Patrick Dupond

Dupond's father left the family early. Patrick Dupond spent a simple and modest childhood with his mother and her partner. In order to channel her son's energy, his mother decided to enroll him in a football club and then in judo classes, but he quickly abandoned these activities. He discovered his vocation by watching a ballet class, and his mother enrolled him in a dance class. His abilities were quickly noticed, and his dance teacher advised him to take classes at a higher level. At the end of 1967, his parents met by chance Tessa Beaumont and Max Bozzoni, a former dancer at the Paris Opera Ballet. The latter immediately sensed the young dancer's talent and agreed to take over his training. In May 1968, he had to temporarily stop his school activities and dance classes. When he returned to school, he was the victim of ostracism from his classmates because of his status as a young dancer.

He was admitted to the Paris Opera Ballet in 1969, at the age of ten, for the three-month preparation course. He then passed the entrance test to the dance school and did all his training as a classical dancer there, while continuing to take private lessons with Bozzoni every evening. He continued to study with Gilbert Mayer but his main teacher remained Bozzoni. He was also a pupil at the lycée Racine in Paris.

On 14 March 1975, Dupond became a member of the Paris Opera Ballet, at age 16. He won the gold medal at the Varna International Ballet Competition in Bulgaria, with Albrecht's variation from the second act of Giselle and Siegfried's variation from the third act of Swan Lake, the solo from the Lander's Études, Basilio's variation from Don Quixote, a variation from Le Corsaire, and finally a contemporary choreography created by him. In December of the same year, he was named coryphée. ...

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