"Étoiles Gala is an old plan. I and my friend Jérémie Bélingard decided to gather some dancers of our generation together and to present a bill which was contemporary and classical at the same time.
We had the chance to work with a Japanese friend, Rinko Watarai. She introduced us to the management of a theatre who produced the Gala. We had carte blanche as far as the artistic direction. Our goal was to propose to the audience a wide selection of choreographies or extracts from ballets created by choreographers such as John Neumeier, Jiří Kylián, Mats Ek, William Forsythe and other younger ones such as Jirí Bubenícek, Jérémie Bélingard and José Martínez, without forgetting the neo-classical style with George Balanchine.

The first Gala took place in July 2005 at the Bunkamura Theatre in Tokyo. It was a great challenge, as gala performances in Japan are usually a series of pas de deux from the classical repertoire, such as Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote… Our program included more neo-classical and modern ballets, with several dancers of the group creations.
It was a great success and the program has been presented also in Italy and in France. I am now planning a new project in Tokyo for August 2008.

Gael Lambiotte, Laëtitia Pujol, Jérémie Bélingard, Marie-Agnès Gillot, Benjamin Pech, Jiří Bubeníček, Silvia Azzoni, Hervé Moreau

For the first edition we invited Lucia Lacarra (Bavarian State Ballet), Silvia Azzoni (Hamburg Ballet), Jiří Bubeníček (Dresden SemperOper Ballet), Gael Lambiotte (Royal Winnipeg Ballet) and Marie-Agnès Gillot, Laëtitia Pujol, Eleonora Abbagnato and Hervé Moreau from the Paris Opéra. This mix of dancers provided a very wide repertoire and a true artistic exchange. For the 2008 edition I asked Svetlana Lunkina, Principal at the Bolshoi Ballet, and Mathieu Ganio, étoile at the Paris Opéra Ballet, to join us.

Jiří Bubeníček, Jérémie Bélingard, Laëtitia Pujol, Marie-Agnès Gillot, Benjamin Pech, Gael Lambiotte

Being artistic director of these shows was a very enriching experience, as a dancer and as a human being. The relationship with the choreographers and the répétiteurs was wonderful. My gratitude goes to my friend Ivan Cavalcanti, who staged the galas and was responsible for the administrative details. I am actually very proud of this project. It was like finding a new way to pursue when the curtain will fall down on my career as a dancer."

- Benjamin Pech