Dance UbuWebJean-Charles Gil
Schubert in Love (2004)Jean- Charles Gil, choreographer, was born in Spain. At the age of 17 he joined the Ballet National of Marseilles – Roland Petit and two years later Petit gave him leading roles in the company. In 1983, he was distinguished by the American press as “Best Dancer of the Year” and a year later a wounded Baryshnikov asked him to replace him in Gisèle, at the New York Metropolitan Opera. Rudolf Noureev invited him as a guest star to the Paris Opera for his production of Roméo & Juliette. Maurice Béjart gave him L’Oiseau de Feu for the performance at the Grand Palais for the bicentennial celebration of the French Revolution. He was a leading dancer at the San Francisco Ballet from 1985 until 1988, then at the Ballets de Monte-Carlo from 1991 to 1997. After more than twenty years of an international career, as a dancer, Gil started choreographing. In 1999 he founded the Ballet des Jeunes d’Europe (BJE). In 2003, he created the Ballet d'Europe in Allauch (near Marseilles). Films of his work, Mireille, Mozart Requiem and Schubert in Love, are played by Mezzo. Excerpts from those were chosen by Roberto Alagna to illustrate a documentary on his own work, and then he offered Gil to make choreographies for Ballet d’Europe’s dancers in the tenor’s show.