Jérôme Bel
born 1964 in Parislives and works in Paris
The pieces by choreographer Jérôme Bel are hotly debated. They are disturbing, exhilarating and transcend conventional dance structures. His pieces can be described as experiments in minimalism, using only the simplest of movements and turning the performer into a “sign vehicle” and the body into a projection surface for social realities and cultural classification.
Born in Paris in 1964, Bel grew up in Algeria, Iran and Morocco. Already in early childhood, he started carefully observing and copying different styles of movement. After studying at the Centre Nationale de Danse Contemporaine, he worked as assistant to Philippe Découflé in choreographing the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics in Albertville in 1992. Bel creates his pieces at his desk, drawing on the writings of the “godfathers” of semiotics, Ferdinand Saussure and Roland Barthes for inspiration in his attempt to objectify and reify the “code” of dance.