Q&A

When did you start dancing?
When I was about 7, in a very small ballet school in France where we were only 4 boys!

Why did you start dancing?
Maybe because my uncle was a DJ and I wanted to learn how to dance to go to the club 

Which dancer inspired you most as a child?
I was not so interested by ballet as a child, but Patrick Dupont was a star at this time.

Which dancer do you most admire?
Baryshnikov.

What's your favourite role?
It is difficult to say which role is my favourite, I like to interpret different characters in the Béjart repertoire. My favourite or the most beautiful role is probably simply being a Béjart dancer.

What role have you never played but would like to?
Firebird.

What's your favourite ballet to watch?
Harald Lander's Études.

Who is your favourite choreographer?
Mats Ek.

Who is your favourite writer?
I don't have favourite writer, I should read more…

Who is your favourite theatre or cinema director?
Almodóvar.

Who is your favourite actor?
Catherine Deneuve, more and more!

Who is your favourite singer?
Serge Gainsbourg for all his work.

What is your favourite book?
Maybe the one I just bought: Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman.

What is your favourite film?
They are numerous…

Which is your favourite city?
I love Paris and I'm in love with Tokyo.

Roméo et Juliette with Julien Favreau and Katheryna Shalkina, photo BBL

Julien Favreau dancing Boléro, 2016, photo by Ilia Chkolnik

Dionysos with Julien Favreau and Kateryna Shalkina, Shanghai 2012, photo Favreau

What do you like most about yourself?
Hum… let me think.

What do you dislike about yourself?
I often think too much!

What was your proudest moment?
To be back on stage after a serious injury.

When and where were you happiest?
I'm just happy to be alive and to do what I want to do with the people I love.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
LIFE.

What is your greatest fear?
Earth's death.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would like to be more confident. Or to have less timidity…

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
I have done what I wanted to do since childhood.

Julien Favreau with Maurice Béjart in studio at Béjart Ballet Lausanne, photo by Paolini

Julien Favreau with Maurice Béjart and Alexander Plisetski after a performance of L'amour la danse, Paris 2004

What is your most treasured possession?
A few gifts from Maurice Béjart and some very old bottles of French wine 

What is your greatest extravagance?
My laughter.

What do you consider the most important virtue?
Sincerity — I wish for a sincere world.

On what occasion do you lie?
Now! Hahaha. No, I try not to.

If you hadn't been a dancer what would you have liked to be?
An actor or a florist.

Photo shoot with Julien Favreau by Larry Allam, Paris

Julien Favreau rehearsal Gil Roman's choreography photo by Paolini

Julien Favreau backstage in Bunka Kaikan, Tokyo, photo by A Leveau

What is your most marked characteristic?
That I'm always in a good mood with a big smile; well, that's what I always hear, even if I do not totally agree.

What quality do you most value in a friend?
To feel like you never left when you meet them again.

What quality do you most value in a colleague?
Support and trust. To do partnering is one of my favourite things.

Which historical figure do you most admire?
King Louis XIV, for his taste of arts and culture.

Which living person do you most admire?
Anyone who decides to quit their normal life to do voluntary work for a better world.

What do you most dislike?
To see children suffering.

What talent would you most like to have?
To be able to go back in time.

What's your idea of perfect happiness?
Very simple moments and simple things, but full of love.

How would you like to die?
I do not want to die.

What is your motto?
Do as much as you can for as long as you can.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.