Paolo Bortoluzzi

Paolo Bortoluzzi (born May 17, 1938 in Genoa , † October 15, 1993 in Brussels ) was an Italian dancer.

Life

Bortoluzzi studied dance in his hometown and in Milan, where he was noticed by Maurice Béjart , who then accepted him into his Ballet du XXe siècle . A happy encounter for Bortoluzzi, who happened to come a few years earlier in the dance world to improve his condition. Béjart asked him to come to the new company. By 1972 it would be one of the company's stars and participate in the majority of its shows, most notably in 1964 with Duska Sifnios, the soloist in the second movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Béjart said of him that he embodied the joy of dance.

In 1966 he played Romeo and Juliet Bortoluzzi with partner Laura Proenca. In 1968 he played and took part in the choreography of Baudelaire and Bhakti. In 1969 he created the music of Xenakis ' Nomos Alpha , a real piece of art that brought light to the extraordinary stylistic devices.

In 1970 he played the Firebird in 1971 and the role of Specter of the Rose in Nijinsky, Clown de Dieu. In the same year he played Chant du compagnon errant from Mahler's music. This historical choreography by Béjart allowed him to compete with the other big names in the dance of the century, Rudolf Nureyev.

In 1972 he left the Ballet du XXe siècle for roles in the classical repertoire, where he was able to establish himself with a presence on the stage of strength and elegance. He was invited as étoile in the most important companies in the world and in the American Ballet Theater in New York, where they danced mainly in Schwanensee, Giselle and Hoffmann's stories until 1981.

In 1981 he became director of the Milan Scala Ballet, later in 1984 he directed the Ballet Düsseldorf . In 1990 he was appointed director of the Bordeaux Dance Theater.

Web links

• Obituary of the New York Times
• Obituary in The Independent