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Written by Carol Pratl
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 Maurice Béjart © Philippe Pache
To celebrate his jubilee as one of the world's most prolific and renowned choreographers, Béjart and his Swiss-based company Béjart Ballet Lausanne will be presenting a program called "The Best of Béjart - Love and Dance" at the Palais des Sports. It spans the five decades of his career during which he was successively: artistic director of the Ballets du XXe siècle (1960) and the Béjart Ballet Lausanne (1987), before heading his most recently founded "junior" company, the Compagnie M (2002) for young dancers. Some of the works included in this lengthy, but exciting self-given tribute are his powerful masterpiece "Le sacre du printemps" (1959), "Le Presbytère," "Brel et Barbara" and the "Messe du temps present."
Originally trained as a ballet dancer, Béjart later worked with ballet innovators Janine Charrat, Roland Petit and Birgit Cullberg who broadened his creative vision and gave him a liking for expressionism and experimentation. Determined to develop a more modern minimalist style of ballet through which he could convey his sometimes missionary "let's change the world" messages, Béjart successfully tested the waters with his first piece in 1955 for the Ballets de l'Etoile called "Symphonie pour un homme seul."
Since then, Maurice Béjart has had a predilection for mythological and folkloric themes, without ever getting overly narrative or nostalgic. His trademark has been complex group formations and technically challenging pas de deux that arouse emotions. An iconoclast and idealist all wrapped into one, Béjart has trained three generations of world-class dancers through his two schools Mudra (Brussels, 1970) and Rudra (Lausanne - 1992) and has made an impact on all of the planet's leading companies and star performers from Maya Plisetskaya to Sylvie Guillem, as well as on many of France's contemporary dancemakers for half a century. And, the show still promises to go on for a long time for the indefatigable Mr. B...!
"The Best of Béjart: Love and Dance" Béjart Ballet Lausanne May 26 to June 5 at 8:30pm, 2005 Sun at 4pm. Palais des Sports - Porte de Versailles, 15e, M° Porte de Versailles, tel: 0825 038 039,
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