Madam, - I am so surprised about the legal action taken in Dublin and the controversy over our dance piece. It is now ten years since we began to tour this piece around Europe, from Helsinki to Lisbon, and from Warsaw to Dublin. Of course the piece has created very weird situations, people leaving the theatre loudly, or, on the contrary, laughing hysterically. Very few people stayed indifferent in front of this piece, which is the interesting point about this piece.
And this was my goal as an artist, I want my work to make the people react and then think about what happened to them.
This piece is now considered as a classic in cities like Berlin, Paris or Brussels, and people are coming to see it with a maximum of respect and I think it is sad, because they trust the piece too much.The piece is not perfect at all. Critics consider this piece has influenced a lot of other pieces in a good way and also in a bad way.
That is why I am so shocked about what is happening in Dublin. To sue the festival because it was not what this spectator expected . . . I have never seen something like this.
For me the main problem is consumerism, people are buying theatre like they buy salmon in their supermarkets.
They want something for what they have paid, but this is not what is happening in theatre. And especially in a festival for contemporary dance, the audience has to take some risks.
When people buy a ticket for one of my performances they don't really know what they will see. I am an unknown artist and I am doing choreographical research, like Merce Cunningham did many years ago, or any other artist building his uvre. Audiences have to bet on newcomers, and this is for us young artists very, very important, to have this courageous audience. I am always very moved to see a theatre filling itself slowly with audience: people don't know me but they are curious and they want to see something new!!! Otherwise go and see Hamlet or Swan Lake, you already know what will happen!!! You will get what you paid for.
In this work I did what I thought was interesting to do then. But I know now this piece has been very important for many people in Europe these last years. Of course some other people hated it and this is OK, I can understand that people are not interested in the issues of the piece. But let's keep our dignity, this is only theatre, everything is fake, the truth is out in the street where the situations of some people are really shocking. Who should I sue for allowing people live on the street? - Yours, etc.,
JÉRÔME BEL,
Paris.