New Book Explores Dali and Béjart's Collaborative Genius

A new publication by F. Joseph-Lowery and Isabelle Roussel-Gillet, titled 'Dali/Béjart : Danser Gala', examines the creative partnership between Salvador Dalí and choreographer Maurice Béjart. The book stems from an exhibition held last summer at the Maison Bergevin in Avranches, linked to the colloquium 'Dali. Sur les traces d'Eros'. It highlights the 1961 ballet 'Gala' and the opera-bouffe 'La Dame espagnole et le chevalier romain' at La Fenice in Venice, which finally pleased Dalí after earlier failures like 'Vénusberg' (1944) and 'Le Rêve de Vénus' at the New York World's Fair. The volume assembles photographs, testimonies, and writings that reveal a shared sensibility, noting that Béjart's early choreography 'Voyage au cœur d'un enfant' (1955) featured a child splitting into a grasshopper in a dream. The interdisciplinary approach repositions Dalí's work within art history, emphasizing his innovative and precursory role in scenography and the coherence of his total life's work as a mise-en-scène.