Maurice Béjart | |
|---|---|
_by_Erling_Mandelmann_-_2.jpg) Béjart in 1988 | |
| Born | Maurice-Jean Berger (1927-01-01)1 January 1927 Marseille, France |
| Died | 22 November 2007(2007-11-22) (aged 80) Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Occupation(s) | Dancer, choreographer and opera director |
Maurice Béjart (French:[beʒaʁ]; 1 January 1927 – 22 November 2007) was a French dancer,choreographer andopera director who ran theBéjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He developed a popular expressionistic form of modern ballet, tackling vast themes.[1] He was awarded Swiss citizenship posthumously.
Maurice-Jean Berger was born inMarseille, France, in 1927, the son of French philosopherGaston Berger. Fascinated by a recital ofSerge Lifar, he decided to devote himself entirely to dance. In South France days, he had studied underMathilde Kschessinska.
In 1945, he enrolled as a corps de ballet at theOpéra de Marseille. From 1946, he had studied under MadamRousanne Sarkissian,Léo Staats, MadamLyubov Yegorova andOlga Preobrajenska at "Studio Wacker", etc. in Paris.
In 1948, he also trained withJanine Charrat,Yvette Chauviré and then withRoland Petit, in addition he had studied underVera Volkova at London.[2][3][4]
In 1954, he founded the Ballet de l'Étoile company (dissolved in 1957). In 1960 he founded theBallet du XXe Siècle inBrussels (dissolved in 1987).
In 1973, with the Ballet du XXe siecle, he premiered "Golestan", on a poem by Sa'di, based on Iranian traditional music. The ballet was commissioned by the Shiraz-Persepolis Festival of Arts where it was premiered. The first performance of "Improvisation sur Mallarme III" with music by the French composer Pierre Boulez also took place at that Festival in 1973. "Farah", also based on Iranian traditional music was the Ballet's own commission, premiered in Brussels in 1976 and brought to the Shiraz-Persepolis Festival that same year. The 1976 Festival also witnessed the first performance of "Heliogabalus", based on a poem by Artaud. The Festival's patron wasFarah Pahlavi, the former Empress of Iran, with whom Béjart kept strong ties to the end.
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In 1987 he moved toLausanne in Switzerland, where he founded theBéjart Ballet Lausanne.
Among his works is a thoroughly revised version ofThe Nutcracker, presumably inspired by his own life story, which he staged in 2000. It still usesTchaikovsky's original score, but completely scraps the original plot and characters, instead supplying a new story about a boy's efforts to re-connect with his mother. We also are given a look into the boy's strange sexual fantasies. The production design is full of erotic images — some of which are most likely shocking to many, such aswombs and vaginal openings.[1] One of the characters isMarius Petipa, who becomesMephisto. Another character is calledFelix the Cat, presumably after the famous cartoon character. The production has been issued onDVD.
One of Béjart's masterpiece works of dance was choreography he set to French composer Maurice Ravel's "Boléro." InThe New York Times, Jennifer Dunning described Béjart's "Bolero" as "probably his best known and most popular dance."[5] Created in 1960 for the Yugoslav ballerinaDuška Sifnios, the dance features a dancer on a tabletop, surrounded by seated men, who slowly participate in the dance, culminating in a climactic union of the dancers atop the table.[6] Dancers who would later perform Béjart's interpretation of "Bolero" includeSylvie Guillem from the Paris Opera Ballet, Grazia Galante,Maya Plisetskaya, Angele Albrecht, andRoberto Bolle. In a twist,Jorge Donn also played the role of the principal dancer, becoming the first male to do so. One of Donn's such performances can be seen in French filmmakerClaude Lelouch's 1981 musical epic,Les Uns et les Autres.
Béjart was the founder of several dance schools:
During his lifetime, Béjart received many awards and distinctions for his contributions to the arts.[7]
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