Maurice Béjart's death

[cygneblanc]

http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/people/0,,3629213,...st-decede-.html

What a sad news.

[cygneblanc]

Newspaper Le monde is bringing back old articles

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-...1-981261,0.html

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-...1-981261,0.html

[ami1436]

I was just about to post the same, cygneblanc, as my Swiss friend has emailed me with the news. It seems to have not yet made it into the English press. Sad news indeed.

ETA: this came up as soon as I finished posting:

http://www.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/...229366220071122

[Estelle]

Béjart being probably the best known choreographer in France, I guess that there will be many

articles in the French press...

There's an article about him on the main page of the web site of "Libération":

http://www.liberation.fr/culture/293089.FR.php

He undoubtedly was quite a fascinating character- and very active until his last moments !

[Natalia]

I just found out, too. Very sorry to learn this news. Here is another obit:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i6prd_...UDcehst6agYxtjw

[ngitanjali]

I froze as I did my daily scan of nytimes.com. The article was filed at about 7:30 AM EST, so I guess that's when the news broke to the English press. I'm also doing a presentation on Bejart for my French culture class, so this news hit me especially hard

He did have a long and rich life, and gave us many beautiful and interesting works to discuss and admire.

ngitanjali

[87Sigfried87]

A real genius in the world of ballet is gone.We'll all miss his works,his masterpieces.Wondering who's gonna take his place...not that someone could take his place,but i wonder who's gonnA lead his CDB....a sad news yes.

[cygneblanc]

http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/people/0,,3629238,...oregraphe-.html

Claude Bessy's feedback. She's very moved. It's very unusual to see her like that when you have known her as POB's school director. She is saying that:

1) She saw Maurice Bejart last week. He wanted to die, because he was suffering very much.

2) He made necessary legal arrangements. Gil Roman may take the lead in Lausanne. The legal rights of MB's works have been given to several dancers.

3) He seemed to have asked her to be a supervisor in this process, but it isn't very clear

4) If dance has a public today, it is because of Maurice Bejart

[bart]

Thank you, cygneblanc, Estelle, and Azulyn for bringing this sad news to Ballet Talk.

I think it is impossible for ballet fans in America to understand just how huge Bejart is in Europe. This past summer, in Paris, I mentioned to a young woman I met that we were going to the ballet that night and her response was ... "Ah, Bejart!" This was said with a huge smile of recognition. It wasn't Bejart, as it happened. But the immediate assosciation she made, connecting "ballet" and "Bejart," stuck in my mind.

We've discussed Bejart on and off on Ballet Talk, most recently in a thread about his Firebird. I dont' know if this thread is the appropriate place to consider his influence on ballet. But I was struck by cygneblanc's summary of one of Claude Bessy's points:

If dance has a public today, it is because of Maurice Bejart

Is this generally accepted in ballet circles in France? How much truth is there in the statement?

[Farrell Fan]

Condolences. Sad that this happened while Suzanne Farrell's season is going on. She never wavered in her gratitude and devotion to him.

[papeetepatrick]

Condolences. Sad that this happened while Suzanne Farrell's season is going on. She never wavered in her gratitude and devotion to him.

Yes, and the part of 'Elusive Muse' with Bejart and Farrell reminiscing is one of the sweetest parts of the film. I'm still so grateful I got to see 'Nijinsky, Clown de Dieu'.

[chrisk217]

Sad news

But I was struck by cygneblanc's summary of one of Claude Bessy's points:

If dance has a public today, it is because of Maurice Bejart

Is this generally accepted in ballet circles in France? How much truth is there in the statement?

I don't know about France but I'd say it's largely true for Greece especially in regards to the male audience between the ages of 40 and 60. I've lost count of the people over 40 I know who became interested in dance and ballet after watching Bejart in the 60s, 70s and early 80s.

[cygneblanc]

Well, Bart the sentence "If dance has a public today, it is because of Maurice Bejart" is actually a litteral translation of Claude Bessy's own words.

Personaly, I wouln't go as far as Claude Bessy, but I think it is because I'm too young for having known well what seems to be Bejart's most flourishing years, I mean in the 1960-1970 years. I think she means that Maurice Bejart was the one who democratized ballet in Europe and brought it to wider audiences in unusual venues. In that sense, I think she's right. A lot of young dancers I know have a real devotion and fascination for Maurice Bejart. The experience of dancing Variations Don Giovanni and working with Shona Mirk (I may be wrong with her name's spelling) was incredible for them. It is also true that Bejart's name is synonim of ballet/dance among general public. As for myself, I'm not a fan at all of its works, but I appreciate the intellectual process which sustain them and his writings are most interesting. May he rest in peace.

[cygneblanc]

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-...1-981261,0.html

Extended article in le monde. The title is Maurice Béjart, l'homme qui voulait amener le grand public à la danse wich means MB, the man who wanted to bring over general audience to dance. It says he's a myth.

[Helene]

The photos in the Le Monde articles are both very fine portraits of the older Bejart. In the first, you can see his twinkling eyes. In the second, he is the most vivid presence.

I agree, papeetepatrick, that the section of Elusive Muse with Bejart and Farrell is the sweetest part of the documentary, I also found his comments about her the most moving and reflective.

[cygneblanc]

Some more news :

http://www.operadeparis.fr/Accueil/Actualite.asp?id=403

There will be a Bejart's triple bill at POB next year

http://www.lexpress.fr/info/quotidien/actu.asp?id=461943

Feedbacks from patrick Dupont, Brigitte Lefebvre, POB's AD, and Christine Albanel, French secretary of State for Culture.

http://www.levif.be/actualite/culture/72-6...ice-bejart.html

Ashes of the deceased should be scattered on a beach in Ostende, Belgium, in the next few days.

[cygneblanc]

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/146363.html

John Neumier's feedback

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?N...0&PageNum=0

Yuri Grigorovich's ones

http://www.tsr.ch/tsr/index.html?siteSect=...y=1195747566000

a ceremony will take place in Lausanne (salle metropole) next Monday at 4 PM. It doesn't say if it will be with the body or ashes.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/2007/11/22/...de-la-danse.php

Mor feedbacks

[drb]

Condolences. Sad that this happened while Suzanne Farrell's season is going on. She never wavered in her gratitude and devotion to him.

Yes, I too am grateful to M. Bejart for taking care of Suzanne Farrell during the time she was away from home, for always treating her with respect, and for presenting her with dignity in his works. And also for giving us a chance to see her dance, during a time that she deepened and matured her sublime artistry. During that short period of the Dance Boom when his company played regularly in NYC, I experienced the profound Hope so often present in his work. It was a different time for Dance, and for Humanity. May all the forms of God that he knew Bless him.

[Estelle]

Personaly, I wouln't go as far as Claude Bessy, but I think it is because I'm too young for having known well what seems to be Bejart's most flourishing years, I mean in the 1960-1970 years. I think she means that Maurice Bejart was the one who democratized ballet in Europe and brought it to wider audiences in unusual venues. In that sense, I think she's right.

My parents were among the numerous people who attended some programs of Béjart's company "Ballet du XXème siècle" in the late 1960s-early 1970s, and my mother was especially impressed with his "Nijinsky, clown of God" (she often says it was ont of the best evenings she ever spent in a theater)... And indeed Béjart was hugely influential for French dance viewers of that generation.

[innopac]

Maurice Bejart Obituary - Times Online

[cygneblanc]

http://www.latribune.fr/info/Maurice-Bejar...6;Channel=Monde

It is said in this article that the city of Lausanne will continue to give grants to both the Compagny and Rudra School. The amount of this funding is 4 millions of swiss francs ($ 3.631.247) per year.

[Marjolein]

Béjart was even bigger in Belgium than he was in France. Nearly all of my dance teachers and even my pointe shoe fitter danced for him. He was actually in the process of becoming Belgian and he asked for his ashes to be spread in Belgium. Many many people are very sad and shocked here. Everybody knows his name around here, even people who don't like ballet.

Btw, I'm usually on the forum for dancers, I rarely post here.

Marjolein

[Mme. Hermine]

The only work of his I've ever seen in performance (as opposed to on film) was the solo from 7 Greek Dances, which Fernando Bujones performed at Boston Ballet for the company's 25th anniversary gala, and the Rite of Spring, which they did in Boston that same year. I enjoyed both very much. RIP.

[cygneblanc]

http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.p...lite&id=239

Several videos on this (official) site, including some old ones.

[ViolinConcerto]

I froze as I did my daily scan of nytimes.com. The article was filed at about 7:30 AM EST, so I guess that's when the news broke to the English press. I'm also doing a presentation on Bejart for my French culture class, so this news hit me especially hard

He did have a long and rich life, and gave us many beautiful and interesting works to discuss and admire.

ngitanjali

Just to set the record straight, and defend the Times -- the NY Times posted it last night -- and I posted it on BT in the obituaries section.