Marie-Claude Pietragalla

Marie-Claude Georgette Yvonne Pietragalla (born 2 February 1963 in Paris) is a French dancer and choreographer.

Biography

Pietragalla was born in Paris to a Corsican father and mother from Bordeaux. At 16, she joined the Ballet de l'Opera National de Paris and was named étoile on 22 December 1990 after the performance of Don Quixote in which she played the role of Kitri. In 1998, she was appointed to the leadership of the National Ballet of Marseille, where she remained five years. After a protracted conflict with the company's dancers and staff, she stepped down from her position.

She danced at the Opéra Bastille with Patrick Dupond the "Swan Lake" (1992) and "Les Variations d'Ulysse" (1995) under the direction of Jean-Claude Gallotta. In 1998 she received the Prix Benois de la Danse. In 2000 she appeared in a one-woman show "Don't look back", a solo performance created for her by Carolyn Carlson. In October that year she introduced the ballet Sakountala that evokes the internal struggle of the sculptor Camille Claudel with her own demons.

In 2002 she choreographed the show "Enzo", a duo created for the show at the Olympia of Christophe (Victoire de la Musique 2002).

In 2003 she choreographed the show "Metamorphoses" for the dance school of Marseille. The same year she also choreographed "Ni Dieu ni maître", a show about anarchist poet and singer-songwriter Léo Ferré, which was presented first at the Théatre Toursky in Marseille, then at the Olympia in Paris. The show was about music and songs by Léo Ferré (and Elizabeth Cooper). She signed a new version of "Don Quixote" (Minkus-Cooper).