Jérôme Bel (born 1965) is a French dancer and choreographer.

Biography

Bel discovered

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of Concert dance, dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly stron ...

at the 1983

Festival d'Avignon The ''Festival d'Avignon'', or Avignon Festival (), is an annual arts festival held in the France, French city of Avignon every summer in July in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes as well as in other locations of the city. Founded in 1947 by ...

, where he saw two important pieces, '' Nelken'' by Pina Bausch and '' Rosas danst Rosas'' by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, which inspired him to study dance.Ariane Bavelier
Jérôme Bel : «Il y a une hystérisation du spectateur en Avignon»
''

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

'', July 19, 2013. He studied 1984–1985 at the Centre chorégraphique national in

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

. From 1985 to 1991, he danced for a variety of choreographers in France and Italy, including Angelin Preljocaj, Régis Obadia, Daniel Larrieu, and Caterina Sagna. In 1992, he became the assistant to Philippe Decouflé for the ceremonies of the

1992 Winter Olympics The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Albertville '92 (Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile '92''), were a winter multi-sport event held from 8 to 23 February 1992 in and aroun ...

Albertville Albertville (; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is best k ...

.Brigitte Salino
Au théâtre avec Jérôme Bel
''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'', July 4, 2010 He worked twelve years with Frédéric Seguette. He began choreographing creating provocative and entertaining pieces influenced by performance art and challenging some of the conventions of performance.His first performance ''name given by the author'' (1994) is a choreography of objects. His second one, ''Jérôme Bel (''1995) is based on the ''total'' nudity of the performers. ''Shirtology'' (1997) presents an actor wearing many T-shirts. ''The show must go on'' (2001) brings together twenty performers, nineteen pop songs and one DJ. In 2004, the

Paris Opera The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...

commissioned from Bel a theatrical documentary about Véronique Doisneau, a dancer in their corps de ballet. In 2005, a residency in Thailand resulted in the piece ''Pichet Klunchun & Myself'', a choreographic dialogue between Bel and traditional Thai dancer Pichet Klunchun. This will be followed by the solo ''Cédric Andrieux'' (2009) for

Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

's eponymous dancer, ''Isadora Duncan'' (2019), a piece that portrays this choreographer, ''Laura Pante'' (2020) for the eponymous Italian dancer and choreographer, or ''Xiao Ke'' (2020) for the eponymous Chinese performer, choreographer and dancer. In 2010, he collaborated with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker to create '' 3Abschied''. Marietta Piekenbrock, ''Die Geige sackt zu Boden''. "3Abschied" – Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker tanzt Jérôme Bel und das Sterben." In: Frankfurter Rundschau, 24. February 2010. based on

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...

's ''Song of the Earth''. ''Disabled Theater'' (2012) was created for mentally handicapped professional actors from Theater Hora. ''Dancing as if nobody is watching'' (2018) and the reading of

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

's ''Lecture on Nothing'' call for a contemplative aesthetic attitude. Since 2019, for ecological reasons, Bel and his company no longer travel by plane for creations and tours. Thus, ''Dances for Wu-Kang Chen'' (2020), a portrait of this Taiwanese dancer, ''Xiao Ke'' (2020), a performance created with this Shanghai-based choreographer, and ''Laura Pante'' (2020), which presents the career of this dancer living in Italy, were all rehearsed by videoconference, performed in the language of the dancers and toured in the country of their performers. His work has been shown at Tate Modern, London; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; and MoMA, new York. His work has been included in Performa,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, Kunstenfestivaldesarts,

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, and

, as well as dOCUMENTA 13 (2012) in Kassel. Films of his shows have been presented at biennials of contemporary art in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

and at the Centre Georges-Pompidou in Paris and in

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

, at the

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Royal ...

and the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

in London, and at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York).

Choreographic works

* 1994 : ''Name given by the author'' * 1995 : ''Jérôme Bel'' * 1997 : ''Shirtology'' * 1998 : ''The last performance'' * 2000 : ''Xavier Le Roy'', delegated to choreographer Xavier Le Roy * 2001: ''The Show Must Go On'' * 2004 : ''The Show Must Go On 2'' * 2004: ''Véronique Doisneau'', solo for

dancer Véronique Doisneau * 2005: ''Pichet Klunchun and Myself'', duet by Bel and Pichet Klunchun * 2005: ''Isabel Torres'', solo for dancer Isabel Torres * 2009: ''Lutz Forster'', solo for dancer Lutz Förster * 2009: ''Cédric Andrieux'', solo for Lyon Opera dancer Cédric Andrieux, formerly a longtime member of

's company * 2010: '' 3Abschied'' in collaboration with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker * 2012: ''Disabled Theater'' with the actors of Theater HORA * 2013 : ''Cour d'honneur'' for

* 2015: ''Gala'', premiering at Brussels KunstenFestivaldesArts * 2016 : ''Tombe'' for

Paris Opera Ballet The Paris Opera Ballet () is a French ballet company that is an integral part of the Paris Opera. It is the oldest national ballet company, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it. It is still regarded a ...

* 2017 : ''Posé arabesque, temps lié en arrière, marche, marche...'' for Lyon Opera Ballet * 2018 : ''Dancing as if nobody is watching'' * 2018 : ''Lecture on nothing'', on the homonimous text by

* 2019 : ''Rétrospective'' * 2019 : ''Isadora Duncan'' * 2020 : ''Dances for an actress (Valérie Dréville)'' * 2020 : ''Xiao Ke'' * 2020 : ''Laura Pante'' * 2020 : ''Dances for Wu-Kang Chen'' * 2021 : ''Dances for an actress (Jolente de Keersmaeker)'' * 2021 : ''Jérôme Bel''

Prizes

* 2005 : Bessie Award in New York for ''The Show Must Go On'' * 2008 : Princess Margriet Award for cultural diversity, shared with Pichet Klunchun, from the European Cultural Foundation * 2013 : Prix suisses de danse – Création actuelle de danse for ''Disabled Theater'' * 2021: Taishin Performing Arts Award for ''Dances for Wu-Kang Chen''

References

External links

Official site
together with Laurent Chétouane for Goethe Institut, by Gudrun Pawelke {{DEFAULTSORT:Bel, Jerome Living people 1965 births People from Montpellier French male dancers French choreographers Contemporary dance choreographers Contemporary dancers Bessie Award winners