A standing ovation for the premiere of the Béjart Ballet Lausanne at the Beaulieu Theater
Last night, the company’s 40 dancers performed a truly exceptional show to a sold-out crowd in Lausanne. This was the first of a series of six shows. The program included two new choreographic creations and Maurice Béjart‘s Boléro, which delighted the audience.
On Friday night, 1600 spectators shook the walls of the Beaulieu Theater with a standing ovation for two world premieres, Valentina Turcu‘s Hamlet and Giorgio Madia‘s Rhapsody in Blue, as well as Maurice Béjart‘s signature ballet, Boléro, performed by Julien Favreau, the Lausanne based company’s interim director. The cherry on top of a very special cake!
Hamlet, by the Slovenian choreographer Valentina Turcu, opened a spectacular evening. This ballet is inspired by William Shakespeare’s work, and is both physical and metaphysical, exploring the dark corners of the human soul, while diving into the heart of madness. The piece is performed by 11 dancers and draws the audience into a hypnotic atmosphere of seduction and betrayal. The music, by Max Richter, Muse and Cigarettes After Sex, is a wonderful reflection of the former BBL dancer’s ability to revisit classical works with a contemporary twist.
The Italian choreographer Giorgio Madia then presented his Rhapsody in Blue. This is his second collaboration with the BBL after 2016’s Swan Song. Rhapsody in Blue, set to George Gershwin’s famous score, develops new dance forms and expresses a new language. “I aspire to celebrate the beauty and power of music as a direct expression of the soul by humbly and proudly serving it,” explains the former dancer of the Ballet du XXe Siècle and the BBL, “perhaps in the spirit of the 1924 composition.”
The climax, finally, came with Boléro, Maurice Béjart‘s classic. Julien Favreau “is” the Melody at the center of the passion-red table, the mesmerizing interpreter of a sensual, animal dance, supported by the dancers around him who symbolize the rhythm of Ravel’s score. Everything has been said and written about this ballet created to Ravel’s score in 1961. Yet its appeal still holds.
The shows will run until June 20 and are all sold out. Dance lovers and loyal fans of the Béjart Ballet Lausanne can look forward to a series of unforgettable evenings!
