At the age of 19, Gaëlle Bourges became part of the « Contemporary Dance » service of a private school in Paris, following many years’ training in ballet, then modern’ jazz and tap-dancing. The school was mediocre and after two years of training, she decided to leave, to train with a private teacher for five years, having two lessons a day. After her seven years’ training, she created an initial working structure entitled “The K Company” with Florence Bresson and penned three works: The Angel and the Sun, The Life of Barbara Haynes (before her death) and The Headless Sailor. Following this, she obtained a degree and M.A in Dance (with distinction) at the University of Paris 8 and founded a new structure with Béatrice Le Sire and Adélaïde Ronchi – the Raoul Batz Group – the threesome inventing and penning a declination of performances entitled Homothethy 949 or the Progressive Contours of Index 10, a study on the corrolary between the invention of central perspective, anatomy, the birth of Italian-style theatre, vending machines and Decartes’s Cogito.
Gaelle Bourges interrupted her studies to continue working. The organization Os was created and run by Carla Bottiglieri, whom she met at the University of Paris 8 with Monia Bazzani.
Following The Donkey (an individual work), and Strip, a four-strong performance suggested during a Parisian “Nuit Blanche” ; I Kiss Your Eyes is also the extension of the question posed by Homothethy 949 on the eye and the result of the reflection that had commenced with Strip : an attempt to work on the state of the view of naked bodies (mainly women’s) ; The Beautiful Indifference insists ; Fighting It Out – a Greek Dream) suggests a solution to the Greek crisis by paying hommage to Antiquity and to the zero efficiency of assignments of gender and sex ; The Lock (a fantasy figure wrongfully attributed to Fragonard) based upon Fragonard’s eponymous painting and journey prior to 1789, followed by, Un beau raté, 59, To My Only Desire (featured in the 2015 Avignon Festival programme), Lascaux, Warding Off Fear, Seeing Lascaux Again, The Bathe, What You See, to mention but a few.
Gaëlle Bourges also studied English and Modern Languages, followed by a course in music, commedia dell’arte, clowning and dramatic art. She founded and directed a children’s musical theatre company (The Snark Theatre) for several years; worked as Stage Manager at the BNF for five years, then as a stripper for two and a half years. She continues to teach dance occasionally and has a diploma in Dance (with distinction) from the University of Paris 8, specializing in « Somatic Education Through Movement » – School of Body-Mind Centering. She has played in all Pepita Wald’s films, as her muse.
