Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, France… Faustin Linyekula is a traveling artist … through space, but also through time. His new show gives a second life to La Création du monde, a ballet created in 1923 at the Theâtre des Champs-Elysees by a remarkable team of artists: Darius  Milhaud for the music, Blaise Cendrars for the libretto, Fernand Léger  for the décor and Jean Börlin for the choreography.

Perceived at the time as a “negro-cubist fantasy”, this historic work  looks towards Africa more in terms of its highly coloured costumes and  its exotic sounds than to its terrible political context.

With 25 dancers from the Lorraine Ballet and eminent artistic  partners such as the musician Fabrizio Cassol (heard with Alain Platel  and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker), Faustin Linyekula takes on La Création du monde  with the intention of placing it within a new perspective. The  Congolese choreographer has no equal for the way in which he jarringly  juxtaposes tradition and modernity. With him, memory is no longer  content to commemorate; it regenerates from top to bottom, with a  healthy dose of extravagance.

Source: Lille Opera

Jean Börlin was a Swedish dancer and choreographer who was born in Härnösand on 13 March 1893 and died in New York on 6 December 1930. He worked with Michel Fokine, who was his teacher in Stockholm.

Jean Börlin was much appreciated by Michel Fokine, who later said of the Swedish dancer: ‘He's the one who most resembles me! A natural! An ecstasy! The fanatical sacrifice of a battered body in order to give maximum choreographic expression’.

Trained at the Royal Swedish Ballet School, he joined the troupe in 1905 and was appointed principal dancer by Fokine in 1913. He joined his master in Copenhagen in 1918, then travelled around Europe and discovered modern dance.

On Fokine's recommendation, he was hired by the Swedish Ballet Company, which had just been formed by Rolf de Maré. This marked his debut as a choreographer, as the vast majority of the Swedish Ballet's choreographies bear his name. He danced for the company at a time when it was in constant competition with Serge de Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.

From 1920 onwards, he was principal dancer, teacher, ballet master and choreographer. Hailed by French critics, Börlin was considered the successor to Vaslav Nijinsky.

Jean Börlin died of illness in 1930, aged just 37.

Source: Wikipedia

Since acquiring the CCN title in 1999, the Centre Chorégraphique National - Ballet de Lorraine has dedicated itself to supporting contemporary choreographic creation. As of July 2011 the organization is under the general and artistic direction of Petter Jacobsson.
The CCN – Ballet de Lorraine and its company of 26 dancers is one of the most important companies working in Europe, performing contemporary creations while retaining and programming a rich and extensive repertory, spanning our modern history, made up of works by some of our generations most highly regarded choreographers.
The CCN functions as an art center and venue for multiple possibilities in the fields of research, experimentation and artistic creation. It is a platform open to many different disciplines, a space where the many visions of dance of today may meet. 

More information : http://ballet-de-lorraine.eu