With "Gala", Jérôme Bel proceeds with his project to open the stage to those who are usually excluded from it. Here, it deals with some amateurs, chosen because of their amateurism, who are placed on an equal footing with professional dancers. They replace technical skills with the simple pleasure of performing on a stage. The gala ball form, poor relation of professional performances, allows them to bring on stage their domestic choreographies that unveil a different way of producing dance: enjoyable, uncomplicated and freed from any esthetic judgement. Disconnected from the academic knowledge, dance is shown as a federating practice. Audience can easily and fully assess her political effects, in terms of social links, collective narrative and culture sharing.

Florian Gaité