The Belgian artist, choreographer and designer faces up to five years
The Belgian multidisiplinary artist, choreographer and theatre director Jan Fabre, is to face trial in 2022 on charges of sexual harassment and indecent assault.
A criminal tribunal in Antwerp ruled that Fabre would stand trial next year – the case will be heard on 25 March and 1 April 2022. The 62-year-old faces up to five years in jail over ‘violence, harassment or sexual harassment’ allegations made by employees, alongside one count of indecent assault.
In 2018, 20 dancers from Fabre’s company Troubleyn accused the director of sexual harassment and fostering a toxic work environment – one in which sexual acts were exchanged for performance time, or ‘no sex, no solo’ as one performer dubbed it. The allegations included ‘semi-secret’ photographic sessions involving select dancers, with offers of money and drugs.
‘Humiliation is daily bread in and around the rehearsal space of Troubleyn,’ the signatories wrote. ‘Women’s bodies in particular are the target of painful, often bluntly sexist criticism – regardless of their actual physical condition’. The letter can be read here.
Fabre has said that ‘it was never my intention to intimidate or hurt people psychologically or sexually’; his lawyer said that ‘the image given of him in the media does not correspond to reality.’
Some pieces by Fabre have been pulled by institutions since the allegations broke – including a cancelled show in Belgium and the removal of a sculpture from an Antwerp museum this year. However his work was still on show at the 2021 Venice dance biennale, and scheduled for next year’s Thailand Biennale, among other arts platforms.
