Marie-Claude Pietragalla

Marie-Claude Georgette Yvonne Pietragalla (born 2 February 1963 in Paris) is a French dancer and choreographer.

Pietragalla was born in Paris to a Coriscan father and mother from Bordeaux. At 16, she joined the Ballet de l'Opera National de Paris and was named étoile on 22 December 1990 after the performance of Don Quixote in which she played the role of Kitri. In 1998, she was appointed to the leadership of the National Ballet of Marseille, where she remained five years. After a conflict, the dancers of the company obtained her resignation.

She danced at the Opéra Bastille with Patrick Dupond the "Swan Lake" (1992) and "Les Variations d'Ulysse" (1995) under the direction of Jean-Claude Gallotta. In 1998 she received the Prix Benois de la Danse. In 2000 she appeared in a one-woman show "Don't look back", a solo performance created for her by Carolyn Carlson. In October that year she introduced the ballet Sakountala that evokes the internal struggle of the sculptor Camille Claudel with her own demons.