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Lou de Laâge Defied ‘Normal Codes of Seduction’ for Étoile
How the French actress found her ballet muscle memory, managed Cheyenne’s mommy issues, and learned English through speed-talking à la Palladino.
The French actress Lou de Laâge found her ballet muscle memory, managed Cheyenne’s mommy issues, and learned English through speed-talking à la Palladino. Before the world-class Parisian ballerina played by Lou de Laâge is sent to live in New York as part of a trade to draw audiences and hopefully save dance, she’s at sea with ecowarriors, bellowing against fishermen operating illegally like a caricature of a Frenchwoman speaking English. It’s a lot for one character to contain, and de Laâge, adapting to the Palladinos’ signature speed in a language foreign to her, makes Cheyenne impossible to look away from — especially when, late in the season, she slips while performing the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” and is struck by the realization that, maybe, she isn’t perfect after all.
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