Born in Paris on October 27, 1945, Jean Guizerix began dancing late at the age of seventeen. He continued to practice dance in an amateur fashion and at the same time pursued higher studies at the Sorbonne. Having to make a choice between study and dance, he chose the latter out of passion and presented himself to the conservatory where he was refused. He then appeared at an audition at the Paris Opera in 1964. Two years later he was quadrille, then coryphée the following year. Appointed subject in 1968, he was already entrusted with solo roles, notably in Turangalila (R. Petit) in 1969 and Arcades (A.Labis). In 1971, he was named Principal Dancer and a year later was named Danseur étoile.

Apart from his work as a dancer at the Opera, Jean Guizerix is ​​also a choreographer. He created his first solo O Tod, in 1969 for his wife Wilfride Piollet. In 1986, with his wife, he created a dance company with a large repertoire including choreographers from various influences. He left the Opera in 1990, and for the occasion had carte blanche for the organization of this evening. 

From 1990 to 1998, he was a professor at the CNSMDP then he became ballet master at the Paris Opera from 1998 to 2000. He was then appointed advisor for dance to the Ministry of National Education until 2002. In 2003, he is for a few months acting artistic director of the Ballets du Nord.  Since 1997, he has been a teacher at the National Circus Arts Center. He gave lessons with his wife Wilfride for their association "Clef de sol".

He is also the author of several books, he wrote in particular Parallèle in 1986, le Moulin de Jerry, Sens et Tonka edition, published in 2003 and Libretto de Giselle by Théophile Gautier at L'une et l'autre editions in 2012.

Source: theatre-contemporain.net

Wilfride Piollet trained at the Paris Opera Ballet school and was given her first solo role by Maurice Béjart in “Noces” in 1965. She was made principal dancer in 1969.

Both at the Paris Opera and all over the world, she performed the great roles of classical and neoclassical repertoire. Jean Guizerix became her partner for dance and for life, and they performed the contemporary choreographies of Merce Cunningham, Lucinda Childs, Douglas Dunn, Andy de Groat, Félix Blaska, Dominique Bagouët and Daniel Larrieu, to name but a few. Piollet also danced the neoclassical works of George Balanchine, Serge Lifar, Roland Petit and Jerome Robbins, and threw herself into Belle Danse (historical dance) under the direction of Francine Lancelot. Since 1977 Piollet has choreographed her own works, which include “Le Prince de Bois”, “Huit danses hongroises”, “Renard”, “Lettera Amorosa”, “Dam'Oisel”, “Momerie”, “Ballet Figuré”, “Penthésilée” and “La Conjuration” among others. In 2003, the year in which she finished her performing career, she and Madeleine Lytton began working on the repertoire of Isadora Duncan. When Nadège Tardieu published her thesis on her method “Les Barres flexibles”, Piollet began working on a study of the image of gestures in dance (Les trois temps du corps), then with Francette Levieux (Giselle) and alongside Frédérique Liébaut on “Le corps-partition”, performed in Avignon in 2006.

Piollet choreographed new versions of the great repertoire ballets such as Coppélia, and continued to create new works in smaller form, such as “Le petit Atelier” and “Romance”. In 2005, she and Jean Guizerix choreographed “L'Amour médecin” and “Le Sicilien” for the Comédie-Française (French National Theatre), and “Anonymes” for the École nationale des Arts du cirque (ENAC – National Circus Arts School) in Rosny-sous-Bois (Seine Saint-Denis, near Paris).

From 1989 until June 2008, she taught at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (CNSMDP). In 1999, she published two works on the subject of her teaching: “Rendez-vous sur tes barres flexibles” and “Barres flexibles” (published by L'Oiseau de Feu).
In 1999, on the website lesbarresflexibles.net, Piollet made the series “Les gestes de Lilou” available online. It is aimed at dance teachers, primary school teachers, parents and educators who wish to teach their pupils or children some basic notions of dance.

In February 2009, Piollet took part in a performance in which both dancers and audience moved around the Chartreuse de Villeneuve lez Avignon - “La folie d'Igitur” – a work inspired by the work of French poet Stéphane Mallarmé and directed by Andy de Groat. Piollet also performed a tango with Jean Guizerix, reinterpreted by Andy de Groat and Martin Barré.

She passed away January 20, 2015.

Further information

Digital resource - Médiathèque du Centre national de la danse
Wilfride Piollet

Updating: January 2018

It was with the Ballet of the Opéra National de Paris that  Jean-Christophe Paré started his career as a dancer-performer. Named  Principal Dancer in 1984, he had as early as 1981 decided to stand up  for the possibility to open new pathways of exploration in the work of  interpretation at the Groupe de Recherche Chorégraphique of the Opéra de  Paris. He has collaborated with many choreographers from currents as  varied as modern dance (Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharps), American postmodern  dance (Alwin Nikolaïs, Merce Cunningham, Andy de Groat, Lucinda Childs),  young French dance (Dominique Bagouet, Régine Chopinot, Philippe  Découflé, François Verret, Daniel Larrieu), German expressionist dance  and, more recently, renaissance and baroque dances. These are references  for him in the conception of educational projects which he conducts  while directing the dance depart- ments of the École Nationale  Supérieure de Danse in Marseille (2007-2011), then the Conservatoire  National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris (2014-2018).

Source: program of the CND