Kader Belarbi, 60, has been directing the ballet of the Capitole de Toulouse national opera theater since August 2012. Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP
The choreographer and former star dancer deplores a brutal decision and denounces an expeditious dismissal. He mentions in a press release a complaint “as late as inconsistentfiled against him by a dancer no longer part of the ballet, without specifying the facts.
The Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse has separated from its dance director Kader Belarbi, we learned on Sunday from Toulouse Métropole and the person concerned who denounces in a press release “an expeditious dismissal» et «a rude settling of scores.»
«An internal administrative investigation carried out within the Ballet du Capitole has indeed, after the unanimous opinion of the joint advisory committee, led the establishment to put an end to the missions of Mr. Kader Belarbi as director of dance“Explains Toulouse Métropole, which exercises its supervision over the theater, in an email to AFP.
Mr. Belarbi, 60, choreographer and former star dancer, has been directing the ballet of the Capitole de Toulouse national opera theater since August 2012. He deplores a dismissal decision “as brutal as vexatious» and says to himself «victim of a rude settling of accounts dictated by a real intention to harm».
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In his press release, he mentions a complaint “as late as inconsistent» lodged against him with the public prosecutor by a «dancer no longer part of the ballet“, without specifying the facts referred to in this complaint. According to a source close to the ballet, the facts would be “humiliating acts», corroborated by several testimonies. In turn, Mr. Belarbi filed a complaint with the Toulouse prosecutor’s office “for slanderous denunciation» against the dancer and against «those who deliberately exploited this unfair questioning».
According to Yves Sapir, CGT delegate at the Théâtre du Capitole and, as a member of the joint advisory committee, bound by a duty of reserve, the internal investigation highlighted “personnel management issues” from Mr. Belarbi, “interpersonal difficultiesbetween the latter and the rest of the company as well as a staff management problem, the ballet being subject to a “very high turnover».
Born on November 18, 1962 in Grenoble, Kader Belarbi attended the dance school of the Paris Opera before joining the ballet in 1980 and becoming a star dancer there in 1989 at the age of 27. After his career as a dancer, he became a choreographer and is the author of around forty ballets, according to his biography still available on the Capitole theater website.