JEAN MARTINELLI

Training and career

Jean Martinelli, director and founder of the CBM, is a professional dancer since the age of 15 when he took his first lessons with Mr Francis MARZUOLA in Nice, then very quickly with Ms. Marika Besobrasova, director of the Princess Grace Academy MONTE CARLO, and Alexandre KALIOUJNY, a former star dancer of the Paris Opera.

He is quickly engaged in the corps de ballet of the Opera of Nice, under the direction of Mrs. Frances ADRET. During this period he worked with, among others SERGE LIFAR, Dimitri PARLIC, Georges SKIBINE, and finally with LYCETTE DARSONVAL, former star from Paris Opera who appointed him soloist.

Serge Golovine, which took over the direction of the Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneva, appointed him as principal dancer in 1967, and then he was hired as a soloist in Germany in Wuppertal and finally in Düsseldorf.

In 1972 he returned to Switzerland, to devote himself to education and various activities related to the promotion of dance. He opened his school in Geneva and Gland and then, in 1978 in Nyon.

He organizes ballet performances, including at the Grand Casino Geneva – for its inauguration, with the GALA DES ETOILES DE LA DANSE in 1983 and then he invites the National Ballet of Spain and PATRICK DUPOND a few months before he was named “star”.

Then he was involved in the unorganized and individualistic world of dance in Geneva. He became President of the ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOLS OF DANCE OF GENEVA, with which he will organize the first shows of the Geneva shools reunited on the set of Grand Casino. He then starts with his colleagues a DANCE CONTEST, initially in Geneva which became “international” a few years after.

He is the responsible member of the ASD (The Umbrella Association of the Swiss dance professionals), working for the recognition of the Swiss Dance by our authorities.

He left Geneva in 1987 to devote himself to his schools in the Nyon region. In 1992, he founded with some colleagues the SWISS FEDERATION OF THE SCHOOLS OF DANCE (FSED), which established a common regulation for the member schools and coordinates and controls the quality of the training, informing the public about the work of each member school.

In 1995 he starts an INTERNATIONAL COREOGRAPHY CONTEST , in Gland, at the THEATRE DE GRAND CHAMP, which is successful and has a growing number of participants every two years, in spring. The next one will take place on APRIL 16, 2005.

In 2002, together with Floriane Vergeres, he founded JEUNE BALLET DU LEMAN, which proposes a complementary training to young promising artists as well as stage experience. From September 2004, he undertakes the JEUNE BALLET alone, working in Nyon, Str. Neuve 3, and Saturday mornings. The education responsible and choreographers invited this season are: Yvette REGUIERO, Delphine DOUSE, Antonio Gomez, and Marc Ribaud director of dance at the Opera Nice. This new JEUNE BALLET MARTINELLI (JBM) will present its new show at the Grand Champ Theatre at Gland, on May 28, 2005.

The JEUNE BALLET was invited to Lyon on May 17, to participate in a show in the Rameau room with the students of Madame Pascale COURDIOUX.

The JEUNE BALLET its new show of the season of 2008/2009 on June 13, at Gland from 20.00, a theatre of Gland Champ and the young dancers from the ballet of Lyon came to present the choreography of this show. This is a very interesting exchange between the youth of Lyon and those of Nyon who present a choreography together.

The choreography program of Ms. Delphine DOUS and Mrs. Andree PLATEAU and various teachers from CBM Jean Martinelli.

The upcoming 2009/2010 season will commence on Tuesday 1 September 2009. The interested candidates should contact the secretariat of the CMB in order to participate in the hearing of Commitment in June 2009 in Nyon.

The 2011/ 2012 season performances will take place in Nyon on June 22, 23 and 24 , 2012.

The upcoming 2012/2013 seaon will commence on monday 3 septembre 2012.