Biography
Studied at the Conservatory in Nice with Janine Monin where he received the First Prize (unanimous decision of the jury), with Alexandre Kalioujny (teacher at the Paris Opera Ballet), and at the Paris Opera Ballet School.
He entered the Corps de Ballet of the Opera at the age of seventeen, and has promoted “Sujet” at the age of twenty.
In 1990, he received the Florence Gould Prize at the Concours International de Paris, the Prize of the Association pour le Rayonnement de l’Opéra de Paris, the Prize Carpeaux (voted by the press) for his performance of James in La Sylphide by Pierre Lacotte.
He has participated in many different productions in the repertory and worked with choregraphers invited to create new ballets such as: Noureyev, Balanchine, Lifar, Cunningham, Kylian, MacMillan, Robbins, Ashton, Gallotta, Marin, Parsons, Lander, Petit, Tharp, Neumeier, Nijinska ,Béjart, Grandmaître, Scozzi, Carlson...
He has danced as a Soloist and as a Principal at the Paris Opera in Pas de trois in Swan Lake (Rudolf Noureyev), Pas de deux in La Sylphide and Napoli (Bournonville), in Agon, Melancholic in The Four temperaments, (George Balanchine), Pas de trois in Suite en blanc (Serge Lifar), “The Cats” and Pas de cinq des Pierres précieuses in The Sleeping Beauty (Rudolf Noureyev), Golden Idol and Indian Soloist in La Bayadère (Rudolf Noureyev), the roles of Beranger and Spanish Soloist in Raymonda (Rudolf Noureyev), in As time goes by (Twyla Tharp), in Variations for a door and a sigh, the roles of Ivy and the TV choreographer in Le Concours (Maurice Béjart), in Dark Elegies (Anthony Tudor), in Pulcinella (Douglas Dunn), the role of James in La Sylphide (Pierre Lacotte), Lysandre in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (John Neumeier), the role of The dance teacher in Cinderella, the Gipsy leader in Don Quixotte, the role of Drosselmeyer/the Prince in the Nutracker (Rudolf Noureyev), Andreauria (Edouard Lock), Pas/Parts (William Forsythe), MC
Several choregraphers have chosen him to create new roles: Inigo in Paquita (Pierre Lacotte), Réversibilité (Michel Kelemenis), the Fiancé in Nosferatu (J.C. Gallotta), the Young Linton in Wuthering Heights (Kader Belarbi), Air (Saburo Teshigawara), the Violonist in The Little dancer by Degas, Incitatus in Caligula (Nicolas Le Riche).
Saburo Teshigawara invited him to create Kazahana with his company Karas.
He also joined as Principal the Ballet national de Nancy et de Lorraine directed by Pierre Lacotte: Albrecht in Giselle (Lacotte version), Paquita Pas de trois, Theme & variations (G. Balanchine), Les Illuminations (Thierry Malandain), Med in med (P. Talard); the Nice Opera Ballet, Petrouchka (Serge Golovine version), Les oiseaux tristes (Jean Guizérix), Coppélia (Vladimir Skouratoff), the Daïni Kudo Ballet in Japan (Tokyo Osaka ), etc.
In 2005, he was awarded Les Etoiles de Ballet 2000 prize of Cannes.
In 2011, he danced with Les Arts Florissants of William Christie in the Opera Ballet Atys (Lully) in Paris, Versailles, New York.
Since 2010, he is teacher of Paris Opera Ballet and also collabores for the rehearsals (Pas/Parts (William Forsythe), La Sylphide (Pierre Lacotte).
In 2012, he restaged La Sylphide (Pierre Lacotte) for Teatro Colon Ballet of Buenos Aires.
In 2013, for the Paris Opera Ballet School, he contributed for the creation D’Ores et déjà (Béatrice Massin, Nicolas Paul), a special ballet, mixed of contempory and baroque dance for the celebration of the tercentenary of the French School by Louis XIV. For this opportunity, he also danced the role of Louis XIV.
For Japan, he recorded three DVDs of teaching with the stars and soloist of Paris Opera Ballet , Dorothée Gilbert, Matthieu Ganio and Alessio Carbone.
Art. Lebedev Studio