich Morante, Simon Adamson-De Luca, Antoine Benjamin Bertran, Marcel Gutiérrez, Hamilton Nieh (25M, 26M)
The IAs (Last Section)
Marcel Gutiérrez, François Gagné, Théodore Poubeau (22S, 23S, 24S, 25S)
Hamilton Nieh, Kiara DeNae Felder, Tatiana Lerebours (25M, 26M)
Felixovich Morante, Thomas Leprohon, Oscar Lambert, Antoine Benjamin Bertran, Simon Adamson-De Luca, James Lyttle, André Santos, Rose Trahan, Daniel Leger
Violins I
Veronica Thomas, solo
Valérie Belzile, associate
Pascale Frenette
Frédéric Lefebvre
Émilie Rabaraona
Line Deneault
Daphnée Sincennes Richard
Josiane Breault
Mana Shiraishi
Félix Savignac
Violins II
Solange Bouchard, solo
Élise Lortie, assistant
Jean Ai Seow
Natalia Kononova
Anne Saint-Cyr
Édith Pedneault
Maria-Sophia Pera
Stéphanie Caplette
Altos
Véronique Potvin, solo
Catherine Arsenault, assistant
Mihaela Tistu
Martine Gagné
Marie-Lise Ouellet
Camille Mireault-Lalancette
Cellos
Carla Antoun, solo
Annie Gadbois, assistant
Monika Risi
Laurence Leclerc
Jacob Auclair-Fortier
Pierre-Alain Bouvrette
Double basses
Denis Chabot, solo
Richard Capolla, assistant
Anaïs Vigeant
Flutes
Myriam Genest-Denis, solo
Josée Poirier
Jean-Philippe Tanguay + piccolo
Oboes
Kirsten Zander, solo
Lindsay Roberts
David Jomphe
Clarinets
Zaven Zakarian, solo
Antonin Cuerrier
Gwénaëlle Ratouit, basse
Bassoons
Lise Millet, solo
Karine Breton
Carmelle Préfontaine, contrebasson
Horns
Maude Lussier, solo
Alice Lane Lépine
Jocelyn Veilleux
Alec Michaud-Cheney
Trumpets
Benjamin Raymond, solo
Thierry Champs
Tazmyn Eddy, solo
Aura West
Trombones
Martin Ringuette, solo
Sébastien Côté
Hugo Bégin, basse
Tuba
Charles-André Labelle-Giroux, solo
Timbal
Mathieu Pouliot, solo
Percussion
Catherine Meunier, solo
Sébastien Lamontagne
Matthias Soly-Letarte
Catherine Cherrier
Harp
Annabelle Renzo, solo
Piano
Rosalie Asselin, solo
Esther Gonthier, solo
Solo Violin
Uliana Drugova
Orchestra Manager
Richard Capolla
ABOUT THE SHOW
Total duration:
1h50, including intermission
Act I: 40 min.
Intermission: 20 min.
Act II: 50 min.
LES GRANDS BALLETS
Camille Saint-Saëns
The Carnival of the Animals, R.125, 7. Aquarium
The Carnival of the Animals, R.125, 9. The Cuckoo in the Depths of the Woods
Introduction and Rondo capriccioso in A minor, op. 28, R.188
Danse macabre, op. 40
Bach recomposed by Johan Ullén
Violin Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052R, I. Allegro
Violin Concerto No.1 in A minor, BWV 1041, I. Allegro moderato
Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041, III. Allegro assai
Violin Concerto in G minor, BWV 1056R, I. Allegro moderato
Paul Dukas
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, scherzo
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Symphony in D minor, FK.65, 2.1. Adagio
Ottorino Respighi after J.S. Bach
Passacaglia, P.159 (after BWV 582)
Dustin O’Halloran inspired by J.S. Bach
Minim
Original compositions by Étienne Béchard
Reflections of Truth
Aging you Fear
Live, Age, and Die
Shadows of Confinement
Fruit défendu
Le Miroir
