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

Author, filmmaker and video artist Charles Picq (1952-2012) entered working life in the 70s through theatre and photography. A- fter resuming his studies (Maîtrise de Linguistique - Lyon ii, Maîtrise des sciences et Techniques de la Communication - grenoble iii), he then focused on video, first in the field of fine arts at the espace Lyonnais d'art Contemporain (ELAC) and with the group « Frigo », and then in dance.
   On creation of the Maison de la Danse in Lyon in 1980, he was asked to undertake a video documentation project that he has continued ever since. During the ‘80s, a decade marked in France by the explosion of contemporary dance and the development of video, he met numerous artists such as andy Degroat, Dominique Bagouet, Carolyn Carlson, régine Chopinot, susanne Linke, Joëlle Bouvier and regis Obadia, Michel Kelemenis. He worked in the creative field with installations and on-stage video, as well as in television with recorded shows, entertainment and documentaries.

His work with Dominique Bagouet (80-90) was a unique encounter. He documents his creativity, assisting with Le Crawl de Lucien and co-directing with his films Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux and 10 anges. in the 90s he became director of video development for the Maison de la Danse and worked, with the support of guy Darmet and his team, in the growing space of theatre video through several initiatives:
       - He founded a video library of dance films with free public access. This was a first for France. Continuing the video documentation of theatre performances, he organised their management and storage.
       - He promoted the creation of a video-bar and projection room, both dedicated to welcoming school pupils.
       - He started «présentations de saisons» in pictures.
       - He oversaw the DVD publication of Le tour du monde en 80 danses, a pocket video library produced by the Maison de la Danse for the educational sector.

       - He launched the series “scènes d'écran” for television and online. He undertook the video library's digital conversion and created Numeridanse.

His main documentaries are: enchaînement, Planète Bagouet, Montpellier le saut de l'ange, Carolyn Carlson, a woman of many faces, grand ecart, Mama africa, C'est pas facile, Lyon, le pas de deux d'une ville, Le Défilé, Un rêve de cirque.

He has also produced theatre films: Song, Vu d'ici (Carolyn Carlson), Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux, 10 anges, Necesito and So schnell, (Dominique Bagouet), Im bade wannen, Flut and Wandelung (Susanne Linke), Le Cabaret Latin (Karine Saporta), La danse du temps (Régine Chopinot), Nuit Blanche (Abou Lagraa), Le Témoin (Claude Brumachon), Corps est graphique (Käfig), Seule et WMD (Françoise et Dominique Dupuy), La Veillée des abysses (James Thiérrée), Agwa (Mourad Merzouki), Fuenteovejuna (Antonio Gades), Blue Lady revistied (Carolyn Carlson).

Source: Maison de la Danse de Lyon