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History
1992
In September the Rudra Béjart School opened in Lausanne. Its artistic activities had an immediate impact on the city’s cultural scene. The Béjart Ballet Season was up and running by December and an open day, held by Maurice Béjart himself, and attended by large numbers of members of the public, let people discover the different art forms in the School’s curriculum. From that day on, the shows staged by the Rudra Béjart School have become regular events on the Lausanne cultural calandar, awaited with great interest and enthusiasm.
1994
On 17 January the School performed at the Beau-Rivage Hotel on the occasion of the France Télécom Cogécom International Telecommunications Congress. In an atmosphere of good humour and enthusiasm, industry executives enjoyed the symphony of music, song, drama and dance. The school then gave another performance at the Beau-Rivage. The journalist Jean-Pierre Pastori wrote in the local newspaper ‘24 heures’: “With this performance, Lausanne can be legitimately proud of having a school of Rudra Béjart quality within its walls. [… ] We may even begin to wonder if we have here a school performance or a junior ballet company production.”
1995
On 22 October we inaugurated the new Métropole Theatre in Lausanne. This concert hall was discovered by Maurice Béjart in 1992 when it was in ruins, and slated for demolition. The building has since been classified as a historic monument. Meanwhile Rudra Béjart shows abroad bolstered Lausanne’s international image, thanks to posters, press articles, and television and radio broadcasts. Since its opening in 1992, the School has staged a large number of productions in more than 50 cities in Europe, Russia, India and Japan.
1998
In collaboration with the Cinema School of the Lausanne Fine Arts Academy, we produced a film with, and for, Dominique Perret, The Extreme Skier. InJune, the school performed the mixed, male-female version of Bolero in the Malley hall in Lausanne.
1999
Maysaw the first production of Maurice Béjart’s Che, Quijotte Y Bandoneon, a co-production with the Vidy Theatre. This ballet has been staged in other European countries and in Latin America. In June-July, Un Bacio Per Nino, a tribute to Nino Rota, was a huge success in France and Italy.
The Rudra Béjart School, a veritable breeding-ground for young talent, produces dancers for the Béjart Ballet company every year. In September, five more students were taken on, raising the proportion of Rudra Béjart former students in the company to two-thirds.
2000
In January, a show was staged in the Château Rouge theatre in Annemasse. The Rudra Béjart School, the Lyon National Conservatory, the Ballet du Nord National Ballet School, and the Grenoble Conservatory joined forces to produce a young, dynamic show giving students the opportunity to enjoy a rich and stimulating exchange of experiences. 9 October: CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) commissioned a show for the closure of the LEP project. The Rudra Béjart School’s performance, in the presence of 27 national delegations, was a huge success. On 5 December CERN invited its staff to a Rudra Béjart School show at Geneva’s Arena, and the Geneva Canton provided tickets for 800 school children. An audience of 3,800 attended the School’s biggest show ever. 17 December closed a four-month period of intense work which included shows and workshops, as well as a series of talks by Maurice Béjart.
2001
16 March: The Espace Maurice Béjart (the first and only theatre in France to bear the artist’s name), was opened in the commune of Verneuil sur Seine in France. The theatre was built on the initiative of its mayor, Jacques Massacré, who personally decided to name the hall after the great choreographer. For the inauguration Maurice Béjart created a special show, comprising modern and classical dance, singing, drama and rhythm, which was performed by his Rudra Béjart School students. He called it a ‘lesson’, and it closes on a lesson from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. To celebrate this special occasion, Maurice Béjart showed the film La douceur du tonner, Such Sweet Thunder, produced and choreographed by him in 1960, and in which he dances the solo role of Hamlet. The music by Duke Ellington and inspired by Shakepeare’s play, was composed in 1956-57.
7 June: In Avignon, for the inauguration of the TGV Mediterranean line and in the presence of President Jacques Chirac, a show was staged in collaboration with Groupe F’s Christophe Berthonneau (who produced the pyrotechnics displays on the Eiffel Tower for the year 2000, and for the World Football Cup in Paris). This show was a major event in the life of the Rudra Béjart School, an unforgettable evening with 5,000 spectators watching from the shores of the Rhône River.
December: Performances inthe Métropole Theatre, Lausanne, together with Béjart Ballet Lausanne, and the creation of Le même et un autre, by and featuring Maurice Béjart.
2002
Maurice Béjart created a junior company composed of Rudra School dancers, which then went on tour around the world for a whole year with Mother Teresa and the Children of the World. UNESCO invited the Rudra School to give a performance in Paris. This was followed by a tour in the South of France and Italy, including the Spoleto Festival.
2003
29 March: The world-renowned polytechnic school in Lausanne, the EPFL, celebrated its 150th anniversary and invited the Rudra Béjart School to give a performance on its Masters Graduation Day, in the presence of Nobel Prize winners and Research Ministers of a number of European countries.
2004
24 June: At the invitation of the International Olympic Committee and the City of Lausanne, Rudra performed at the event celebrating the arrival of the Olympic flame in Lausanne.
2005
Henniez celebrated its 100th anniversary with four consecutive Rudra shows. In July our students and percussion teachers made a fiery contribution to the Paléo-Festival in Nyon.
2006
As a tribute to Maurice Béjart, and to mark the 500th anniversary of its university, the City of Bologna invited Rudra to perform in the Duomo square in front of 6,000 spectators. Back in Switzerland, the Credit Suisse bank, and the famous Lausanne Hotel School commissioned special celebratory performances.
2004-2005-2006-2007
Inspired by the excellent level of technique and maturity of his students, Maurice Béjart created a number of works such as Voilà l'homme (Behold the Man), Les méfaits du tabac (The Hazards of Smoking), Carnets-tchekhov (Chekhov-Notes) and Tchekhov au bois dormant (Sleeping Chekhov).
Feedback from performances of these works has confirmed to us that our students’ technique and artistry clearly live up to choreographers’ and dance company directors’ expectations.
2007
On 22 November, our master, Maurice Béjart, ‘joined the stars’.
In his will, he passed on the direction of his Rudra Béjart School to Michel Gascard. Mr. Gascard follows along the road mapped out by his master, unfailingly applying Maurice Béjart’s teaching and philosophy.
2008
November: The first anniversary of Maurice Béjart’s death. The whole school travelled to India for ten days of masterclasses, in Jaïpur and New Delhi, with Indian masters of dance and music. They presented their work by giving performances every evening, for a week.
“Rudra students display such fervour and artistry in their dance that one wished companies of such quality would appear more often.” The School works closely with a number of cities that have important Art Schools such as, New York, Dresden, Copenhagen, Stockholm, London, Paris, Athens, San Francisco, Saint Petersburg, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Tokyo, Madras, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, and Beijing. These schools regularly send us their finest teachers, and in some cases (the Alvin Ailey School in New-York, and the Rotterdam National Academy of Modern Dance) even their directors. This boosts the image of both our city, Lausanne, and of our School.
We have choreographers and dance company directors come to audition directly in our classes as well as give masterclasses in improvisation and choreography. Amongst others, Malou Airaudo, Harris Mandafoynis, Paul Estabrouck, Carolyn Carlson, Douglas Nielsen, David Chase, and Max Luna III have helped Michel Gascard produce a number of shows.
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