Classical ballet legend Patrick Deepon has died at the age of 61

A legend for her classical ballet France is no longer with us. Patrick Deepon, the former top dancer of the Paris Opera, died today at the age of 61, after a “lightning disease”.

“Patrick Deepon left this morning to dance with the stars”, said his partner and colleague, Leila da Rosa, very excited. “He died due to a lightning disease” that struck him “a few months ago”, he added, as reported by APE-MPE.

Deepon was born on March 14, 1959 in Paris. His father soon left the family and his mother tried to channel the energy of her immobile son by writing him in football and then in judo. Unsuccessfully. Patrick found his way into classical ballet. Max Bozoni, ex dancer of the Paris Opera and ballet teacher, took him under his protection and became his lifelong teacher until his death in 2003.

In 1970 the then 11-year-old Patrick was admitted to the dance school of the Paris Opera and, although unruly, with his talent climbed all the steps of the respected institution. At the age of 16 he entered the Opera Ballet as a dancer and a year later won the gold medal at the Varna International Ballet Competition in Bulgaria.

In his career he collaborated with all the contemporary, great choreographers: John Nemeyer, Roland Petty, Alvin Ailey, Maurice Bezar… The latter offered him one of his most enchanting roles, that of Salome, in 1986.

Thanks to his explosive, spontaneous and generous nature, Deepon became a real star. Very popular, even beyond the narrow circle of ballet fans in France, he attracted crowds on tours abroad, especially in the USA and Japan.

At the age of 31, he succeeded Rudolf Nureyev as director of the Paris Opera Ballet. But in 1997, amid disagreements with the new director of the Opera, he was fired as “unruly”, as he put it. He had accepted, without the consent of his employer, to become a member of the Cannes Film Festival Committee. He appealed to the courts and was eventually compensated for his dismissal, but the trauma remained deep.

This event opened a dark period for Deepon, who felt more and more lonely. In 2000 he was the victim of a very serious car accident: doctors counted 134 fractures and informed him that he was not going to dance again. He took morphine for two years – it took him another year to detoxify – but he succeeded, thanks to his daily practice with his mentor, Max Bozoni. A few months later he returned to the stage with a musical (Un air de Paris), but this success did not continue. In the following years he turned to television and participated in various reality shows and competitions as a member of the jury (France, you have talent, Danse avec les stars).

In recent years he had settled in Soissons where he collaborated with the school of choreographer Leila da Rosa, with which he staged performances that combined classical ballet with oriental. “She was my soulmate,” she told AFP today.