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Tango

Maurice Béjart, the French choreographer whose flamboyant and populist ballets made him the equivalent of a pop star in Europe, died in Lausanne, Switzerland. He was 80.
Béjart was born in Marseille, as Maurice Jean Berger. Physically frail as a child, the young Maurice Berger enrolled in ballet school at age 14 as therapy. He later left for Paris, taking on the name Béjart, the maiden name of the wife of the 17th-century French playwright Molière.
His large-scale works especially were greeted with almost hysterical enthusiasm in countries all around the world, although most critics in Britain and the United States received them with almost equal opprobrium, disliking their mixture of mysticism and popular culture.
Béjart received numerous awards and prizes during his life. They include the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun and the Belgian Ordre de la Couronne. He was appointed to the Académie des Beaux Arts in 1994.

Boléro de Ravel

Le célèbre mime Marcel Marceau, est mort à l'âge de 84 ans. Le « Charlie Chaplin » français s'est éteint samedi soir. Il est né le 22 mars 1923 à Strasbourg. « La parole n'est pas nécessaire pour exprimer ce qu'on a sur le cœur », expliquait-il à propos de son art, le mime, qu'il maitrisait plus que quiconque.

Membre de l'Académie des beaux-arts (section des membres libres) depuis le 27 février 1991, il avait crée en 1978 une école de mime à Paris, où il enseignait, pour assurer la relève. Dans les années 50, il invente le mouvement de la « marche contre le vent », qui sera repris quelques années plus tard par Michael Jackson et son célèbre « MoonWalk ».

Bien que peu médiatisé ces dernières années, le mime Marceau a marqué son temps. Cette vidéo est un exemple de son travail.

To kiss or not to kiss, that is the question or at least it's one of the questions that non-Europeans often ask themselves when greeting a French person. To some Americans, it might seem the French are always kissing each other. In France and other French-speaking countries, people kiss their family members, friends, even their bosses sometimes. They give them two, three, sometimes four kisses on the cheek. But yet there are some occasions when people don't kiss at all and only a handshake will do. Confusing? Yes, very much so.

This cultural tutorial is designed to help you fine-tune your "la bise" skills.

Quand?
"Fait une bise" whenever you see your family members, you colleagues at work or you meet friends for the first time that day. So once a day is the rule. If you arrive at a party, start making the rounds and "fait la bise" right away - it might take you some time until you are finished.

Qui?
This one is more complicated as you need to take into account age, social standing and in professional terms the seniority of your counterpart. Family and close friends are easy - you always can initiate "la bise". For acquaintances and colleagues you can follow a simple rule: Let the older or more senior person initiate "la bise". Keep in mind you never, ever take the initiative to kiss your boss - a sure way to get fired. So what about man greeting man: In general no "bise", but between the younger generation "la bise" is increasingly common. Woman greeting woman and man greeting woman: always "la bise", but follow the aforementioned rules.

Comment?
It depends - if you want to play it safe just touch the cheek with your cheek. With family and close friends you might actually kiss them lightly on the cheek. No wet kisses please. The more distant the person, the less body contact. If you must, touch one arm of your counterpart; touching two arms is still acceptable. Let's examine a bit the man greeting woman "bise": as a rule no flirting is involved here, let's say in 99.99% of the cases. But any rule has its exceptions. So it could be an excellent opener to start flirting. Where else in the world do you find such an opportunity to get so close while greeting a person. So the length, intensity and body language is a great opportunity to express your affection. But use charm and decency, don't overdo it. Manage the situation with great finesse! Sometimes less is more.

Combien?
Well, that's the big question, nobody can answer this one for sure. In Provence people generally kiss three times: left cheek, right cheek, left cheek or right, left, right - although the order does not matter. The Parisienne "society" kisses only twice: left, right or right, left. The Parisienne bourgeoisie reportedly kisses three times. And then there are regions in France where you kiss four times. In the end nobody is really sure how many times - it depends on the person and occasion. Twice is the minimum and be prepared to go at least three times, unless of course you're in French-speaking Belgium where the custom is to kiss once. That said, the Belgians are known for giving three kisses on special occasions like New Year's Day or one's birthday.

Easy, n'est-ce pas?

Article adapted from the Provence Hide-away Blog