After years of waiting and mobilizing his fans, the dancer reached the supreme title on Saturday evening to the cheers of the public.
François Alu, dancer of the Paris Opera known as much for his virtuosity as his atypical side and former member of the show’s jury Dance with the starsearned the star title on Saturday night.
In keeping with tradition, the director of the Opera, Alexander Neef, accompanied by Aurélie Dupont, took the stage after a performance of The Bayaderewhere François Alu played the main male role, to announce this appointment.
“I invite you to witness now an exceptional and emotional moment in the life of our theatre,” he said. “On the proposal of Aurélie Dupont, director of dance, I have the great pleasure of appointing Mr. François Alu star dancer”, he announced, to applause.
The dancer, very moved, was given a long standing ovation by the public, his fellow dancers and the musicians of the orchestra. “It’s stellar!”, He reacted for AFP behind the scenes of the Opéra Bastille. “I don’t realize, I think I would have to put my ideas back in place a bit; there are a lot of mixed emotions”.
highly anticipated title
A favorite of the Ballet de l’Opéra audience, who nicknamed him “alu-cinant”, François Alu, 28, joined the company in 2010 and in four years experienced a meteoric rise, rising to the rank of “first dancer” ( preceding the star title). Since 2014, his fans have been indignant at not seeing him reach the supreme title and be poorly distributed, some even launching a hashtag #AluEtoile on social networks.
If the dancers of the Opera are recognizable by their slender silhouette, François Alu is more athletic, and impresses with his pirouettes and his turns in the air. “I have fairly developed thighs, I saw from the start that I didn’t have the legs of my friends,” he told AFP in 2018.
First dances at 3 years old
Originally from Fussy, near Bourges, he was encouraged at the age of three by his mother, a dance teacher, to take a class, although ballet did not initially attract him. The love at first sight occurs at 10 years old, when he sees the star of the 80s Patrick Dupond “jumping in all directions”, in a documentary.
He does not hide his rebellious side, refusing to be “mere performer” of classic roles. In September, he took a six-month leave from the Opera to join the team of Dance with the stars and mount his first solo on stage.