BEJART, MAURICE

born Jan. 1, 1927, Marseille, France pseudonym of Maurice-Jean de Berger French-born dancer, choreographer, and opera director known for combining classic ballet and modern dance with jazz, acrobatics, and musique concrte (composition by tape recordings). After studies in Paris, Bjart toured with the Ballets de Paris de Roland Petit (1947-49), the International Ballet (1949-50), and the Royal Swedish Ballet (1951-52). In 1954 he founded Les Ballets de l'toile (later Ballet Thtre de Maurice Bjart), for which he choreographed his masterwork, Symphonie pour un homme seul. His other ballets include Voil l'homme, Promethe, and Sonate trois. In 1960, following his successful ballet version of Igor Stravinsky's masterpiece Le Sacre du printemps (1959), he became director of ballet at Brussels' Thtre Royal de la Monnaie. The same year he became artistic director of the Ballet du XXe Sicle (Ballet of the Twentieth Century), which became one of the foremost dance companies in the world. In 1987 the troupe moved to Lausanne, Switz., and was renamed Bjart Ballet Lausanne. Bjart's productions with the Twentieth Century troupe were notable for their flamboyant theatricality and their innovative reworking of traditional music and dance materials, often in an unusual and controversial fashion. In 1961 Bjart launched his career as an opera director with Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann, followed in 1964 by Berlioz's Damnation of Faust. His original works include a musical, The Green Queen (1963), and such ballets as Bolero (1960), Ninth Symphony (1964), Firebird (1970), Nijinsky, Clown of God (1971), and Notre Faust (1975).