After receiving a Master's degree in linguistics and semiotics from the University of Louis Lumiére Lyon 2 as well as a Master's degree in dance analysis from the University Paris 8, Alexandre Roccoli trained at ex.erce at the CCN of Mathilde Monnier in Montpellier. From 1999 to 2002 he worked with Ariane Mnouchkine with whom he travelled in Asia performing and studying several traditional dance techniques in Sri Lanka and in Japan (e.g. Low Country Dance and Butoh). During this period he began to build an archive of films and sound recordings, which constitute a database for his actual research.For the past three years he has lived in Berlin working on several projects with Antonia Baehr, Susanne Berggren, Xavier Le Roy, Eszter Salamon and Isabelle Schad. In 2005 he is artist-in-residence at the Podewil (Berlin). He presented Ersatz part 1 / solo version in June 2005 at La Villa Gillet in Lyon during Les Intranquilles 2005 and at Tanz im August (Berlin) working in association with Sex in Dallas, an electro clash band producing electronic music with the Berlin label Kitty-Yo.

In his residency at PACT, Alexandre Roccoli will focus on the notion of substitution / transformation. His research will provide the basis for Ersatz part 2 , for a trio and an all-female version. The premiere will take place at HAU (Berlin) in October 2006 and in Lyon at Les Subsistances in January 2007.