Jerome Bel's THE SHOW MUST GO ON to Play The Joyce Theater This Month

The Joyce Theater Foundation and the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) will present the return of famed Paris-based choreographer Jérôme Bel performing one of his most iconic evening length works, The show must go on, from October 20 - 22. Jérôme Bel's The show must go on is presented as part of FIAF's Crossing the Line Festival.

Tickets for the Bessie Award-winning piece range in price from $36-$46 and can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street. For more information, visit www.Joyce.org.

Though audiences complained the piece didn't contain any formal dance during its 2001 premiere in Paris, France, The show must go on was warmly embraced by American audiences full of happy laughter during its 2005 U.S. premiere at Dance Theater Workshop, winning a Bessie Award for Outstanding Choreography. It now comes to The Joyce Theater featuring a cast of twenty local performers and a DJ who plays a selection of pop-songs from the last three-decades that make up the score for the piece. The show must go on is known for demonstrating Mr. Bel's characteristic choreographic style, the use and focus on movements found in everyday life as opposed to formalized moves of classical and modern dance. With The show must go on, Jérôme Bel also dissects performance mechanisms, plays with performance expectations and mirror-effects between performers and spectators.

The Show Must Go On (2001) at The Joyce Theater is part of the 2016 Crossing the Line Festival's focus on Jérôme Bel, with presentations of major performances, including Jérôme Bel (1995) at The Kitchen, and a new performance, MoMA Dance Company (2016), at The Museum of Modern Art. The series of events begins at FIAF with a screening of Bel's film Véronique Doisneau (2004), followed by a conversation between the artist and Associate Curator at The Museum of Modern Art, Ana Janevski. These touchstone works in Bel's oeuvre provide an overview of his practice from the 1990s until today.

Jérôme Bel's worklast appeared at The Joyce Theater as part of its 2010-2011 Fall/Winter season, with the presentation of Cédric Andrieux, a visual autobiography which included excerpts of choreography from Trisha Brown, Merce Cunningham and Philippe Trehet.

Performances of The show must go on will take place from October 20 - 22 at The Joyce Theater (175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street) with the following schedule: Thursday and Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 2pm & 8pm. Tickets range in price from $36-$46 and can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street. For more information, visit www.Joyce.org.

Jérôme Bel was born in 1964, and lives in Paris. He works worldwide. He studied at the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine of Angers (France) in 1984-1985. From 1985 to 1991, he danced for many choreographers in France and in Italy. In 1992, he was assistant to the director and choreographer Philippe Découflé for the ceremonies of the XVIth Winter Olympic Games of Albertville and Savoie (France). His works include: nom donné par l'auteur (1994), Jérôme Bel (1995), Shirtology (1997), The last performance (1998), Véronique Doisneau (2004), Pichet Klunchun and myself (2005), Isabel Torres (2005), Cédric Andrieux (2009), A spectator (2009), 3Abschied (2010), Disabled Theater (2012), Cour d'honneur (2013), Gala (2015), Tombe (2016), and The show must go on. The films of his shows are presented in contemporary art biennials and in many museums. He often lectures in several universities. In 2013 Emails 2009-2010, written with the French choreographer Boris Charmatz, is edited (Les Presses du Réel). The book will be released this fall in English and online. Jérôme Bel received a Bessie Award for the performances of The show must go on in New York in 2005. In 2008 Jérôme Bel and Pichet Klunchun received the Routes Princess Margriet Award for Cultural Diversity (European Cultural Foundation) for Pichet Klunchun and myself (2005). In 2013, Disabled Theater (2012) was selected for the Theatertreffen in Berlin and won the Swiss Dance Awards - Current Dance Works.

The Joyce Theater Foundation ("The Joyce," Executive Director, Linda Shelton), a nonprofit organization, has proudly served the dance community for over three decades. Under the direction of founders Cora Cahan and Eliot Feld, Ballet Tech Foundation acquired and The Joyce renovated the Elgin Theater in Chelsea. Opening as The Joyce Theater in 1982, it was named in honor of Joyce Mertz, beloved daughter of LuEsther T. Mertz. It was LuEsther's clear, undaunted vision and abundant generosity that made it imaginable and ultimately possible to build the theater. Ownership was secured by The Joyce in 2015. The theater is one of the only theaters built by dancers for dance and has provided an intimate and elegant home for over 400 U.S.-based and international companies. The Joyce has also presented dance at Lincoln Center since 2012, and launched Joyce Unleashed in 2014 to feature emerging and experimental artists. To further support the creation of new work, The Joyce maintains longstanding commissioning and residency programs. Local students and teachers (K-12th grade) benefit from its school program, and family and adult audiences get closer to dance with access to artists. The Joyce's annual season of about 48 weeks of dance now includes over 340 performances for audiences in excess of 150,000.

Crossing the Line, now in its tenth year, is an annual citywide festival that engages International Artists and New York City audiences in discovery and dialogue to re-imagine the world around us. The festival is produced by the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) in partnership with leading cultural institutions. This year's edition of the festival takes place from September 22-November 3, 2016. For more, visit www.crossingtheline.org.

The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) is New York's premiere French cultural and language center.FIAF's mission is to create and offer New Yorkers innovative and unique programs in education and the arts that explore the evolving diversity and richness of French cultures. FIAF seeks to generate new ideas and promote cross cultural dialogue through partnerships and new platforms of expression. Go to www.fiaf.org.

Photo Credit: Mussacchio Laniello