Paul Marque and Constance Arnoult, co-founder of the cultural media L'éluité, on the Full Frame stage during We Are French Touch at the Maison de la Mutualité.

Relive the We Are French Touch event 2023 edition

French Touch: You started dancing very young. What little boy were you?

Paul Marque: That's a very good question, but you should ask my parents (laughs)! I was very cheerful, a bit hyperactive like many children, and already passionate. I danced everywhere: in the street, in the playground… According to my brothers and sisters, I was teased at school because I did dance.

FT: How did dance come to capture your personality?

PM: I don't have any memories because I started really early. We don't have memories of early childhood. Dance has always been with me, and it still is today. I look forward to the weekend, but I know that after two days of dancing I'll miss it and I'll only be able to wait for Monday to go back to my class. It's truly an integral part of me.

FT: On December 13, 2020, after the Bayadère show, without an audience but with 10 spectators at a distance, you were named star dancer by the management of the Paris Opera. Tradition dictates that it was a surprise announcement. What do you think triggered this decision?

PM: I still don't understand it… really! All the other ranks are accessed through competitive exams: on the day, if you're the best, you get the position, that's a fact and on a specific date. But regarding this appointment, even today, three years later, I don't know how it was decided, if it was discussed well in advance, if it happened at the last minute… It's so sacred and mythical that even if all 1800 employees of the Opera are aware, the person concerned will never know. It's too sacred to be disregarded.

FT: Becoming a star dancer was your dream since you were little. How do we take on such a role?

PM: I dreamed of being a principal dancer, but what I really dreamed of was dancing the leading roles. That's truly what I wanted to do: when I saw a ballet, I wanted to dance the lead role in La Bayadère, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker… When I was a principal dancer, I had that opportunity, to dance those roles a lot. So it's been a gradual process. The first time I danced a major solo role, the role of Basilio in Don Quixote, I thought I was going to die… I told myself I'd never manage it, and little by little it developed. Like in any profession, you have training, and then you're given more responsibility and you have to take it on. With experience, you learn to manage, you learn how to do it.

FT: The extreme competition, the tensions inherent to the level of excellence that you practice, the pressure of physical performance… Everything seems to be slipping away from you. What is your secret?

PM: That's great if it seems to be going smoothly! I've been very stressed by nature since I was little. For as long as I can remember, I've never stopped biting my nails… I've worked a lot on my anxiety, because my very first role as a demi-soloist involved ulcers, eczema patches, a knot in my stomach, and not sleeping the night before… It's something you work on, and it also comes with experience: dancing a lot, rehearsing roles, getting used to this lifestyle—these are things you get used to. Never completely, but even so, there are things like stress that you can completely set aside to keep a little bit of adrenaline, enjoy yourself, and have a blast.

FT: Do you sometimes manage to let go of control?

PM: Yes, of course, there are things that need to be controlled and things that need to be left to chance.

FT: We are at the heart of the We Are French Touch event. We talk about artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Are these worlds familiar to you? Have you, for example, checked what ChatGPT says about you?

PM: Not at all! In fact, I think it's great to evolve with the times, to always be able to improve, to discover new things, while keeping in mind that it can't replace everything.

FT: Are dance and live performance soluble in virtual reality in your opinion? Or would they lose all meaning?

PM: All their senses, I don't know, a large part for sure. Live performance, for me, can never be replaced by "live" or by artists being replaced by artificial intelligence. The principle of live performance is to go see artists, to explore their world. And if that doesn't happen on a human-to-human basis, it's different. It's the difference between going to the theater and seeing a film. I'm not saying one is better than the other; they are two different things.

FT: Do you “feel” the audience on stage?

PM: We can't survive without the audience, and the audience can't go to the show without us. It's truly a connection. And if that connection isn't real, tangible, it either doesn't happen at all or it happens differently.

FT: What is this little delta that does everything?

PM: You can pause a film; you can't pause a ballet. People come, and they're really prepared to watch that story. They buy their tickets consciously, they prepare to go to the theater, they go to a place for that experience. Again, it's very different from watching a film on a streaming platform at home. By definition, live performance is live and it's in person.

FT: In the three years that you have been in the light, do you feel the need to speak out?

PM: I speak when I feel like it or when it's something I care deeply about. I rarely do it just for the sake of it. These days, we have so many tools that allow us to do so. For example, there are an astronomical number of clichés about dance ingrained in the collective unconscious, but these are gradually disappearing. And this happens without necessarily saying a word, by showing rehearsals on Instagram, doing Facebook Lives, going on TikTok. My way of speaking is quite silent, at least in terms of my voice, because I don't talk much; I work in a profession where, by definition, you don't speak. So most of the time, when I express myself, it's through movement.

FT: What is your memory of a play or show that you gave and which is part of true contemporaneity?

PM: There are many great classical ballets, but one that comes to mind is Mayerling. A period ballet telling the story of Prince Rudolph, from the beginning of his life until his suicide. Except that it's a ballet, so yes, with period sets, period dresses, costumes, music... But it's a role where I found myself on stage drinking, doing drugs, trying to kill my father, raping women, suffering from STDs, my body completely ravaged... I find it quite modern, even though it was written a long time ago. Modernity can be found pretty much anywhere.

FT: You represent the next generation for many young people who come to see your ballets, and you even embody a generation. Among the major social debates, which ones animate you?

PM: So, to put it very simply, my mission as a dancer is to entertain. People come to the show to relax, to escape, to be told a story. And I love that. Because today, if we were truly in a world without culture, if we removed culture, all of culture and beauty from the world, I think the situation would be much worse. As long as we retain a little culture, we retain a little beauty and humanity, and that's so important. Otherwise, we'd all be at each other's throats, and it would revert to a jungle where only the strongest survive.

FT: In the current quiet period, do you feel you have a role to play?

PM: Yes and no. Perhaps a role within this large network, to preserve a little bit of magic, to preserve a little bit of beauty, and to allow people to escape. It's still a small thing, but I think that if everyone did their part, even just a little, we'd be much better off. It might be very idealistic, but I believe it wholeheartedly.