François Alu, the free dancer

The general public knew him as a juror on “Dancing with the Stars” on TF1. Cinephiles in the credits of “Boléro”, by Anne Fontaine, and “Quand tu seras grand”, by Andréa Bescond and Éric Métayer. Listeners in “Les gros têtes” by Laurent Ruquier, on RTL.

At 31, François Alu has already directed two very short films and published an autobiography, “Le prix de l’étoile”, filled the Paris Opera with ballets (“Swan Lake” and “La bayadère”) as well as as the Olympia and Zéniths with “Completely thrown!”, his only one on stage. Today he gives conferences for the general public and businesses! “I like to go fast,” he explains.

Star dancer or nothing

Lit, François Alu? Thrown away? He calls himself “struck”, in any case. Barely named star dancer, his childhood dream, he decides to leave the Opera! His fans can’t believe it, they who did not hesitate to ask for the resignation of the dance director, Aurélie Dupont, on the grounds that she was slow to promote him.

How can it be that such a gifted artist, whose leaps and virtuoso tricks draw acclaim, renounces what he has always coveted? Because for him, it has always been “star dancer or nothing”. Entering the Paris Opera Dance School at the age of 10, first dancer at 20, he had to chomp at the bit for eight years before achieving the supreme title. Eight years of hopes and bitter disappointments. And now, having finally reached the top of the hierarchy, he resigned to give free rein to other artistic aspirations. Unprecedented, in the venerable institution!

Seen from afar, he has everything to be happy. As a leading dancer, he is already cast in major roles in the repertoire, from “Romeo and Juliet” to “Daphnis and Chloé”. He takes part in the prestigious national ballet tours: Montreal, Novosibirsk, Tokyo… With his athletic physique, his well-trimmed beard, his dazzling smile and his blue eyes, he capsizes many hearts. In 2014, the magazine “Têtu” even named him “the sexiest man in the world”.

On the razor’s edge

But his excitement is not just external. Long before his appointment, he was dancing on the razor’s edge, threatened by depression. “Out of breath, caught up by my body that I have pushed too far, my heart no longer has anything to do,” he writes in his autobiography-introspection. The taste for revenge and my outrageous ego led me to the top of my art but without stars, without recognition from the institution. Worn out by so much incomprehension and injustice over all this time, I am nothing more than an empty shell.”

He regrets not having started his psychotherapy much earlier. He suffered in particular from eating disorders and speaks openly about his binge eating disorder.

“I’m not strictly bulimic in the sense that I don’t regurgitate,” he explains to us during a promotional trip to Geneva. But did you see the hamburger I sent myself? There are times when I manage to be very reasonable and others when I tell myself that I have to live with it. Throughout my dance training, even though I was at the top of my class, I received comments like: “Must get thinner, need to lengthen.” And yet, if you knew all the diets I followed!”

Crazy stiff of a dancer

At François Alu, everything is “hyper”. Hyperphagic, hyperactive and hypersensitive, as he readily admits. His Sicilian origin does not prevent him from cultivating emotional fragility beneath his tough exterior. He says he has had some great stories with dancers. But a toxic relationship almost knocked him out. To the point of considering giving up on life as a couple. “It was boring for me. I felt like it wasn’t for me. I wanted to concentrate on my projects and that’s when I met her.”

Her name is Denitsa Ikonomova. He met her on the set of “Dancing with the Stars” where she first distinguished herself as a dancer (the most successful on the show), then as a juror. “After forty-five minutes of discussion, I went crazy.” For two months, François and Denitsa have been the parents of a little girl whose first name they keep to themselves. As he says he has difficulty leaving his young family now settled in the south of France, near Perpignan, he did not hesitate to cancel the last two performances of “Complètement jetes!”, in Paris on December 22 and 23 last.

Rebel spirit

The artist entrepreneur – he has even thought about launching into import-export – no longer wants to be locked in a cage. For him, leaving the Opera was “taking flight”. Because, like his model Patrick Dupond, he felt cramped in the illustrious house. Claiming his “artistic integrity”, he took liberties with the choreographies. The reprimands of the tutors only fueled a persecution complex. “I am a performer, not a performer. I need to understand.” Suffice to say that his rebellious character was not unrelated to the delay in his nomination to the title of star.

The opera closed due to Covid and the confinement that followed were for him the opportunity to work on maturation and detachment. He understands that his whole life has been guided by fear. “Fear of disappointing my parents, fear of having my salary taken away, fear of suffering, fear of failing, fear of being too big…”

Decided to take charge of his life

While realizing that fear can also be a stimulant. Reading ultramarathoner David Goggins’ best-selling book, “Nothing Can Hurt Me Again – Master Your Mind and Defy Destiny,” is a revelation. He understands that one must accept suffering in order to heal and that “retaining a certain level of frustration, by setting difficult-to-achieve goals, is essential to giving meaning to one’s existence.”

Having found the meaning of his own existence, he devotes a large part of his activities to personal development coaching. He derives his legitimacy from his own experience, his doubts, his questioning and his obvious success. Plus, he has a good chat. A real chatterbox. But with substance!

And when he explains to the public “how to achieve your goal despite adversity”, he adds the action to the word. His “immersive” conference includes two short films, often humorous slides and two dance solos. François Alu remains a man of spectacle. And whether as a speaker, dancer, actor, or even singer, he is not about to leave the stage.

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