Born in Paris, Jean-François Kessler entered the Paris Opera Ballet School at the age of ten before joining the corps de ballet under Rudolf Nureyev. He participated in numerous productions and international tours of the Paris Opera Ballet under the direction of Patrick Dupond and Brigitte Lefèvre, as well as in creations by guest choreographers such as Carolyn Carlson, Angelin Preljocaj (Le Parc), Twyla Tharp, Odile Duboc, Mark Morris and Lar Lubovitch. He was a soloist and assistant to Marie-Claude Pietragalla at the Ballet National de Marseille before turning to singing and acting in musicals (Le Manège, directed by Daniel Mesguich, L'Air de Paris, directed by Thierry Harcourt).He was appointed ballet master at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, where he assisted choreographers such as Benjamin Millepied, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Andonis Foniadakis, Francesca Lattuada, Lucinda Childs and Saburo Teshigawara. He is regularly invited as assistant choreographer (Benjamin Millepied's Amoveo at the Opéra national de Paris, Benjamin Millepied's Without at the Mariinsky Theatre Ballet, Kader Belarbi's Liens de table at the Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse).He went on to choreograph opera productions (Le Turc en Italie at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, L'Opéra de quatre notes at the Opéra Bastille's Amphithéâtre Olivier Messiaen, Esmeralda at the Opéra-Théâtre de Besançon) and worked as an assistant to directors such as Robert Carsen, Christof Loy, Olivier Py, Barrie Kosky, Jetske Minjssens, Patrick Kinmonth, Katharina Thalbach, Charles Roubaud, Stephen Lawless, Tatjana Gürbaça, Alexander Schulin, Mira Bartov, Christopher Alden, Christian Räth and Lydia Steier.At the Opéra national de Paris: Manon, 2020

Jean-François KesslerChoreographer