... born in Grenoble in 1950 (France). He studied Beaux Arts and, at the age of twenty, discovered dance and decided to begin exploring new forms of creation and performance. He studied ballet and tap dance as well as contemporary techniques, and his earliest creations, from 1976 to 1978, were iconoclastic eclectic pieces in friends' apartments, on the street and in raw studio spaces. He also spent time in New York, meeting and discovering Merce Cunningham, Bob Wilson, and the other post-moderns, seeing the lines separating dance, opera, and theatre fading, intersecting. Jean-Claude Gallotta founded the Groupe Emile Dubois in 1979, an ensemble consisting of dancers, actors, musicians and other artists. The new company began an extended residency at the Maison de la Culture de Grenoble in 1981 and was accorded the prestigious status of Centre Chorégraphique National de Grenoble in 1984. Since that time, Gallotta has choreographed twenty five pieces for his company, three pieces for other companies such as the "Lyon Opera Ballet" or "Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris", four pieces for SPAC Dance and two artistic collaborations. His work has also been presented all around the world. Performing in twenty three countries among them Australia, Japan, the United States, Brazil, Mexico and Europe. Gallotta's interest in cinema has led him to make films in collaboration with Claude Mourieras and Raoul Ruiz.