CV
Ballett

Raphaël Coumes-Marquet

Choreography, Director

Raphaël Coumes-Marquet was born in Besançon (France) and received his training at the Ballet School of the Paris Opera. He was a soloist of the Monte-Carlo Ballet, danced for Het Nationale Ballet Amsterdam and the Vienna State Ballet. He has worked with numerous top-class choreographers such as W. Forsythe, M. Ek, J. Kylián, D. Dawson, J.C. Maillot, N. Duato, H. van Manen, M. Béjart, C. Carlson, R. van Dantzig, W. Eagling, K. Pastor, T. Brandsen, U. Scholz, Ch. Wheeldon, R. Zanella, J. Inger, S. Celis, J. Bubeníček, H. Picket and A. Ratmansky. He has also given guest performances with the English National Ballet, the National Ballet of Croatia or the Ballett im Revier Gelsenkirchen. In 2006 Raphaël Coumes-Marquet became Principal Dancer of the Semperoper Ballett and was Ballet Master of the company in Dresden from 2015 to 2019. His repertoire included almost all leading roles of classical ballet such as Albrecht in »Giselle«, Siegfried in »Swan Lake«, Florimund in »Sleeping Beauty«, the Prince in »The Nutcracker«, James in »La Sylphide« and many roles of neo-classical dance in works by George Balanchine, William Forsythe and David Dawson, among others. Raphaël Coumes-Marquet has been a guest at ballet galas in the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Spain, England, France, Norway, Russia and Lithuania. In addition to his dance career, Raphaël Coumes-Marquet is also active as a choreographer and dance teacher, e.g. for the Ayumi Ballet Company in Tokyo, Stage de danse de Liège, the Summer School »ART of« in Berlin and SemperOpernball. For the West Australian Ballet and the Finnish National Ballet he brought »A Million Kisses to my Skin« (D. Dawson) to the stage and »Giselle« (D. Dawson) at the Aalto Theater Essen. In addition, he repeatedly develops cross-genre dance projects such as »Close-up«, »Tanz-Dinner«, »Tanz à la carte« or »Tanz:Film«, initiated and choreographed the ballet »Alice - A Journey to Wonderland« with young choreographers and was artistic coordinator of the Semperoper Ballett for the Semper Zwei venue. Since 2019, Raphael Coumes-Marquet has been part of the permanent team of choreographer David Dawson and has been studying his creations all over the world.

Raphaël Coumes-Marquet © Semperoper Dresden/Ian Whalen
Portrait Raphaël Coumes-Marquet

Works

Prince Siegfried »Swan Lake« (R. van Dantzig and A.S. Watkin after M.Petipa); Albrecht, »Giselle«; Prince Florimund »The Sleeping Beauty« (P. Wright; A. S. Watkin after M. Petipa); Prince, Nutcracker, Drosselmeier »The Nutcracker« (W. Eagling and T. van Shayk; J. Neumeier); James »La Sylphide« (A. Bournonville); Onegin »Onegin«, The Taming of The Shrew (J. Cranko); Theseus, Oberon »A Midsummer Night’s Dream«, The King »Illusions – like ›Swan Lake‹« (J. Neumeier); Poet »Chopiniana«, Les Sylphides (M. Fokine); Paquita (M. Patipa); Soloist »Diamonds«, Apollo, Who Cares?, The Four Temperaments, Serenade, Agon, Symphony in C, Violin Concerto, La Valse (G. Balanchine); The Magic Flute (W. Eagling); Four Last Songs (R. van Dantzig); Duende (N. Duato); Return To A Strange Land, Petite Mort (J. Kylián); Trois Gnoissiennes, Black Cake, Four Schumann Pieces, Three Pieces for Het (H. van Manen); Do Not Go Gentle (K. Pastor); Slow, Heavy and Blue (C. Carlson); Four Sections (T. Brandsen); In the Middle Somewhat Elevated, Vile Parody of Address, Artifact, The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Approximate Sonata, The Second Detail, Enemy in the Figure, Steptext (W. Forsythe); Symphony N° 2 (U. Scholz); Continum (Ch. Wheeldon); Voluntaries (G. Tetley); Empty House, Walking Mad (J. Inger); Reverence, The World According To Us (D. Dawson); Self Portrait (F. Chirpaz and K. Cere)

King Marke »Tristan+Isolde«, »Psychic Whack«, »A Million Kisses To My Skin«, »00:00«, »Morning Ground«, »The Grey Area«, »The Gentle Chapters«, »Das Verschwundene/The Disappeared«, »On the Nature of Daylight«, »Faun(e)« (D. Dawson); »In Light and Shadow«, »Kurt Weill« (K. Pastor); »Carmen« (T. Brandsen); »Romeo and Juliet«, »Dove la Luna«, »Vers Un Pays Sage, Home Sweet Home« (J. C. Maillot); further creations by K. Armitage, L. Hoche and R. Zanella

»The Grey Area in Creation« (D. Dawson), Documentary, Het Nationale Ballet Amsterdam/The Netherlands (2004)
»The Sleeping Beauty« (P. Wright), Het Nationale Ballet Amsterdam, Opus Art (2004)
»Giselle« (D. Dawson), Fritten Film (2008)
Short-film project »Verhörraum« (J. Mäsel)

Danced at various international Ballet Galas and Festivals in the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Spain, England, France, Norway, Russia and Lithuania
Created the ballet choreographies for the SemperOpernball Dresden (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
Guested with English National Ballet for Diaghilev celebration in 2009 and 2010 in London, Barcelona, Moscow and Houston with »Faun(e)« (D. Dawson)
Guested with National Ballet of Croatia in 2011 with »The Lady of the Camellias« (D. Deane)
Guested with Ballett im Revier in Gelsenkirchen for their program »Erster Gang« (Season 2012/13)