Franco Dragone – A Life of Creating
He wanted to build new fantasies and reimagine the world.
And he did just that.
Franco Dragone never ceased to grasp the strength and beauty of images, on the sole condition that they always carry meaning. It was a way for him to question reality with as much urgency as humor. An instigator of ample creations, he was no less concerned about the smallest details, whether it was the precision of a gesture, the shape of a costume, or the structure of an accessory. Franco Dragone was a man of the future, constantly developing new projects; always in search of the next technological evolution likely to be put at the service of his imagination, so that his vision translated into the magic of a shared enchantment.
Creation drove Franco Dragone’s life, and he loved life passionately… He was a man of encounters and exchanges, a prodigious storyteller whose every fable had its origin in this “obscure feeling”: an intuition he shared with his team to pave the way for the gestation of ideas. Falling somewhere between narrative and ceremony, his works all bore a little of us, and a lot of him. He was gradually developing a dialogue of body and mind in which he was both the narrator and the witness, sketching out a living fresco in between brilliance and madness, play and surprise, until they melded into dazzling harmony.
If we were to keep with us only a single image from one of his shows, I think I would hesitate betweenLa Chapelle Sixtine in Le Rêve, the prelude toO’s boat entrance, and the pavilion at the water’s edge in The House of Dancing Waters… But there are so many others that have seized, marveled, or moved us…
I had the great privilege of working for his company for just over seven years and assisting him in the creation ofSorolla with the Spanish National Ballet. Accustomed to long periods of research and design, he knew how to create, within a few days, a wonderful reflection of a painter’s work haunted by color and light. This natural and spontaneous complicity of circus with the universe of a visual artist was nothing strange: in a sense, Franco probably did nothingbut paint, relentlessly and passionately, huge canvases— each one of them featuring a different touch. It was the vivid expression of an insatiable creative drive to make—at the very least, and for the greatest number—the world more beautiful.
Main Image: Franco Dragone, Courtesy of Dragone website
The circus has long been a passion and his interest for this singular form of live performance has led him to create costumes most notably Rainforest and Living Carousel for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Salto Natale for Rolf Knie, Au pays des clowns for Cirque Phénix. He also created the costumes and the set designs of Barnum’s Kaleidoscape for Feld Entertainment as well as those of India for Prime Time Entertainment. Of late, working as an artistic scout and creative director, he contributed to the development of several projects for Dragone Entertainment Group. As such, he was artistic director and production designer for Odyseo, the Chemistry of Dreams celebrating the 150 years of the Solvay group, and for the Dai Show for Dragone Entertainment Group in Xishuangbanna in China. Last year, he was involved as production designer and artistic director for the creation of Era The Spirit of Shanghai in the Shanghai Circus World permanent building.
Alongside his work in design, Pascal acts as art consultant for the Européenne de Spectacles, artistic director for Cirque Phénix as well as for the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain. He is also lecturer in the history of the circus for the Montreal National Circus School and the Fratellini Academy in Saint-Denis.
By tirelessly collecting all things pertaining to the circus arts through the ages, he has worked as exhibition curator for many museums in Europe and in America, collaborating with many institutions such as the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the Tohu in Montréal. He has published more than forty books as well as numerous articles dedicated to the circus, the zoo, and the opera, he also lectures on these topics.
He was born, lives and works notably in Paris.
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