(Place à) Beatriz Consuelo
On June 6, 2024, Charles Sturm Square in Geneva was renamed Beatriz Consuelo Square.
The City of Geneva, which is committed to a balanced representation of the sexes in public spaces, is thus paying tribute to the first female soloist and founder of Ballet Junior, who has had a lasting impact on Geneva's artistic life and has taught and inspired numerous generations of dancers over many years.
The inauguration of the renamed square, where the ADC pavilion is located, provided the opportunity to present an audiovisual installation conceived by Foofwa d'Imobilité, Beatriz Consuelo's son and himself a dancer and choreographer, based on the collections preserved by the SAPA Foundation, among others.
Foofwa's research into his mother's collections uncovered hidden treasures, including an extraordinary series of photographs created jointly by his parents, Beatriz Consuelo and Claude Gafner, also a dancer and passionate photographer.
Artistic and educational heritage
On the occasion of World Audiovisual Heritage Day, the SAPA Foundation is focusing on Beatriz Consuelo's artistic and educational heritage and invites you to honor and celebrate it.
Beatriz Consuelo (1932-2013) was a first soloist and dance teacher. After her dance debut at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro , she joined the company of the Marquis de Cuevas in 1953, where she was promoted to first soloist in 1959. Her career took her to the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux and finally to the Grand Théâtre de Genève, where she settled. In 1969, with the birth of her son, she turned increasingly to teaching, directing the Geneva Ballet School from 1975 to 1999 and founding the Ballet Junior in 1980, with which she trained numerous generations of dancers.
In 2019, the SAPA Foundation received her entire estate. This is characterized by an extraordinary documentary and aesthetic diversity and testifies not only to the life and career of this artist, but in particular to her strong will to pass on: the passing on of an art form, a passion and her knowledge.
The collection includes various media, with a focus on audiovisual materials.
1. movies and videos
As a woman of her time, Beatriz Consuelo learned to use and apply various technologies to document her work as an actress, dancer and teacher throughout her life. The collection includes numerous 8mm films that she recorded herself in the 1950s and 1960s during her active dance career. From the 1980s onwards, she carefully documented the lessons she gave at Ballet Junior on VHS tapes. This audiovisual material offers a unique insight into her artistic work and her influence on the dance world.
2. photographs
The collection comprises around 900 photographs that capture key moments of her career on stage, behind the scenes or in the studio. There are also personal photos with family, friends and colleagues. Together with her husband Claude Gafner, himself a dancer and photographer, she lived out her passion for the image in joint projects.
3. personal documents
Her correspondence, notebooks and travel documents provide an insight into her private life and personal thoughts.
4. professional memories
Work contracts, program booklets, posters and press articles trace her professional career from her beginnings at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro to the founding of Ballet Junior. Diplomas and honors attest to the recognition of her talent and her contribution to the art of dance.
The SAPA Foundation also preserves 23 videos from the Ballet Junior de Genève collection. This audiovisual collection, which was acquired in 2011, was catalogued and made accessible online in 2019 thanks to the support of Memoriav . It documents teaching and training as well as various works from the repertoire, such as "Masques et Bergamasques" from 1984.
The Beatriz Consuelo and Ballet Junior de Genève collections can be viewed online on the Swiss Performing Arts Platform of the SAPA Foundation.
