Maurice Béjart is known for his grand revues and spectacular theatre productions, but he also created works with a more minimalist palette. His vast repertoire includes both provocative and mysterious choreography that still excites and moves us today. To celebrate what would have been the choreographer’s 100th birthday in 2027, the Stuttgart Ballet pays tribute to this legendary choreographer and longtime collaborator.

Gaîté Parisienne celebrates Béjart’s love of dance and of Paris. Instead of training in the studio, a young ballet student finds himself in a dream world, where he experiences a colourful revue. By way of imaginative detours, he finds his calling. Set to music by Jacques Offenbach, the ballet explores existential questions for any artist: the role of art, society’s reception, and the artist’s outsider status.

Songs of a Wayfarer is a pared back look at Béjarts choreographic language. To Gustav Mahler’s powerful score, a wanderer searches for direction, guided by his alter ego – a counterpart offering both support and resistance. This intense, technically demanding duet for two men suggests inner struggle, love, and death.

Alone on a round table, hips swaying as the music steadily swells, the solo dancer in Bolero represents the pulsating rhythm as movement and music merge in crescendo. Surrounded by a powerful ensemble, the soloist dances toward ecstasy. Béjart’s Bolero is danced seduction at its most riveting, and one of the most captivating interpretations of Maurice Ravel’s renowned score.