Brigitte Chataignier was originally trained in classical and contemporary dance forms, mime and yoga. In 1986, she discovered her passion for Mohini Attam, and studied in India for seven years under notably Kalamandalam Leelamma at Kerala Kalamandalam, Kalamandalam Ksheimavathy and Smt Sridevi Rajan. Parallel to her work, she also learned Carnatic vocal, the female roles of Kathakali and the fundamentals of Kalarippayat.
In France, with Michel Lestrehan, she founded Companie Prana in 1995 in Rennes. Since then she has divided her time and work between India and France and remains connected to her Gurus. She has been invited to the French stage by Theatre de la Ville, the Guimet Museum, and the La Vilette exhibition center, as well as in India at presitgious festivals and temples including the Soorya Festival, Kerala Sangeeth Natak Academy, festival Bonjour India.
Her approach includes research on the conservation of a cultural heritage, as well as new contemporary research and productions.
In 2004, she collaborated with the Rennes Opera, a production of Leo Delibes’ opera, Lakme. Brigitte Chataignier has written and directed the film The Dance of the Enchantress with Adoor Gopalakrishnan in 2007. She was artistic director of the CD The Songs of Mohiniattam for the In dit label.
Brigitte is also deeply involved in her own contemporary dance productions as a dancer and choreographer. These include several collaborations with the poet Zéno Bianu, La Chambre des Vertiges (The Vertigo Room) in 2002, Elémentaire (Elemental) in 2005, Gopika in 2009. Gangâ, her choreographic project about the river, was touring in several cities for the Bonjour India festival 2013. Her latest creation Bhopal Blue, has been presented during three weeks at Theatre du Soleil, Paris, under the auspice of the Namaste France Festival 2016. in 2019, she has completed Un Trace, a duet with Catherine Legrand, meeting choregraphic citations of the legendary choreographer Dominique Bagouet.
At the present moment, she is working on a new project : MALA.
Beside her regular teaching and worshops, she is also guest teacher notably at the TNB (the Brittany National Theatre) at the Museum of Dance in the CCNRB (Rennes and Brittany National Centre of Choreography), the ARTA (Research Association for Acting Traditions), ESDC (Cannes Dance Academy), at the University of Rennes 2 and Nice…
She was supported in 1988 by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Indo-French Exchange Program (ICCR), and in 1992 received a scholarship under the Cultural Agreements of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (later, in 2001 she will be awarded the Sanskriti program of Culture France).In 2012 and 2021, she received support for research into Heritage Dance CND. She is recognized as Panel member artist in Mohiniyattam performance by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
