THE PARIS OPERA

BACK STAGE. Paris Opera keeps venerable crafts alive.................
AT the Paris Opera, people often say that for the curtain to rise on its stars, the talents of 100  different tracks are needed behind the scenes.

Thanks to an academy, founded in 2015, to preserve some of those specialised crafts, Brazilian Tulio Morais will finally release his dream of leaning to make ballet tutus.

Every year, 40 students like Morais train in skills such as costume making, wig design and tapestry, as well as lyrical singing and music, at the heart of the open company, which celebrates its 350th anniversary next year.

While other opera houses have workshops in singing and sewing, Paris Opera, the largest in Europe, is the ''only one in the world that teaches such a large number of arts,'' Myriam Mazouri the academy director told AFP.

The concept is to pass on the knowledge of those crafts at risk of disappearing to already experienced professionals who can sage-guard the know-how.

''In some sectors it was a real struggle to recruit people,'' the director said. In the female costume department at the opera's historic  Palais Gamier site in central Paris, tutor and workshop head  Anne-Anne-Marie Legend promises Morais that he will soon put together the first tutu for ''Sweet Lake'' in January.

She runs him through the process, from costume design to fitting and adjusting the volumes.

''I always dreamed of  of  making timeless clothes,'' says Morais, who is discovering new stitching and finishing techniques.

With  ready-to-wear  collections, ''it lasts six months, a costume on stage, it's for life.''

Bygone Hairstyles
Nearby, dozens of white tutus are hanging up in a historic room known as ''central''.

''There are very few people in the world who know''  how to make the emblematic  ballet skirt, which was first created at Paris Opera in the 19th, Legrand said.

''There is no real school for this,'' she added. [Agencies]