SCHOOL

On December 5th, 1956, Jacques Lecoq founded the school in Paris. In 1976 the school moved into « Le Central », previously a gymnasium, which became a well-known boxing center in the beginning of the 20th century. The space, built in 1876, was located 57 rue du faubourg Saint-Denis in the 10th district of Paris.

At the start of the 2023 academic year, the Jacques Lecoq school left this location and continues its courses in the heart of « la Cité des Papes » in Avignon, an emblematic city of theatre, by moving into the old fire station at 116 rue de la Carreterie.

From physical education to theatre.

Jacques Lecoq was born in Paris on December 15, 1921. In 1937 he began studying physical education and sport which he taught from 1941 to 1945, gaining teaching diplomas from the French athletics and swimming federations. His interest in physical education brought him into contact with Jean-Marie Conty, a master of physical education and friend of Antonin Artaud and Jean-Louis Barrault.

By 1945 Jacques Lecoq had started acting with Gabriel Cousin and the two founded a drama group. He was then taken on by Jean Dasté as part of a theatre company known as the “Comédiens de Grenoble”, where he was put in charge of the physical training of his fellow actors. Here he discovered masks and was introduced to the ideas of Copeau, to the point of later identifying with him as his indirect heir.

Commedia dell’Arte

In 1948 Jacques Lecoq went to Italy where he settled for eight years. He directed his first pantomimes at the university theatre in Padua, while in the city markets he discovered Commedia dell’Arte. He met the sculptor Amleto Sartori and together they embarked on research into masks, ultimately leading to joint projects including, among others, the “neutral mask”. Invited by Giorgio Strehler and Paolo Grassi, he joined them for the launching of the school at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. Later ventures included work as a director and choreographer, working along side Dario Fo, Franco Parenti, Luciano Berio and Anna Magnani, pursuing the quest for new movements suited to contemporary music, reviews, opera, and devising movements for choruses in Greek tragedy in Syracuse.

In 1956 he came back to Paris and opened his School of Mime and Theatre. At the same time he set up his own theatre company, worked at the T.N.P. (National Popular Theatre) with Jean Vilar, and also on television, but before long the school had expanded and he devoted all his efforts to teaching for many years. This school, which he wanted to be international from the outset, was a huge success.

At the same time, Jacques Lecoq developed the Laboratoire d’Etude du Mouvement (movement research laboratory).

The Laboratoire d’Etude du Mouvement (L.E.M.)

Following the courses he gave to architecture students at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts from 1968 to 1988 in Paris, in 1976 Jacques Lecoq set up a scenography department parallel to the school, the L.E.M., with the architect Krikor Belekian, who taught there until June 2011.

The L.E.M. is currently being rebuilt, and remains under the direction of Pascale Lecoq, architect, scenographer and director of the school from 2012 to June 2023.

The Lecoq family

Fay Lees Lecoq, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Arriving in Paris in 1955 to take classes with mime Etienne Decroux, she found work as a secretary at the American Embassy and met Jacques Lecoq in 1957. They were married three years later and had three children: Pascale, Richard and François.

From then on, she accompanied Jacques Lecoq throughout his career, both as the school’s administrator and as an interpreter and translator for the many conferences he gave around the world. In order to fully immerse herself in Jacques Lecoq’s pedagogy, she also decided to train at the school following the two year professional course.

In 1976, it was Fay who discovered the former gymnasium, “Le Central”, famous for its post-war boxing matches, which became the location of the school until June 2023.

When Jacques Lecoq passed away in 1999, Fay took up his role as director of the school. She continued to promote the school’s pedagogy abroad and forged links of remembrance with former students.

In 1983, his son Patrick Lecoq filmed two years of teaching at the school, with the aim of archiving Jacques Lecoq’s pedagogy. In addition, a close two-year collaboration (1997 and 1998) with Jean-Gabriel Carasso, Jean-Claude Lallias and Jean-Noël Roy resulted in the publication of a book entitled Le Corps Poétique (The Moving Body) and the production of two films, each forty-five minutes long, broadcasted on French television.

His daughter, Pascale Lecoq, took over the running of the school and the LEM in 2012 until June 2023, when the family parted company with « Le Central ».

An heritage in motion

The school founded by Jacques Lecoq carries on. A world-renowned school, it has welcomed thousands of students of over 100 different nationalities.

At the start of the 2022-2023 season, Pascale Lecoq and her brothers, heirs to the school founded by their father, announced their intention to retire and pass on the name of the school and the teaching materials to the teachers.

This decision, followed by the rapid realisation that it would be impossible to remain at « Le Central », led the teachers to spend several months reflecting together on the future of the school. This led to the emergence of a new structure for the Ecole Jacques Lecoq based on the following principles:

– The school will be embodied by the teachers in the name of their common heritage

– The teachers have chosen Anne Astolfe as the school’s new director.

– This new project will combine heritage, continuity and development: for many years, the school has relied on its reputation and the resonance of the name Jacques Lecoq. The aim is to give the school a new dynamic.

– The school will be legally supported by an association, “Tout Bouge, mouvement et création”, under the 1901 French Act.

A new home for the school in Avignon

Since Jacques Lecoq and Jean Vilar met in 1958 and created their first shows together, the Festival d’Avignon has welcomed many artists from the school: William Kentridge, Christoph Marthaler, Ariane Mouchkine, Rolf Abderhalden, Simon McBurney and Julie Deliquet, who opened the 2023 Avignon’s Festival with her show Welfare in the Cour d’Honneur of the Palais des Papes.

The decision to locate the school in Avignon will strengthen the historic and intimate link between the Festival and the Ecole Jacques Lecoq. The city of Avignon has decided to provide a permanent home for the school in the heart of « la Cité des Papes » : the old fire station. Now that the space has been refurbished, the school has welcomed the students enrolled for the 2023 season.