The Paris Opera Junior Ballet arrives among the hills of Monferrato With the support of Chanel, the new generation of the Paris Opéra inaugurates the season at Orsolina28

There are places one visits to watch a performance, and others that exist above all to reveal how a performance comes into being. Orsolina28, nestled among the hills of Monferrato, belongs to the second category. It is here that the Paris Opera Junior Ballet will inaugurate its 2026/2027 season, bringing to Italy a three-week residency devoted to research, training, and choreographic creation.

The project, made possible through the support of Chanel, founding partner of the Opéra national de Paris Junior Ballet, will culminate on Friday, 18 September, with Glimpses of Dance, an event at Orsolina28's Open Air Stage that will offer audiences the chance to step inside — at least for one evening — a process that usually remains hidden from view. More than a simple Italian tour, the Piedmont residency will be a genuine working period for the company's young dancers.

Founded in 2024, the Paris Opera Junior Ballet brings together dancers between the ages of 18 and 23 through a two-year professional programme designed to guide a new generation of performers toward the world of major companies. During their time at Orsolina28, the dancers will work across three distinct directions in contemporary and classical dance.

The first is Eternal Rift, a 2025 creation by Julian Nicosia built around the tension between bodily closeness and separation. Alongside it sits The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude by William Forsythe, a 1996 pas de cinq that transforms the rigour of classical vocabulary into an exercise in speed, precision, and virtuosity set to music by Schubert. The third strand looks directly to the future: Polish choreographer Anna Hop will use the Italian residency to develop a new work with seven dancers, set to premiere at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on 9 January 2027.

It is precisely this laboratory dimension that makes the choice of Orsolina28 so meaningful. Born in the countryside of Moncalvo as a foundation dedicated to dance and the performing arts, the venue brings a cultural model — rooted in artistic residencies, cross-disciplinary exchange, and the relationship between body and landscape — far beyond the major urban centres.

With the Paris Opéra Junior Ballet in residence for three weeks, Monferrato becomes one of the places where the next generation of European dance takes shape. And Glimpses of Dance will be the opportunity to witness not only the result, but above all the process.