Ballet choreographer Maurice Bejart dies

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Maurice Bejart — who sought to bring ballet to younger audiences with his provocative choreography, stunning critics with his avant-garde dances — died Thursday, his ballet company said. He was 80.

Bejart, hospitalized last week with heart and kidney trouble, died early Thursday at Lausanne’s University Hospital, said Emmanuel de Bourgknecht, administrator of the Bejart Ballet Lausanne.

The French-born Bejart set new standards during a career that spanned five decades, starting with his signature work, the 1959 staging of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” in which his dancers — clad in sleek, shiny tights — created an erotic aura with impulsive, natural movements that became a standard of his interpretations.

His Ballet of the 20th Century, formed a year later at Brussels’ Monnaie theater, became hugely successful on the back of his provocative choreography.