Béjart, Maurice

(1927- )

   dancer, choreographer

   Born Maurice Berger in Marseille, Maurice Béjart, as he is known, made his debut at the opéra de Marseille (1945) and, with Jean Laurent, founded the Ballets de l'Étoile (1954), which later became the Ballet-Théâtre de Paris (1957). He was named ballet director of the Théâtre royal de la Monnaie in Brussels (1960-87) and led the Ballet du xxe siècle (1960-80), which became the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in 1987. Dissatisfied with the traditional and academic ballet forms that he considered to be outdated, Béjart, as a director as well as a dancer, encouraged a renewal of dance based on the great stories of Western civilization (Faust, Tristan, Don Juan) and of Eastern sources, too. He produced works that were original or based on his research into mythology, with the goal of combining song and the spoken word with dance, to produce, in his words, "ceremony for the greatest number" (Symphonie pour un homme seul, music by pierre henry and pierre schaeffer, 1955; Le Sacre du printemps, 1955; La Damnation de Faust, 1964; Messe pour temps présent, 1967; À la recherche de..., 1968; Le Marteau sans maître, music by pierre boulez 1973; Gaîté parisienne, 1978; Éros Thanatos, 1980). Béjart was named to the Academy of Fine Arts in 1995.