Hundreds queue to pay last respects to dance maestro Bejart

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2007

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AFP) — Hundreds of people waited patiently in line on Sunday to pay their last respects to the late French choreographer Maurice Bejart in his adopted hometown of Lausanne.

Bejart, famed worldwide for both his avant-garde style and his desire to reconnect ballet to the masses, died in a Lausanne hospital on Thursday at the age of 80.

His Bejart Ballet Lausanne company, and the city authorities, announced that his coffin would lie in the city's art-deco Metropole Hall on Sunday and Monday so that the public could pay their respects.

"Maurice Bejart, an honorary citizen of the city of Lausanne, has always placed special importance on his relationship with the public," the BBL said in a statement.

His coffin will also be on...