Mathieu Ganio is the son of Dominique Khalfouni, former Etoile of the Opéra National de Paris’ Ballet company who became a principle dancer in Roland Petit’s Ballet National de Marseille, and Denis Ganio, also a soloist at the Ballet National de Marseille.  

He first appeared on stage in 1986 at the age of two, alongside his mother during the creation of Roland Petit’s Ma Pavlova. Mathieu Ganio and his younger sister Marine Ganio, a Sujet in the corps de ballet at Opéra National de Paris, then accompanied their parents on a tour of the Roland Petit Ballet company. 

Mathieu Ganio began dance lessons at the age of seven in the Ballet Studio run by Colette Armand, mother of the dancer Patrick Armand. 

From 1992-1999, he trained at the École Nationale Supérieure de Danse de Marseille. In 1999, he entered the ballet school at the Opéra National de Paris, performing the role of Franz in Coppélia at the school’s end-of-year performance That year he joined the Ballet de l’Opéra company’s corps de ballet and was promoted to Coryphée in 2002 and Sujet in 2003. 

On 20 May 2004, aged 20, Mathieu Ganio was made an Etoile following a performance of Don Quixote, bypassing the grade of premier danseur. It was a total surprise as he was not supposed to dance this role initially. 

Mathieu Ganio is an ‘Officier des Arts et Lettres’ for his contribution to dance, and winner of the Benois de la Danse prize in 2005. 

On the Ballet de l’Opéra’s official tours, he has performed in Switzerland (Geneva, 2009), Japan (Tokyo 2010, 2013 and 2020 / Nagoya, 2013), Australia (Sydney, 2012), USA (Chicago / Washington / New York, 2012), Malaysia (Singapore, 2012) and United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi, 2019). 

Languages spoken : French and English

Photo credit : James Bort