Bejart Ballet Lausanne to perform one of late choreographer’s last works in Athens
“When I work, I don’t think of the future, I only think of today,” the late choreographer Maurice Bejart said in an interview to Kathimerini in June 2002, on the occasion of his company’s Herod Atticus Theater performance. Almost a year after the death of the landmark French choreographer, who was very popular in Greece, the Bejart Ballet Lausanne will visit Athens for two performances at the Badminton Theater (Goudi Military Park, tel 211.101.0020), tomorrow and Sunday, with proceeds going to the association Mazi yia to Paidi (Together for the Child). The company will perform one of Bejart’s last works, “Around the World in 80 Minutes,” a journey through lands and civilizations seen through the eyes of a young traveler, set to the music of Johann Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Hadjidakis and Theodorakis. Born in Marseilles in 1927, Bejart studied dance in London and Paris before turning into one of the most distinguished avant-garde choreographers of the 1950s. Stravinsky’s ballet “The Rite of Spring,” which premiered in Belgium, was one of the landmarks in his career. Bejart, who enjoyed a stunning career and had a solid ballet background, knew how to bridge the gap between ballet and contemporary works.
