On December 22, 1990, Marie-Claude Pietragalla achieved consecration by being named Etoile dancer at the Paris Opera under the direction of Patrick Dupond, after taking up the role of Kitri in Rudolf Nureyev's Don Quixote. The reward of a long journey for this talented, hardworking and energetic young woman, admitted at the age of 9 to the Paris Opera Dance School. It was his mother who, very young, enrolled Marie-Claude in a dance class. His father of Corsican origin, taught him the taste for effort and wrote on the walls of his room this sentence from Napoleon: "When you want strongly, constantly, you always succeed". Her integration, seven years later, into the opera corps de ballet confirms the talent and the island determination of the girl who spends almost 9 hours a day at work and soon becomes the first dancer. “The Corsicans are fighting people who cultivate rigor and dignity. There is also this taste for freedom which is very marked on the island. This is what has remained with me throughout my life and which still drives me unconsciously today ” she explains. From then on, she worked with the most famous choreographers of the moment (Maurice Béjart, John Neumeier, Merce Cunningham, William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, John Neumeier, Roland Petit, Martha Graham) in the great roles of the classical repertoire ("Le Lac des Cygnes "," Cinderella "," Romeo and Juliet "," The Nutcracker "," La Bayadère ").

Mix the entries

In 1998, Marie-Claude Pietragalla was propelled to the head of the National Ballet of Marseille and its school. Under his direction, 27 ballets were added to the repertoire, totaling more than 300 performances and 300 spectators. There she met the dancer and choreographer Julien Derouault and in five years signed nine choreographies including "Sakountala" and "Don Quichotte".

But that doesn't mean she stops dancing. She was notably acclaimed during the “Signes” ballets in 1997 and “Don't Look Back” in 2000, created especially for the dancer by choreographer Carolyn Carlson. In 2003, she presented and danced at the Toursky Theater a world creation on the work of Léo Ferré "Ni Dieu Ni Maître", a choreographic journey to the heart of the music of the singer-songwriter.

Given the success of the five performances on the mythical stage of the Olympia, Marie-Claude Pietragalla shows that contemporary dance can open up to other places and universes. Then came 2004, a year of transition and profound upheavals. Repeated conflicts prompt the dancer to resign from the National Ballet of Marseille. She then creates, with her companion Julien Derouault, her own company. From the outset, the Théâtre du Corps mixes scriptures and addresses all artistic disciplines, dance, literature, music, theater, mime, circus, video, martial arts, or painting. This is the year when she also loses her father. But also the one where she gives birth to little Lola, named after the first ballet on which Marie-Claude and Julien danced together in Marseille.

Photo: © Pascal Elliott

The body, vector of the unconscious

With their company, the duo connects original and inventive creations ("Drunkenness" in 2005, "Marco Polo" in 2008, "La Tentation d'Eve" in 2010) which mix dance, theater, videos and current music. Still in her desire to democratize her art, Marie-Claude Pietragalla accepted in 2012 to be a member of the jury for the show “Dance with the stars”. From the outset, the company's work has been based on an educational dimension with workshops open to dancers and actors in order to promote exchanges and artistic diversity.

“I have a very atypical career that I claim. From a very young age I had this gaze turned towards contemporary creators, towards dance of course, but also towards all other artistic disciplines ” says she.

In 2013, the couple returned to the stage with a new show, “Mr. and Mrs. Rêve” which plunges the viewer into an unreal world thanks to 3D and digital technology. The two creators believe that the body has developed and acquired a hidden language of its own and that the dance intends to transmit. It is the vector of the unconscious, the dream and the imaginary. The movement becomes its narration, the choreography, the medium where the unconscious is released and recreated this primitive link. "As a creator, it is essential for me to continue to develop a unique universe, thought of as a place of experimentation and choreographic research on the theater of the body" She says.

Photo: © Pascal Elliott

The Elixir of Love

For Marie-Claude Pietragalla, working with personalities and artists from all horizons is central to her work in duet with Julien Derouault. Since the beginning of her career, she has not hesitated to multiply unexpected artistic experiences, like in the cinema for "When I see the sun" by Jacques Cortal or "Livid" by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury or very recently at the theater in Paris for " The Elixir of Love ” a play by and with Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt. "The mix of dance techniques is the common thread of each writing" does she often like to remember.

This is precisely the meaning of the new creation of the company " I met you by chance ” which will be presented from February 9 at the Folies Bergère theater in Paris and in several major cities in France. The couple, staged in its simplicity, symbolizes the relationship of a man and a woman who reinvent their story at every moment. A play on the present, the duration and the movement of feelings, from the spark of the encounter to the outpouring of the first questions with the passage of time…

David Raynal

Corps Theater
Phone +33 (0) 1 43 75 48 01
http://www.pietragallacompagnie.com
E-mail: mail@theatre-du-corps.com

Studios
59 Rue Marcelin Berthelot
94140 Alfortville

Discover the new show of the Théâtre du corps company "I met you by chance" presented from February 9 to 21, 2016 at the Folies Bergères in Paris.

Other dates in the region:

• January 29 / Nantes
• February 2 / Marseille
• February 4 / Toulouse
• February 26-27-28 / Lyon
• March 1 / Joué-lès-Tours
• March 8 / Le Blanc-Mesnil
• March 22 / Lille
• March 29 / Marseille
• April 8 / Liège
• April 9 / Brussels
• May 27 / Lausanne
• October 3 / Rueil-Malmaison
• October 9 / Saint-Cyr
• November 12 / Vendenheim
• January 19 / Boulogne Billancourt

To support the dissemination of its shows and participate in the democratization of access to dance, the company also offers master-classes, meetings and dance conferences.

From April 16 and 17, 2016, Masterclass with Marie-claude Pietragalla and Julien Derouault

• Classic Course with Pietra from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (all levels except beginner)
• Contemporary course with Julien from 13 p.m. to 14:45 p.m. (medium level)
• Choreographic workshop with Pietra and Julien from 15 p.m. to 16 p.m. (advanced / professional level)

Price

• 1 lesson per day over 2 days: 100 €
• 2 lesson per day over 2 days: 180 €
• 3 lesson per day over 2 days: 250 €