In the footsteps of a star: the Palais Garnier’s immersive virtual reality experience — our review

Go behind the scenes at the Opéra Garnier with a virtual reality experience in collaboration with INIT Lab, following the steps of the étoile dancer Bleuenn Battistoni! Filmed in 180-degree immersive quality and streamed on Apple Vision Pro headsets, this ~10-minute film is available to all Palais Garnier visitors who already hold a ticket, from July 1 to November 30, 2026.

[midroll]

From the artists’ entrance to the roof, this tour offers a backstage-like glimpse into spaces usually off-limits to the public. Visitors witness the daily rhythm of an étoile dancer: a dance class, a costume fitting, a rehearsal, and a rooftop moment at the Opéra.

No advance booking is needed—just turn up on site at the Rotonde du glacier for 12 euros. Note that, as usual with virtual reality, some viewers may experience a brief sense of dizziness or discomfort if they are sensitive to motion.

Our test

Comfortably seated in one of the Opéra Garnier’s most beautiful auditoria, we strap on the virtual-reality headset for a journey that isn’t through time so much as behind the scenes of the institution—brief, but vividly alive. If you wear glasses, you’ll need to remove them, but you can add a prescription correction to see clearly—handy for nearsighted guests.

There are no CGI images here: what you see was filmed with a 180-degree camera following the étoile through her day. You can turn your head to admire details of places you’d never normally set foot in. The tour slips from the Opera’s most intimate corridors to one of the legendary studios beneath the Palais Garnier’s dome, where dancers treat you to their most graceful arabesques—as if you were really there.

Impressive indeed: the camera closes in on the dancers, letting you hear the accompanying soundscape—from hallway chatter to the rehearsal music. The journey then moves into the costume ateliers, where Bleuenn tries on a pristine white dress amid the swirls of other outfits, which she later wears on stage for her solo rehearsal of La Dame aux camélias by John Neumeier.

A quick swing through the pit with the Opera Orchestra under Maestro Markus Lehtinen, and a stop in the grand hall beneath the Marc Chagall ceiling, before heading upstairs to end on the rooftops at sunset for a breathtaking view. The dancer glides through stairs, and the spectacle unfolds with the capital below, bathed in the glow of the setting sun while Bleuenn’s dress flutters in the breeze.

As noted, if you’re sensitive to VR motion, you’ll feel as though you’re truly following the dancer, sometimes even walking a little, which can be a touch disorienting at first, but you quickly settle in, just like with the scene changes that can be a tad abrupt. A very lovely experience that adds a touch of magic and novelty to your visit to the Palais Garnier!