\n<\/p>\n
Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, a star dancer at the Paris Opera Ballet and an elegantly refined principal dancer at New York City Ballet who later nurtured generations of dancers as a teacher and as the director of the Charlotte Ballet, died on April 13 in Charlotte, N.C. He was 82.<\/p>\n
His ex-wife, the former City Ballet ballerina Patricia McBride, said the cause of his death, at an assisted-living facility, was heart failure.<\/p>\n
Mr. Bonnefoux (pronounced bon-FOO) \u2014 or Bonnefous, the name he used professionally during his dancing career \u2014 had been an \u00e9toile (the word means \u201cstar\u201d) at the Paris Opera Ballet for five years when, at 27, he joined City Ballet as a principal dancer in 1970.<\/p>\n
He had worked briefly with George Balanchine, the co-founder and principal choreographer of City Ballet, at the Paris Opera in 1963, when the company performed Balanchine\u2019s \u201cThe Four Temperaments.\u201d Six years later, Balanchine asked Mr. Bonnefoux to replace an injured dancer in the title role of \u201cApollo,\u201d which he was staging at the German Opera Ballet in Berlin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The four days Mr. Bonnefoux spent with Balanchine, who coached him in the role, were life-changing. \u201cIt gave me the strength to go through 10 more years of dancing,\u201d he told Barbara Newman in an interview for her 1982 book, \u201cStriking a Balance: Dancers Talk About Dancing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knowing that \u201csomeone like that exists somewhere,\u201d he said, gave him a goal: \u201cYou need to be amazed all the time, to be fresh, to be interested always.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Bonnefoux had an additional reason for wanting to join City Ballet. During a guest appearance at a gala with the Eglevsky Ballet on Long Island in 1968, he had fallen for Ms. McBride. It was \u201clove at first sight,\u201d Ms. McBride said. \u201cI had never met anyone like him.\u201d They married in 1973.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Over his 10-year career with City Ballet, Mr. Bonnefoux performed in a wide range of works, by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and other choreographers, which showcased his pure classical technique as well as his aptitude for contemporary movement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cHe was so beautiful physically,\u201d Jean-Pierre Frohlich, a former dancer and a repertory director at City Ballet, said in an interview. \u201cHe had a look that was very different to the dancers here, very sophisticated and elegant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although not considered a virtuoso dancer, Mr. Bonnefoux brought a sinuous grace and power to his roles, as well as a sharp theatrical intelligence.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Bonnefous shaped the role with a cursive styling that suggested a Japanese woodcut,\u201d Don McDonagh<\/a> of The New York Times wrote<\/a> of his performance in Balanchine\u2019s \u201cBugaku\u201d in 1975. \u201cHe was powerful, but with the litheness of a large cat rather than a blunt muscularity.\u201d Mr. McDonagh added that his reading of the role \u201cgave it a tactile grace that one sees in well\u2010formed sculpture.\u201d<\/p>\n Balanchine created roles for Mr. Bonnefoux in \u201cStravinsky Violin Concerto\u201d (1972), \u201cCort\u00e8ge Hongrois\u201d (1973), \u201cSonatine\u201d (1975), \u201cUnion Jack\u201d (1976), \u201c\u00c9tude for Piano\u201d (1977), \u201cVienna Waltzes\u201d (1977) and \u201cLe Bourgeois Gentilhomme\u201d (1979); Robbins created roles for him in \u201cA Beethoven Pas de Deux\u201d (1973), later known as \u201cFour Bagatelles,\u201d and \u201cAn Evening\u2019s Waltzes\u201d (1973).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In 1977, after noticing that there were no dedicated classes for young boys at the School of American Ballet, Mr. Bonnefoux approached Balanchine about teaching there. \u201cI wanted the young ones here to feel right away like male dancers and understand the technical differences,\u201d he told<\/a> The Times.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n That same year, he tore all the ligaments in an ankle while performing. During the enforced rest period that followed, encouraged by Balanchine, he began to choreograph.<\/p>\n In 1978, he created \u201cPas Degas\u201d as part of City Ballet\u2019s French-themed evening \u201cTricolore.\u201d (\u201cI have a few things I will have to tell you for your next ballet,\u201d Balanchine remarked<\/a> after the premiere.) That year, he also created \u201cQuadrille\u201d for students at the School of American Ballet and \u201cUne Nuit a Lisbonne\u201d for the Syracuse Ballet.<\/p>\n \u201cThis strange time, when it was supposed to be the end for me,\u201d Mr. Bonnefoux told The Times, \u201cwas finally maybe the richest part of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux and his twin sister, Dominique, were born on April 9, 1943, in Bourg-en-Bresse, in eastern France, to Marie Ther\u00e8se (Bouhy) Bonnefoux and Laurent Bonnefoux, a tax adviser. A few years later, the family moved to Paris, where the twins began to take dance classes.<\/p>\n Jean-Pierre\u2019s teacher suggested that he audition for the Paris Opera Ballet School. While studying there, he also pursued acting, appearing in \u201cLes Fruits Sauvages\u201d (1954), \u201cLes Diaboliques\u201d (1955), \u201cLes Carottes Sont Cuites\u201d (1956) and other films.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAt one point, I really didn\u2019t know what to do between dance and acting,\u201d he told Ms. Newman.<\/p>\n His parents consulted \u201can Indian man, a Hindu, one who could see the future,\u201d he recalled. \u201cHe said very good things about what I would do in ballet.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In 1957, at 14, he joined the Paris Opera Ballet, then directed by Serge Lifar, a Kyiv-born former star of the Ballets Russes. He disliked Lifar\u2019s ballets but loved his teachers, G\u00e9rard Mulys, Raymond Franchetti and Serge Peretti, whose examples would later give him a foundation for teaching.<\/p>\n He moved quickly through the ranks of the company, becoming an \u00e9toile at 21 and performing lead roles in 19th-century classics like \u201cSwan Lake,\u201d \u201cGiselle\u201d and \u201cSleeping Beauty,\u201d as well as in ballets by Roland Petit and Maurice B\u00e9jart. (\u00c9toile is the only title at the Paris Opera that is bestowed at the discretion of the management.)<\/p>\n