Biography
Jean-Baptiste Baele is a freelance Belgian choreographer based in Kristiansand, Norway. Originally from Madagascar, he grew up in Belgium where he started to dance when he was 19 years old. Under the mentorship of Valérie Matthieu and Talina Jager, Jean-Baptiste evolved as a dancer in Belgium for three years before moving to London to study a bachelor degree at Trinity Laban conservatory of Music and Dance. After graduating in 2015 with the Marion North Award Of Outstanding Performance Achievement, Jean-Baptiste presented his piece Rhetorical is the good word, a duet with young Belgian artist Malik Zaryaty, in the Bonnie Bird Theater., He has performed for several choreographers such as Mia Habib (How to Die Inopiné, Norway), Daniel Mariblanca (Normal, Norway), Fred Gehrig (Synchronicity, UK), Freya Pauwels (Morning, BEL), Niki Van Callandt (Spectrum, NDL), Raynold Battesti (Nuits Nocturnes by Cie des sources, BEL), and Yves Ruth (U.F.O. by W.A.N.P., BEL) among others.
In 2018, Jean-Baptiste Baele choreographed his first piece A Tome just ended for the Perpetuum Mobile Festival, and met Julie Amal, with whom he founded Baejjahn Dance company, based in Brussels. He was co-director and choreographer of the company until 2021.
When it comes to choreographing, Jean-Baptiste focuses on investigating the complexity of social behaviours , the historical background of a body and its memories, and physicalities that evolve through space.
