BAL

2017

Watch teaser here

Watch trailer here

For a première, this is a stroke of genius. With BAL, Simone Mousset signs the first ballet-documentary ever shown in the country. (…) A piece with a perfect rhythm.

Marie-Laure Rolland, Luxemburger Wort

Fantastical and avant-garde. Courageous and funny. (…) A thoroughly successful coup!

Anina Valle Thiele, Letzebuerger Land

“Everything is invented!” (…) The final turn of events allows a completely different re-reading of what we thought we had understood. And then, after the shock, I applauded! We were no longer in the ballet-documentary, but in a conceptual project, aimed at deconstructing the mechanisms of manipulation and identity tensions in our society.

Marie-Laure Rolland, Luxemburger Wort

BAL takes the form of an exhibition and a performed documentary about a fictional national dance company from Luxembourg. Completely invented, and inspired by the large-scale folk dance ensembles of Eastern Europe, BAL traces the lives of two “legendary figures of Luxembourgish folk dancing”, the sisters Josephine and Claudine Bal and their company, the Ballet National Folklorique du Luxembourg. The piece and exhibition trace the successes, failures, and international break-through of the company, showcasing “reconstructed” fragments from their most acclaimed productions, such as Josiane, the Countrygirl. Born out of a commission to make a piece about Luxembourgish folk dances, and disappointed with the simplicity and innocence of these dances, I decided to invent our very own glorious national dance history, driven by questions about heritage, legacy, institutional power, ballet and dance as propaganda, and being part of, representing, celebrating, deconstructing, and inventing a national culture.

The story was widely believed in Luxembourg, and circulated until its untruth was revealed on International Dance Day 2017.

Concept and direction: Simone Mousset

Performed by and devised in collaboration with: Simone Mousset, Elisabeth Schilling

Music: Maurizio Spiridigliozzi

Text: Simone Mousset (with support from Elisabeth Schilling)

Artistic advice: Anne-Mareike Hess

Costumes: Mélanie Planchard

Production: Simone Mousset

Co-production: Mierscher Kulturhaus

Developed with the support of: the Ministry of Culture Luxembourg, TROIS C-L Centre de Création Chorégraphique Luxembourgeois, the Fonds Culturel National Luxembourg and SACEM Luxembourg.

BAL was partly created during the winter residency Résidanse at the Mierscher Kulturhaus.