Bernice Coppieters

Biography

Born in Dendermonde, Belgium. Began studying ballet at the Antwerp Institute of Ballet. In 1988 entered the Juilliard School in New York, won the Prix de Lausanne and joined the company of the Royal Ballet of Flanders.

In 1990 joined the Ballets de Monte-Carlo directed by Jean-Christophe Maillot. The meeting between the two artists marked the start of an exceptional partnership that has lasted for over 20 years.

Performed leading roles in Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Drosselmeier, La Belle, Le Songe, Faust, Scheherazade and LAC. Also performed in Concert d’Anges, Dov’è la Luna, Duo d’anges, Home, Sweet Home, Thème et quatre variations, Ubuhuha, Vers un pays sage, in Volo, l’île, Opus 40, Œil pour œil, Entrelacs, D’une rive à l’autre, Atro Canto I and II, Fauves, Men’s Dance for Women, Daphnis et Chloé, Choré, Casse-Noisette Compagnie and Switch.

Danced the lead roles in the repertoire of Sergey Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, created in the Principality of Monaco in 1911, including Scheherazade, Les Sylphides, The Firebird and Petrushka by Michel Fokine; L'après-midi d'un faune by Vaslav Nijinsky; Agon, Les Quatres Tempéraments, le Fils Prodigue, La Valse, Sérénade, Violin Concerto, Who Cares? and Thème et variations by George Balanchine.

She has also worked with many modern choreographers whose pieces have become part of the repertoire of the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, or who, as guest choreographers, have created roles for her: Duende by Nacho Duato, In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, Approximate Sonata, The Vile Parody of Address and The Second Detail by William Forsythe, Watching Waters by Renato Zanella, Return to a Strange Land, Bella Figura, Sechs Tänze, No more Play and Silent Cries by Jiří Kylián, The Chairman Dances by Lucinda Childs, In Memoriama and Mea Culpa by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and pieces by Karole Armitage, Twyla Tharp, Kevin O’Day, Angelin Preljocaj, Uwe Sholz, Jacopo Godani, Johan Inger, Alonzo King and Marco Goecke (solo created for her: Tué).
Maurice Béjart has given her a privilege to dance his Boléro.

In recent years, Bernice Coppieters has worked for Jean-Christophe Maillot on several of his productions for other companies such as the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Essen Ballet, the Vienna State Opera Ballet, the Korea National Ballet, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, the National Theatre of Prague and the Atlanta Ballet Company.

Bernice Coppieters has worked in partnership with the artist Ernest Pignon-Ernest for more than years. In 2000 he told her about his desire to create a project around seven mystical women: saints, cloistresses and mystics who experiences divine ecstasy and revelations (Marie-Madeleine de Chauvigny de la Peltrie, Hildegard of Bingen, Angela of Foligno, Catherine of Siena, Marie of the Incarnation Teresa of Ávila and Madame Guyon). Pursuing the physical manifestation of ecstasy, he asked Bernice Coppieters to become his model for the project. In 2008 the installation of Extases, comprising charcoal and pencil drawings of half-naked woman figures, was exhibited in the Chapel of Saint Charles d’Avignon. In 2009 it was diplayed at the Grimaldi Forum, and then in cities all over France. The exhibition was the subject of a book by the same name printed by Gallimard in 2008.

Bernice Coppieters has worked with the photographer Helmut Newton on many occasions. She appears in the famous SUMO album published by Taschen.

In 2006 the visual artist Ange Leccia created Bernice, a film which set out a portrait of the dancer.