He has caused a stir or two, introduced a whole new way of thinking to dance and prompted a turning point in contemporary choreography. With his artistic approach, inspired by postmodern philosophy and semiotics, Jérôme Bel hit a nerve in the 1990s. Meanwhile, his catalogue of works comprises roughly 30 titles, including a piece from 1995 that bears the name of its author: Jérôme Bel. Now Bel uses this title again for a current piece (which he refers to as “auto-bio-choreographic”) not for sentimental reasons but to create a “genealogy of the driving forces of his work, in which the personal is connected with the artistic and the political”. For the first time, Bel’s story is told accompanied by videos, in each city by a local artist. In Vienna this live part is taken over by the outstanding actor and Nestroy Prize winner Max Mayer, in a German and an English version respectively.
Text, videos: Jérôme Bel
Assistant: Maxime Kurvers
With: Frédéric Seguette, Claire Haenni, Gisèle Pelozuelo, Yseult Roch,
Olga De Soto, Peter Vandenbempt, Sonja Augart, Simone Verde, Esther Snelder, Nicole Beutler, Eva Meyer Keller, Germana Civera, Benoît Izard, Ion Munduate, Cuqui Jerez, Juan Dominguez, Carine Charaire, Hester Van Hasselt, Dina Ed Dik, Amaia Urra, Carlos Pez, Henrique Neves, Johannes Sundrup, Véronique Doisneau, Damian Bright, Matthias Brücker, Remo Beuggert, Julia Häusermann, Tiziana Pagliaro, Miranda Hossle, Peter Keller, Gianni Blumer, Matthias Grandjean, Sara Hess, Lorraine Meier, Simone Truong, Akira Lee, Aldo Lee, Houda Daoudi, Cédric Andrieux, Chiara Gallerani, Taous Abbas, Stéphanie Gomes, Marie-Yolette Jura, Nicolas Garsault, Vassia Chavaroche, Magali Saby, Ryo Bel, Sheila Atala, Diola Djiba, Michèle Bargues, La Bourette, Catherine Gallant
Images: Herman Sorgeloos, Marie-Hélène Rebois, Aldo Lee, Pierre Dupouey, Olivier Lemaire, Chloé Mossessian
Artistic advice and executive direction: R.B., Rebecca Lasselin
Production manager: Sandro Grando
Production of the videos: CND Centre national de la danse, R.B. Jérôme Bel, Paris National Opera/Telmondis in association with France 2 with the participation of Mezzo and of Centre national de la cinématographie, Theater Hora, French Institute Alliance Française – FIAF
Production of the performance: R.B. Jérôme Bel
Coproduction: Ménagerie de Verre (Paris), La Commune centre dramatique national d’Aubervilliers, Festival d’Automne à Paris, R.B. Jérôme Bel (Paris)
The writing of the text of this show is part of the creative process of Sustainable theatre?, conceived by Katie Mitchell, Jérôme Bel and Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne and coproduced by STAGES – Sustainable Theatre Alliance for a Green Environmental Shift
Cofunded by: European Union, Dramaten Stockholm, National Theater and Concert Hall, Taipei, NTGent, Piccolo Teatro di Milano –Teatro d'Europa, Teatro Nacional D. Maria II Lisboa, Théâtre de Liège, Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, National Theatre of Croatia Zagreb, Slovene National Theatre Maribor, Trafo Budapest, MC93 Maison de la culture de Seine-Saint-Denis
Thanks to Caroline Barneaud, Daphné Biiga Nwanak, Jolente De Keersmaeker, Zoé De Sousa, Florian Gaité, Chiara Gallerani, Danielle Lainé, Xavier Le Roy, Marie-José Malis, Frédéric Seguette, Christophe Wavelet
R.B. Jérôme Bel is supported by the Direction régionale des affaires culturelles d'Ile-de-France, French Ministry for Culture.
Jérôme Bel is associated artist to Le Quartz (Brest) and Centre national de la danse (Pantin).
For ecological reasons, R.B. Jérôme Bel company doesn’t travel by plane anymore.
