This weekend at my college, Hofstra University, we are having our first in-person dance performances since Fall 2019. I am so excited to return to the stage, dancing in a piece by Claire Porter entitled “Hats”. To celebrate a weekend of dancing (and opening night tonight!), I thought there was no better post to write than about some of my favorite French dancers.
These three dancers are all ones that I have taken class from (virtually or in France) and they are commercial dancers. Of course, there are so many more people I could include, but here are three of my favorite commercial dancers/choreographers in France!
- Lucas Defayolle
I was fortunate to take class from Lucas in March 2020 in Paris at Studio Harmonic. His class was so challenging and fun (especially trying to comprehend the movement taught in French!). Since returning back to the U.S. mid-March 2020, I’ve continued to take Lucas’s classes on Instagram live. He has some classes and choreography saved on his IGTV @lucasdefayolle.
- Loriane Cateloy-Rose
I first found Loriane on YouTube in April 2020 while bored in quarantine. I began learning some of her choreography on YouTube. She is so young and has great choreography and well-directed videos on her channel. She actually has many videos filmed in the dance studio that my study abroad program used for classes… small world! In December, through a French dance company called NeoDance, I was able to take her classes on Zoom (at 5 am U.S. time haha) alongside French dancers, some of whom I am still in touch with. I love connecting with dancers in France while in the U.S., as I would love to dance there post-graduation.
- Marie Bugnon
Similarly to Loriane, I found Marie on YouTube during quarantine. She also teaches at Neodance. Usually, I learn her choreography from her Instagram posts (and just try to copy as best as I can), but recently I was able to take her class on Zoom too. She taught for a German school (in English) and I was able to enroll through the German school. I love connecting internationally with dancers, it’s certainly one perk of these unprecedented times.
I’ve linked some of Marie’s choreography below-
Otherwise, if you’d like to watch Hofstra’s dance concert this weekend, here are the links!
Tonight 8 pm EST: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aLOPmcUfKAYCNIbc5d_0A
Saturday 8 pm EST: https://www.twitch.tv/HofstraDD
Sunday 2 pm EST: https://www.twitch.tv/HofstraDD
Julia's Journey in Paris 