Gala

Jérôme Bel and Democratic Dance

Jérôme Bel lives in Paris and works internationally. A pioneer in incorporating performance art into dance, Jérôme Bel occupies a place of his own on the international dance scene and is a sought-after French artist. His work has been shown in museums and arts institutions such as the Opéra de Paris (which commissioned his Véronique Doisneau). He has been invited on several occasions to the Festival d’Automne (for The Show Must Go On, Cédric Andrieux, Disabled Theatre, a reprise of Jérôme Bel).

In pursuing his research on the art of representation, so striking in Disabled Theatre with its mentally handicapped performers, and also in Cour d’honneur with the spectators as performers (presented in the Court of Honour at the Papal Palace at the 2013 Avignon Festival), in Gala Jérôme Bel uses form to shatter the diktats of live performance as he questions dance – its representation, its codes, the distinction between amateurs and professionals. How do outsiders, the individuals and the bodies that are often excluded, enter the arena of representation? How can the perimeters of theatre be expanded so that it becomes a democratic tool? What body types are authorized to be shown onstage?

Produced by R.B. Jérôme Bel (Paris)
Created by Jérôme Bel assisted by Chiara Gallerani + Maxime Kurvers + Frédéric Seguette
Co-creation, performance and costume design Marion Brullemans-Bérubé + Allison Burns + George Chabo + Anny Condé + Marcelle Duguay + Théophile Durieux + Louis-David Gauthier + Luc Guay + Alexander Hille First Dancer of the Ballets Jazz de Montréal + Jacques-Yves Lafortune + Amélia Lamanque + Myriam Losier + Mireille Métellus + Benjamin Mitchell Dancer of the Ballets Jazz de Montréal + David Ospina + Loula Ospina + Pham Phuong + Maxime D. Pomerleau + Gérard Reyes

Co-produced by Dance Umbrella (Londres) + TheaterWorks Singapore / 7213 + KunstenFestivaldesArts (Brussels) + Tanzquartier Wien + Nanterre-Amandiers Centre Dramatique National + Festival d’Automne à Paris + Theater Chur + TAK Theater Liechtenstein (Schaan) + TanzPlan Ost (St. Gallen) + Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia + Théâtre de la Ville (Paris) + HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin) + BIT Teatergarasjen (Bergen) + La Commune – Centre dramatique national d’Aubervilliers + Tanzhaus nrw (Düsseldorf) + House on Fire through Programme culturel de l’Union Européenne / Culture Program of the European Union
With the support of CND – Centre d’art pour la danse (Pantin) + Ménagerie de Verre (Paris) through Studiolab for their rehearsal spaces

Presented with the support of Institut français + Service de coopération et d’action culturelle du Consulat général de France à Québec in association with Carrefour international de théâtre (Québec)
Presented with the contribution of Monument-National

Written by Elsa Pépin
Translated by Neil Kroetsch

Premiered at Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels, on May 8, 2015