Jérôme Bel “Gala”. Photo: Josefina Tommasi, Museo de Arte Moderno/ Buenos Aires.
Jérôme Bel proves that anyone can, and is able to, dance. The world-famous choreographer is coming to Warsaw in July to deliver a special rendition of his Gala featuring residents of Warsaw as participants. Tickets for the premiere performances are already available.
– We aim to continue to integrate and feature the fascinating art of contemporary dance in the cultural life of Warsaw, while creating events of European calibre, says Edyta Kozak, founder and director of the Body/Mind Festival.Hence the idea to invite Jérôme Bel to Warsaw, where he will create a unique dance show with professionals and amateurs alike. The Polish premiere of Gala has been scheduled for 11-12 July (8 pm) at Nowy Teatr, as part of the inauguration of this year?s edition of the Body/Mind festival.
Dance is for everyone
Inspired by Pina Bausch and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, the French dancer and choreographer is often called the moder-day philosopher of dance. Jérôme Bel refutes the division into ?high? and ?low? art, playing with the audience?s expectations towards his pieces. He is considered one of the premiere representatives of the non-dance movement.
– He provokes in a distanced and humorous way. He disrupts our habits concerning the division into performers and recipients of art. ?Gala? is a piece in which one participates, rather than merely watching it. It is a refreshing and cleansing experience, stresses Edyta Kozak.
Gala was first produced in 2015, featuring residents of the Parisian suburbs as participants. Since then, Bel has toured the world, inviting collaboration from people of different cultures and nationalities. Gala has already been restaged in Germany, Portugal, Singapore, Brazil and Canada. This time, Jérôme Bel has invited 20 Varsovians of various age and origin to partake in the performance.
The Frenchman presents an innovative and natural approach to dance. He integrates professionals and amateurs on stage, proving that theatre is a community of those who stand on stage and beneath the stage. In his productions, in particular the series of renditions of Gala, Bel aims to prove that everyone can dance, successfully demonstrating that dance is a universal ability.
The pursuit of perfection
The leading theme of the 16th edition of the festival is time.
– For contemporary artists, the expression of the body in motion proves to be the most plastic reflection of time and its various aspects, says Edyta Kozak.
In Gala Jérôme Bel explores the memory of the body and the social dimension of time in pop dance. He also touches upon the utopian pursuit of time and the unattainable perfection by engaging participants of various age, and probing their corporeality through biological memory.
– Bel discovers the unconscious forms of movement, dance clichés and imagery inscribed in the body, adds the director of the festival.
This year will mark Jérôme Bel?s fifth performance at the Body/Mind Festival. Back in 2001, he presented his first performance titled Jerôme Bel. Since then, he has returned to Warsaw every few years to present his original performances featuring Polish dancers. In 2005, he presented his Shirtology, in which he communicated with the audience using T-shirts and delivered his famous lecture on the premises of his controversial piece The Last Performance. In 2012, he presented The Show Must Go On, and in 2013 ? Disabled Theatre.
Tickets for Gala at the price of PLN 30-50 are currently on sale at Nowy Teatr in Warsaw (ul. Madalińskiego10/16), online at the eBilet service, and at the eBilet service points (including Empik stores).
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This year?s edition of Body/Mind, one of the premiere dance and performance festivals in Poland, introduces a new, expanded formula. The festival has already begun; the upcoming events include the July premiere of Jérôme Bel?s Gala, while the majority of shows and performances, as well as film screenings and a conference on the art of dance, will take place between 29 September and 10 October 2017.
More information at www.cialoumysl.pl
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Organised by: Body/Mind Foundation
Co-organised by: Nowy Teatr w Warszawie, STUDIO teatrgaleria
Partners: network apap ? advancing performing arts project, Hungarian Institute for Culture in Warsaw, Centre for Contemporary Art ? Ujazdowski Castle, SÍN Arts and Culture Centre in Budapest
Festival and ?Today Tomorrow? conference partner: Goethe-Institut
Media patrons: Aktivist, Didaskalia, E-teatr.pl, Notes na 6 Tygodni, Radio Dla Ciebie, taniecPOLSKA.pl, Teatrdlawas.pl, TVP Kultura, Uroda Życia.
Co-financed by the Capital City of Warsaw, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and the ?Creative Europe? EU programme.
