Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Beijing

THE SCHOOL IN BEIJING

However, the company is not the only one to be in high demand in China, as Rudra Béjart’s school has also been invited. In November, the school will fly to Beijing during a cultural exchange, where the students will take part in two weeks of workshops with the students of the National Dance Academy.

Then, two shows will be put on at the prestigious Tianqiao theatre, near the Sky Temple. In the middle of August this year, Rudra scored a huge success in the arena of Nîmes with a choreography by Valérie Lacaze. In a setting of water games and aquatic effects, this creation enthralled some 30,000 visitors.

«The Rudra Béjart School is also an intellectual and ethical way of life providing young dancers with a set of values to enable them to take their place in today’s society. In a lax and permissive environment we need people who can stand up to life’s challenges resolutely and without aggressiveness.”

Maurice Béjart

The Rudra Béjart School in Lausanne is the only free, international private school in the world

In 1971, with extraordinary vision, Maurice Béjart opened the Mudra Studio-School in Brussels, designed as a unique centre for dance training and research, and open to new ideas and cultures. Since 1992, the Rudra Béjart School in Lausanne has been carrying on the basic precepts of this vision under the joint direction of Maurice Béjart and Michel Gascard.

Over the last 17 years, more than 300 young dancers from 30 different countries and from different socio-economic backgrounds have been given the opportunity to benefit, free of charge, from a two-year training course with world-class dance teachers.

The School trains young dancers in classical and modern academic techniques and develops their artistic knowledge thanks to a rigorous education in music, rhythmics and drama. This training combined with traditional dances and Kendo – a Japanese martial art – ensures a constant blending of artistic expressions. The Rudra Béjart School is a unique institution where new generations can discover and learn to perform the repertoires of Martha Graham and Maurice Béjart. Stage experience is an integral part of the artistic training. Students have had the opportunity to perform in public in Switzerland, other European countries, Latin America, Russia, Japan and India.

Maurice Béjart‘s enduring objective was to train dancers who would be capable of coming up to choreographers’ expectations, but who could also find their own way as creators. Indeed, there are many alumni of the School who today run their own innovative companies. And in accordance with Maurice Béjart’s wishes, the Rudra Béjart School in Lausanne is committed to passing on his method of teaching and his concept of humane choreography.

Michel Gascard, Directeur