The Beauty and the Beast is a famous tale imagined by Mrs. de Villeneuve and rewritten by Mrs. Leprince de Beaumont in the 18th century. In 1946, the film maker and poet Jean Cocteau turned it into a movie, which became a classic. Then, Thierry Malandain too got inspired by the story and created to the rhythm of the 5th and 6th symphonies by Tchaikovsky, a Russian composer from the 19th century.

For Thierry Malandain, the opposition between the monster and the young woman symbolizes the fight between body and soul in which each choreographer engages when creating a piece. Three characters were added to the original story : a man wearing black (the artist), a female dancer wearing a suit top (their soul) and a male dancer wearing the bottom of the suit (their body).

The main curtains open and close like book pages turning, and this trio gives birth before your eyes to the different scenes of the story. First, a big costume ball to which a merchant's three daughters and two sons participate.

Then, their solitary life when bankrupt chases them far from the city. After that, the father's promise to Belle, the youngest and wisest of his children, that he'll bring her a rose, when he is about to leave on a trip to get his wealth back. His way back through a dangerous forest, and his arrival in a castle where a strange atmosphere reminds of a movie picture.

When he picks a rose, played by a ballerina wearing a white tutu, a man whose face is hidden behind a black veil, the Beast, erupts and demands one of the merchant's daughters in exchange of the flower. The Beast suffers from his ugliness, just like the creator suffers from his internal turmoil, but six elements give him magical powers: love, the rose, the key, the horse, the mirror, and the glove. It wants to be loved by Belle and gives her luxurious dresses as presents. The young woman gradually overcomes her disgust, and her dancing shows the evolution of her feelings in a moving series of pas de deux.

But it will take separation, during a visit to her sick father, for her to share her love, upset by the Beast's despair. After a final ball, the artist, at peace with themselves, can then cover his characters with a golden veil and drop the curtain on their creation.