Alain Rigout

 Born July 24, 1952, in Basel, Alain Rigout first chose medicine, then branched out to take theater lessons at the University of Censier, in Paris. From the early 1980s, he traced a strong line of creation, launching an assault on hybrid writing to transcribe a craggy world in tune with his intimate obsessions. He collaborates with the choreographers Mathilde Monnier and François Verret, figures of the new French dance.
With the first, he won the Ministry of Culture prize at the Bagnolet pour Cru competition, in 1985. With Verret, he teamed up for a dozen pieces including La Lateral de Charlie, L. and them at night, with Rosella Hightower. and Jean Babilée, or even Faustus. “Alain had a crazy talent, confided François Verret. He was a very great artist. For over ten years he taught me a lot. We wrote our shows together, in confidence. He was a huge accomplice, very generous, humble, a great laugh and always with a crazy humanity … “
After working with Catherine Diverrès, Richard Foreman, Germana Civera, Jean-Daniel Magnin with whom he co-signed The Man Who Died (1993), based on the work of DH Lawrence, Alain Rigout founded his company Le Grand Grigou in 1993. Three years later, during the creation of a piece by Andy Degroat, he crosses paths with the Japanese dancer and circus artist Satchie Noro. They have a 15-year-old daughter Yumi.
On stage, they tie into projects that resemble them, highly unique, crossing techniques and references with the simplicity of those who intelligently combine scholarly and popular culture. In 1999, they created And Now Here Is The Night That Rises, a rock duo to texts by Apollinaire, then Vercors. On the set, between Claude François and Baudelaire, words of children and adults, three point dancers and three teenage girls dialogued with the accordion player Rigout. 

Source: Extract from an article in Le Monde, Rosita Boisseau. 2016