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| Compagnie Jérôme Bel | |
|---|---|
| Name | Compagnie Jérôme Bel |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Founder | Jérôme Bel |
| Headquarters | Paris |
| Genre | Contemporary dance |
| Notable works | The Show Must Go On; Gala; Disabled Theater |
| Awards | Bessie Award; Olivier Award nomination |
Compagnie Jérôme Bel
Compagnie Jérôme Bel is a Paris-based contemporary dance company founded by choreographer Jérôme Bel in 1995 that has redefined performance through conceptual choreography, socially engaged praxis, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. The company operates within European and international performing arts circuits including festivals, museums, and academic institutions, producing works presented at venues such as Paris Opera, Tate Modern, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Festival d'Avignon, and Hamburger Bahnhof. Its activity intersects with institutions including Centre Pompidou, MoMA, Biennale di Venezia, Théâtre de la Ville, and Sadler's Wells.
Founded by Jérôme Bel after his earlier choreographies in the 1990s, the company emerged amid dialogues with institutions like Centre National de la Danse, Maison de la Danse, and Palais Garnier. Early touring connected the company to festivals such as Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis, Festival de Marseille, and Wiener Festwochen. Collaborations and residencies took place at La Bâtie–Festival de Genève, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, and Hebbel am Ufer. The company developed a profile through participation in international biennials like Biennale de Lyon and Biennale de Montréal, and by engaging curators from Stedelijk Museum, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, and Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. Institutional support included funding from Ministère de la Culture (France), Fondation Royaumont, and regional bodies such as Région Île-de-France.
The company's aesthetic is rooted in concepts articulated by Jérôme Bel and manifested in works that interrogate performance, identity, and authorship, aligned with thinkers and artists associated with Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Marcel Duchamp, and Yvonne Rainer. Its approach borrows methods from choreographers and artists like Merce Cunningham, Pina Bausch, Trisha Brown, William Forsythe, and Tino Sehgal, while dialoguing with composers and performers such as John Cage, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Laurie Anderson, and Gustavo Dudamel. The company often situates dance within museum contexts alongside artists like Gerhard Richter, Marcel Broodthaers, and Daniel Buren, and engages dramaturges and theorists like Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Didier Anzieu, and Hans-Thies Lehmann.
Key productions include The Show Must Go On, Gala, Disabled Theater, and Cour d'honneur, each presented at venues such as Théâtre National de Chaillot, Opéra Garnier, Festival d'Avignon, Zürcher Schauspielhaus, and La Scala. The Show Must Go On brought together performers referencing repertoires associated with Madonna, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Édith Piaf, and David Bowie. Gala featured performers and repertoire linked to Sylvie Guillem, Rudolf Nureyev, Martha Graham, Anna Pavlova, and Sergei Diaghilev. Disabled Theater recontextualized gestures related to companies such as Royal Ballet, Batsheva Dance Company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and Judson Dance Theater. Productions were showcased at museums including Musée du Louvre, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, and Irish Museum of Modern Art.
The company received commissions from organizations like Festival d'Automne à Paris, Lincoln Center, Théâtre de la Ville, DeSingel, Bergen International Festival, and Hannover Schauspiel. Collaborations include work with directors and artists such as Sophie Calle, Robert Wilson, William Kentridge, Chantal Akerman, and Rirkrit Tiravanija, and with composers including Arvo Pärt, Thomas Adès, Nico Muhly, Michael Nyman, and Heiner Goebbels. The company has engaged with museums and curators from Tate Modern, Fondation Beyeler, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Van Abbemuseum, and Musée d'Orsay for site-specific projects.
Performers and collaborators have included a rotating ensemble and guest artists drawn from institutions and companies such as Paris Opera Ballet, Ballets Russes, Nieuwe Stukken, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Royal Danish Ballet, English National Ballet, and Birmingham Royal Ballet. Notable artists who worked on productions include Isabelle Huppert, Laurie Anderson, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Aka Moon, Steve Paxton, Anna Halprin, Tadeusz Kantor, and Pina Bausch-affiliated performers. Choreographic exchanges occurred with figures like Alain Platel, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Hofesh Shechter, Sharon Eyal, and Ohad Naharin.
Touring circuits encompassed Biennale di Venezia, Edinburgh International Festival, Salzburg Festival, Venice Biennale, Avignon Off, Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, Komische Oper Berlin, and National Theatre (London). Critical reception appeared in outlets and platforms linked to The New York Times, Le Monde, The Guardian, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Corriere della Sera, and in exhibition catalogues from Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, and Documenta. Reviews often referenced dialogues with works by Sarah Kane, Samuel Beckett, Antonin Artaud, Roland Barthes, and Guy Debord.
The company and Jérôme Bel received recognition such as the Bessie Awards, nominations for Laurence Olivier Awards, and prizes from institutions like Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, French Ministry of Culture, Prémio Positano, and festival awards at Festival d'Avignon and Biennale de Lyon. The company's productions have been included in retrospectives at Centre Pompidou, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and Tate Modern, and featured in scholarly discourse in journals connected to Dance Research, TDR (The Drama Review), Performance Research, and Movement Research.
Category:Contemporary dance companies