Final curtain for Maurice Bejart, as the applause continues
He entered this world on New Year’s Day in Marseilles and breathed his last at a Lausanne hospital after suffering heart and kidney failure yesterday. At 80 he was still as youthful in spirit as ever. At a performance of his Bejart Ballet Lausanne at the Athens Pallas Theater in June this year, he had sent a message saying that he was there in spirit. «L’amour la danse,» a compilation of Bejart’s best choreographies, was set to music ranging from Berlioz and Mozart all the way to Mikis Theodorakis. The performances were organized by the Hellenic Society for Disabled Children (ELEPAP) to mark its 70th anniversary. The title of that evening’s show could be applied to Bejart himself. The founder of the 20th Century Ballets, he was acclaimed by the entire world right through to the 21st century; his choreography will ensure his name lives on. In this expressive collage by Elli Solomonidou-Balanou, we see him as a dancer, choreographer, teacher and intellectual devoted to the art of dance. The sketches date from 1964 to 1995.
