"Gala forces audience expectations to the fore, and blurs the lines between failure and success in performance as it suggests that theater is community, both onstage and off. It’s a tour de force, wildly entertaining and truly radical." (Roslyn Sulcas, The New York Times)
"Take a different approach to dance. Open up theatre to those who are never represented there. Ask how art leads us to a common ground. A major artist of the contemporary scene, Jérôme Bel is returning with a proposal which came to the fore during a workshop with amateurs in Budapest. The gala, an art form that is both festive and collective, brings together dance professionals and amateurs of diverse backgrounds. The different acts never call on us to pass judgement, but they reveal the way in which each person’s cultural repertoire involves them in a singular relationship with that desire for something else, for joy, perfection, transfiguration and political divides which dance is. An inventory of this “unqualifiable dance” does not only show the multiplicity of its aesthetic models. It plays its role through a shared desire." (Marie-José Malis)
Conception: Jérôme Bel
Assisted by: Maxime Kurvers
Assistants for the local restaging: Maxime Kurvers, Henrique Neves
With and by: Lea Bakó, Jolu Bartók, Gyula Cserepes, Viktória Dányi, Ádám Farkas, Cecília Janzsó, Cili Kankovszky, Aldó Ládi-Erlauer, Zomilla Nagy, Kálmán Németh, Evelin Novák, Dávid Setzka, Tina Colada, Gyöngyi Varga, Orsolya Vitárius
Costumes: the dancers
Coproduction: Dance Umbrella (London), TheaterWorks Singapore/72-13, KunstenFestivaldesArts (Brussels), Tanzquartier Wien, Nanterre-Amandiers Centre Dramatique National, Festival d'Automne à Paris, Theater Chur (Chur) and TAK Theater Liechtenstein (Schaan) - TanzPlan Ost, Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia, Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), BIT Teatergarasjen (Bergen), La Commune Centre dramatique national d’Aubervilliers, Tanzhaus nrw (Düsseldorf), House on Fire with the support of the European Union cultural program
Production: R.B. Jérôme Bel (Paris)
With the help of: Centre National de la Danse (Pantin) and Ménagerie de Verre (Paris) in the framework of Studiolab for providing studio spaces
Thanks to: the partners and participants of Ateliers danse et voix, NL Architects and Les rendez-vous d’ailleurs
Artistic advice and executive direction: Rebecca Lee
Administration: Sandro Grando
Technical advice: Gilles Gentner
Subsidies: R.B. Jérôme Bel is supported by Direction régionale des affaires culturelles d'Ilede-France, French Ministry for Culture and Communication, and by the Institut Français, French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, for its international tours.
"Take a different approach to dance. Open up theatre to those who are never represented there. Ask how art leads us to a common ground. A major artist of the contemporary scene, Jérôme Bel is returning with a proposal which came to the fore during a workshop with amateurs in Budapest. The gala, an art form that is both festive and collective, brings together dance professionals and amateurs of diverse backgrounds. The different acts never call on us to pass judgement, but they reveal the way in which each person’s cultural repertoire involves them in a singular relationship with that desire for something else, for joy, perfection, transfiguration and political divides which dance is. An inventory of this “unqualifiable dance” does not only show the multiplicity of its aesthetic models. It plays its role through a shared desire." (Marie-José Malis)
Conception: Jérôme Bel
Assisted by: Maxime Kurvers
Assistants for the local restaging: Maxime Kurvers, Henrique Neves
With and by: Lea Bakó, Jolu Bartók, Gyula Cserepes, Viktória Dányi, Ádám Farkas, Cecília Janzsó, Cili Kankovszky, Aldó Ládi-Erlauer, Zomilla Nagy, Kálmán Németh, Evelin Novák, Dávid Setzka, Tina Colada, Gyöngyi Varga, Orsolya Vitárius
Costumes: the dancers
Coproduction: Dance Umbrella (London), TheaterWorks Singapore/72-13, KunstenFestivaldesArts (Brussels), Tanzquartier Wien, Nanterre-Amandiers Centre Dramatique National, Festival d'Automne à Paris, Theater Chur (Chur) and TAK Theater Liechtenstein (Schaan) - TanzPlan Ost, Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia, Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), BIT Teatergarasjen (Bergen), La Commune Centre dramatique national d’Aubervilliers, Tanzhaus nrw (Düsseldorf), House on Fire with the support of the European Union cultural program
Production: R.B. Jérôme Bel (Paris)
With the help of: Centre National de la Danse (Pantin) and Ménagerie de Verre (Paris) in the framework of Studiolab for providing studio spaces
Thanks to: the partners and participants of Ateliers danse et voix, NL Architects and Les rendez-vous d’ailleurs
Artistic advice and executive direction: Rebecca Lee
Administration: Sandro Grando
Technical advice: Gilles Gentner
Subsidies: R.B. Jérôme Bel is supported by Direction régionale des affaires culturelles d'Ilede-France, French Ministry for Culture and Communication, and by the Institut Français, French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, for its international tours.
