Unfortunately, we have very little visual material on Dominique Khalfouni, a rare dancer far ahead of her time for the level of French classical dance of the 70s to 90s, in terms of style, expression and lines.
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Dominique Khalfouni, (born in 1951), is a French dancer, former star of the Ballet of the Opéra national de Paris (1976-1980).
In 1976, she became a star, the night of the premiere of Ivan the Terrible ( by Yuri Grigorovich) in which she played the role of Anastasia, a nomination which was particularly resounding. In the same year Pierre Lacotte created a pas de deux for her, "Le Papillon" after Marie Taglioni for Emma Livry. At the Paris Opera, she danced Swan Lake, La Sylphide, Sleeping Beauty, Adagietto (Oscar Araiz), "En Sol" (Robbins), "Metaboles" (McMillan), "Apollo", "Le Palais de Cristal" - Symphony in C (Balanchine), "La Bayadère" (Nikyia), and was the interpreter of the creations of "Serait-ce la Mort?" (Béjart), and the "Phantom of the Opera" (Roland Petit).
She left the Paris Opera in 1980, due to the refusal of the management at the time to let her work alongside other companies to develop an international career.
From there, she notably worked alongside Roland Petit and Mikhaïl Barychnikov. After having danced for six months with the American Ballet Theater (Giselle, la Somnanbule) and having traveled throughout America, she will settle permanently in Marseille with Roland Petit, at the "Ballets de Marseille" of which she was the main female star.
She danced nearly all of Roland Petit's repertoire: the sick Rose, Pink Floyd, Notre-Dame de Paris, Proust or the Intermittences du coeur, the Seasons, the Nutcracker, l'Arlésienne, Coppélia, etc. Roland Petit created for her "Ma Pavlova".
An essentially romantic ballerina with diaphanous grace and the lyricism of a tragic actress at the start of her career, she broadened her range with more modern roles: she alternated for example with Natalia Makarova in "Carmen" and "The Blue Angel". She also danced the Death in"The young man and Death".
In the 1990s, Dominique Khalfouni gradually left the scene and began to teach. She is the mother of Mathieu Ganio, principal dancer at the Paris Opera, as well as of Marine Ganio, subject of the successful Paris Opera ballet. A full report on her life and that of her son, the movie "Comme un rêve", was produced by Marlène Ionesco.