Paris (AFP)

He was the most famous French classical dancer to the general public: Patrick Dupond, former principal dancer of the Paris Opera and dance star, died on Friday at the age of 61, following a "lightning disease ".

"Patrick Dupond flew away this morning to dance with the stars," his collaborator Leïla Da Rocha told AFP.

"He died after a devastating illness" which struck him "a few months ago", she said, very moved.

President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte greeted "a great star of the twentieth century who knew how to conquer new audiences for dance and dazzle with his talent beyond our borders", and who "shone the strongest on the stage of the 'Paris Opera ".

"He is a dance icon, an extraordinary artist who electrified the stage and the public. He had this ability to take the public into his imagination thanks to his dazzling technique," Marie-Claude Pietragalla told AFP. named star of the Opera in 1990 by Patrick Dupond during his tenure as director of dance.

Mourning her partner on stage and her mentor, she added that Dupond had "democratized" dance and "knew how to talk about it".

"Losing such a great artist and a friend, in this period, is just too much. Dupond and Dupont it's over ... We will have laughed Patrick", wrote on Instagram Aurélie Dupont, the current dance director at the Opera.

“Thank you for shining so bright,” wrote principal dancer Hugo Marchand, in reference to one who inspired generations of male dancers.

- Deep wound -

Patrick Dupond had found his way very young in classical dance after having tried, in vain, football and judo.

Max Bozzoni, former dancer at the Paris Opera and ballet teacher, will be his "teacher for life".

At the age of 21, he was crowned star of the Opera, he was for a long time the darling of the institution.

At 31, he succeeded the legendary Rudolf Nureyev as the dance director of the Opera and from 1990 to 1995, he combined the functions of boss and dancer, before becoming a star again.

His acting qualities appeal to the greatest choreographers, from Roland Petit to Maurice Béjart.

Charismatic and spontaneous, he drains crowds during his tours abroad, especially in the United States and Japan.

“A rock star like there is no longer any today for ballet!” Regretted the ex-star dancer Manuel Legris, currently director of dance at La Scala in Milan.

In 1997, it is the tragedy: he leaves "the house" after his dismissal, he had accepted, without the agreement of his employer, to sit on the jury of the festival of Cannes.

He will be compensated in cassation but his departure will remain a deep injury.

In a statement, the Paris Opera on Friday expressed its "deep sadness" after the dancer's disappearance.

"His person and his name will remain attached to a part of the history of the institution".

- Saved by dance -

In 2000, Patrick Dupond was the victim of a serious car accident.

His body is broken by 134 fractures and the doctors tell him that he will no longer dance.

"The dance gave me a framework and a freedom, the means to exist in a beautiful way, doing good and escaping all the traps. Many times, I fell, the dance got out of it", affirmed he at Le Figaro in August.

After having tried the cinema ("Dancing Machine" with Alain Delon in 1990), danced with the horses of the Cadre Noir, he has also appeared a lot on the small screen.

After a participation - "trying", according to him - in the reality show "La ferme des celebrities" in 2005, he returned to television two years later as a member of the jury of "France has an incredible talent" on M6.

He will repeat the experience between 2014 and 2017 in "Prodiges" on France 2 before joining in 2018 the jury of "Dance with the stars" on TF1 who said he was "very sad" about his disappearance.

In recent years, he had settled in Soissons (Aisne), where he joined the school of Leïla Da Rocha, with whom he put on shows combining classical and oriental dance.

The Ballet de Lorraine, formerly Ballet Français de Nancy which he directed, paid tribute to an artist who wanted to "make dance known to everyone, and no longer just to the most privileged".

The Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot praised the memory of a "madly talented" artist and his predecessor Jack Lang, who had appointed him director, a "dream dancer".

© 2021 AFP