The last time he appeared on stage was at the Marigny theater in the fall of 2018. He played the role of
Donkey Skin's father,
still blond and handsome as fairy-tale princes know how to be. .
Michaël Denard danced them all: Siegfried, Albrecht, Désiré, with such natural elegance that one had, seeing him, the impression of speaking classical dance fluently.
But Michael Denard was more than a star.
By creating
L'Oiseau de feu for him in 1971,
Maurice Béjart had opened his club of cult dancers of the 1970s to him. Shirtless and ideally muscled, legs molded in orange tights, golden hair a little long, he embodied the one of dance's most desirable icons.
For a time,
The Firebird
had carved out a rock star life for him.
He danced the roles in which he was cast at the Opéra Garnier, then flew by plane to find the
Ballets du XXe siècle
.
He was the darling of the moment;
charming, sympathetic, funny, he tried many things, even the song.
He recorded a variety disc
Danse Danse
on one side,
Photographe
on the other.
Songs signed Didier Barbelivien that it is better to forget.
The scene suited him so well that he stayed there.
Born in Dresden on November 5, 1944, from a German mother and a French father, he began dancing in Tarbes the year of his baccalaureate.
In 1963, he was engaged in the corps de ballet of the Capitole de Toulouse and, in 1964, in that of the Opéra de Nancy.
He goes to Paris, where he follows the courses of Solange Golovine.
His first appearance in Paris took place in 1965, with the European Ballets of Lorca Massine.
Pierre Lacotte spots him and offers him to serve as a partner to his wife and muse, Ghislaine Thesmar.
The two go together perfectly: the same beauty, the same blondness, the same obvious elegance, the same talent as a performer.
Lacotte reserves the pleasure of choreographing for them.
Denard launches.
Are there limits?
He presented himself for an audition to enter the opera in 1966. In 1967, he was coryphée, subject in March 1968, first dancer in March 1969. The world of dance only had eyes for him.
In 1970, Yvette Chauviré, 53, a legend before whom age itself bows, appointed him as her partner for the opera ballet tour in Russia.
Maurice Béjart creates for Josyane Consoli
How beautiful Princess Salomé is tonight
... She chooses him as her partner.
Invited to create for the Paris Opera, Béjart designed
The Firebird
for Michael Denard at the Palais des Sports.
A star title in 1971 crowns this atypical career.
Ghislaine Thesmar, her half of the stage
We still wonder today, how, with such a dance card, Michael Denard managed to participate in the adventure of
La Sylphide
.
At the origin of the project, Pierre Lacotte, who found enough elements to reassemble this lost ballet, as he will do again later for
Paquita
or
La Fille du Pharaon
.
Lacotte sold the project to French television.
Ghislaine Thesmar dances
La Sylphide
.
His playfulness, his lightness and his legato work wonders.
Denard dons James' red and black checkered kilt and matching socks.
In June 1972, the ballet entered the repertoire of the Paris Opera Ballet and Ghislaine Thesmar, in the company, directly to the rank of star.
From now on, when one dances, the other does too.
They become a stage couple.
Denard is also the partner of Claire Motte, Sylvie Guillem, Noëlla Pontois, Natalia Makarova, Lynn Seymour...
All choreographers distribute it and audiences around the world demand it.
His interpretations are at the height of his technique.
He has been interested in theater since his early years and takes lessons with Jean-Laurent Cochet.
Combining his talents, he marked
George Balanchine's
Apollon and Bob Wilson's
The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian
.
Jacques Garnier and Brigitte Lefèvre invite him to create contemporary plays with the Théâtre du Silence.
After his farewell to the Opera in 1989, he continued on stage.
Turns the
Ring
of Béjart, where he camps the reciter, plays
An ideal husband
of Oscar Wilde, turns
La Rumba
of Roger Hanin.
He also directed the Berlin Staatsoper ballet from 1993 to 1996, then Brigitte Lefèvre entrusted him with a position as ballet master at the Paris Opera.
The departure of this star leaves our night a little darker.
