Since its creation in 1928, Ravel's "Boléro" has been the most popular "classic" work in the world. A phenomenal destiny told with a beating drum, notably by some of his fervent admirers: the filmmaker Claude Lelouch, the singers Angélique Kidjo and Rufus Wainwright, the pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque or the popes of electro Carl Craig and Moritz von Oswald.

"I start very small to finish huge," sums up Maurice Ravel in 1928, to characterize the musical UFO he has just composed, without imagining that he also describes the phenomenal and planetary destiny that his Boléro will experience. Perpetually revisited, remixed, sublimated soundtrack, this brief symphonic piece, commissioned by Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein for a performance at the Opéra Garnier, immediately won a triumph. Its repetitive structure, with the crescendo resumption, continuously, of the ternary rhythm of the bolero hammered by the snare drum and the two melodies of sixteen bars each, gives the work a hypnotic power. Over time, it has become a real "tube", which inspires each year, from Paris to Tokyo, from Johannesburg to Berlin, artistic productions of an astonishing diversity, whether it be dance, cinema or musical adaptations of all kinds. With stunning archives and some of his fervent admirers (filmmakers Claude Lelouch and Kim Jee-woon, singers Angélique Kidjo and Rufus Wainwright, choreographers Marie-Agnès Gillot, Gregory Maqoma or Raimund Hoghe, pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque or the popes of electro Carl Craig and Moritz von Oswald…), this documentary retraces beating the extraordinary fate of what was, originally, a small masterpiece of modernity and radicalism.

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Source: ARTE France

Mats Ek began his career by studying theatre, whilst taking part in Donya Feuer's (an American who practiced the Martha Graham technique and who was based in Stockholm) dance classes at the same time. He joined the Dusseldorf Ballet for a season (1974-75), then integrated the Cullberg Ballet, directed by his mother Birgit Cullberg, the following year. In 1980, Mats Ek became co-artistic director for the company, along with Birgit Cullberg, and in 1985, when she took her retirement, he became the sole director.
His audacious and mordant revisions of “La Maison de Bernarda” (The House of Bernarda) (1978), “Giselle” (1982), “Le sacre du printemps” (The Rite of Spring) (1984), “Le lac des cygnes” (Swan Lake) (1987), “Carmen” (1992) and “La belle au bois dormant” (Sleeping Beauty) (1996) confirmed his talent to dig deep into appearances to bring out the tormented psychology of the characters and to defy ballet conventions. His surrealist fables such as “Vieux Enfants” (1989) and “Etres Lumineux” (1991) transpose, through the bizarre, the complex relationships that can be developed between people.
Since leaving his position as director of the Cullberg Ballet (1993) and becoming a freelancer, Mats Ek has strived to denounce the ills of society through the difficulties encountered by couples and through the small everyday dramas of life. “A Sort of...” (1997) for the Nederlands Dans Theater, “Appartement” for the Opéra de Paris, “Fluke” (2002) for the repertoire of the Ballet de l'Opéra de Lyon, “Aluminium” for the Compañia Nacional de Danza / Nacho Duato (2005), “Place” for Ana Laguna and Mikhail Baryshnikov (2007), “Radis noir” (2008) for the Ballet of the Royal Opera of Sweden. More than ever, Mats Ek strived to “dance for a reason… I want to reflect the image of reality”.

He also made his comeback in the theatre where he produced “Dans Med Nätsan” / “Danse avec ton prochain” (Dance with your neighbour) (1995), “Johanna sur Jeanne d'Arc” (1998) and directed works by Molière, Racine, Shakespeare, Strindberg, and the Gluck opera “Orphée et Eurydice” (Orpheus and Eurydice).

In twenty years, he has imposed his poignant vision of human behaviour, in a personal style that exacerbates the movement and fills the body with the distresses of the soul. In his psychoanalytical reinterpretations of the “classics”, just like in his sharp observation of the frustrations of individuals, he dares to display the essential.

Source : Opéra de Lyon (Josseline le Bourhis)

After an experience in the cinematographic environment as a locator and casting assistant, Damien then worked for television, first as a production assistant then as a journalist for the programs Le Journal Du Cinéma, Nulle Part Ailleurs Cinéma and more Cinema broadcast on Canal +. In 2005, he continued his work as a journalist by producing reports and investigations for the Canal + program specializing in the media: + Clair.

He joined the Grand Journal team in 2007, where he painted the artists invited on set and created numerous columns such as The Crash Test, The Palmometer, The Playlist, The Week Ideal or The Short List. With his Almost Famous column, he produced dance and animated portraits of artists in the process of being recognized.

Since 2015, he has continued his work as a journalist on different shows and on different TV channels (Nobody moves and 28 minutes on Arte, Mardi Cinéma on France 2, Entrée Libre on France 5, Punchline on C8…). Damien is also a director and artistic director for clips (Another Man by Santoré), short programs (Unifrance, Opening Light Music), trailers (Exhibition Seydou Keita at the Grand Palais) or program concepts.

He produces the bimonthly program "En Off" presented by Michel Denisot, broadcast on Paris Première and on the Vanity Fair France website. He co-directed with Anne-Solen Douguet a documentary on the dancer Etoile of the Paris National Opera Marie-Agnès Gillot broadcast in March 2018 on France 5.

In parallel, he developed his personal projects such as Happy Portrait To You, a series of dance portraits exhibited at the Silencio in April 2016.

Source: Beall Productions

More information: http://www.beall.fr/

Beall Productions is a production company imagined in 2012 to develop and produce all forms of audiovisual projects.
It was in 2004 that Stéphane Bergouhnioux, Damien Cabrespines, Raphaëlle Chichery, Anne-Solen Douguet, Sophie Druet, Stéphanie Lachèvre and Jean-Marie Nizan created the Beall collective.
In October 2012, the collective became a production company: Beall Productions. The structure changes but the spirit, the desire and the 7 actors remain.
Beall Productions has ensured since its creation the delegated or executive production of numerous audiovisual programs.
Both for public organizations (such as La Réunion des Musées Nationaux - Grand Palais, Le Musée de l'Armée or La Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie), as well as for private companies like Canal +
For all of its productions, short subjects as well as documentaries, Beall and today Beall Productions has always used all the human and technical resources necessary to carry out the projects in which it was engaged.
Beall has its own cameras as well as its editing stations. The rest of the postproduction (mixing, calibration, subtitling) is generally subcontracted. But we manage and ensure the production of our projects from start to finish.

Source: Beall Productions

More information: http://www.beall.fr/