THANK YOU LAUSANNE
The Béjart Ballet Lausanne makes a triumphant return to the Beaulieu Theater
From December 16 to 22, Wien Wien, nur du Allein, a choreography by Maurice Béjart, was presented for the first time to the public by Gil Roman’s company. 8,500 seats out of 8,760 were filled during the performances. The staging and interpretation of this ballet, which reveals the different facets of its author who died 15 years ago, were greeted by warm ovations from a curious and enthusiastic audience…
The audience’s patience was rewarded by the six performances of the Ballet Béjart Lausanne’s 40 dancers, which were greeted with warm ovations. From December 16 to 22, Gil Roman‘s company brought together 8,500 spectators out of the 8,760 seats on sale in the brand new Beaulieu Theater (97% occupancy). This shows the popular success of a company created 35 years ago in the capital of Vaud, and the absolute trust given to its artistic director who presented a little-known program by the Master which has been forgotten by dance historians: Wien, Wien, nur du Allein, by Maurice Béjart. A dark piece never danced by the BBL, a ballet with striking flashes of light and moving emotions: a work that reveals all the mysteries of the choreographer who died 15 years ago, “his clarity, his flashes of light, his recurrences, his style, even though he claimed not to have any” (24 heures, December 18)
The return of the Béjart Ballet Lausanne to Beaulieu after three years of closure will be remembered as a big milestone for the company. Not only for its tremendous public success, but also for its artistic outcome. “Under the cover of a locked room with a looming threat and the prospect of the end of a world, it is actually a great dance festival celebrated by a particularly lively company”, writes the critic Jean Pierre Pastori in the Lausanne daily newspaper.
Solos, duets, pas de quatre, ensembles… all of Maurice Béjart’s vocabulary, including his rich musical choices, gathered under the banner of the Vienna School – from the most popular and sacred to the most cutting-edge contemporary – can be found here concentrated, sublimated by performers in top form. In the first cast, Solène Burel and Oscar Chacón made a strong impression in the roles created 40 years ago by two exceptional dancers of the Ballet du XXe Siècle: Marcia Haydée and Jorge Donn, no less. There was excellence in the interpretation (special mention to Mari Ohashi and Valerija Frank), but also remarkable quality and mastery in Gil Roman’s recreating of the Béjartian art, not to mention the costumes, which were beautifully designed by Henri Davila.
Once the curtain dropps, the company will take a two-week break before returning to its studio and to the theaters that await it: in Düdingen on February 9, in Terrassa (Spain) on March 11 and 12, in Geneva from March 24 to 26, in Cossonay from March 31 to April 2, in Montreux on May 3, in Milan from May 10 to 17, in Antwerp from May 25 to 27, and in Beaulieu from June 16 to 21. For this new BBL series in Lausanne, Gil Roman is handing over his troupe to Yuka Oishi, who presented 空Ku in 2018. From June 16 to 21, the Japanese choreographer will introduce L’autre chant de la danse, a creation inspired by her reading of the book of the same name by Maurice Béjart set to Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. “Finding this book allowed me to dance with his dreams and imagination,” she confides, full of promise…
