Paul Upali Gouëllo: On Dance, Life, and Love.

Thanks to the power of social media, we are now more connected than ever. It was thanks to Facebook that I managed to connect with Paul. He had a very interesting story to tell, which was endearing from an emotional perspective, and also inspiring from a professional level, too. Although in France, he will soon be arriving in Sri Lanka to initiate a dance exchange. It was a pleasure and a privilege to connect with him, and to also pose some questions to him on his life and ambitions.

I understand you had a very interesting childhood, could you tell us more about it?

I had been raised in France. I was adopted when I was just a few weeks old. Both my parents are retired; my mother worked as a nurse while my father worked as a cook. I grew up with my sister in a very open-minded family in the Parisian suburbs; home was very close to forests, nature, and close enough to Paris for our mother to bring us to visit museums, castles, and instill an interest in art, culture, and science at a young age. It was a big and generous part of our education. We were encouraged to be curious. Mum was focused in teaching us to being polite and educated while abstaining from being rude or violent.

In an initial conversation, you said that you came to Sri Lanka and you met your biological mother. How did you deal with the emotions?

I always knew that my parents were my adoptive parents; I can’t remember the day I understood. That was natural. They told me I come from Sri Lanka, and that I had a mum who gave me birth, and with love, gave me to my French parents for a better life that she could not give me. My adoptive parents never pushed me to find my origins. After 27 years, I came back to Sri Lanka, which was a very emotional trip. The harder thing for me was not really to meet her, but to see what her reactions would be. Does she have a new life? Would she accept to meet me? She gave me that chance to live in France, to be adopted – Am I indebted? Do I owe anything to her? I had so many questions. Thanks to my family and my friends, I finally understand that I was right to take this risk. Just saying hello, without expecting anything. Finally, I came back without any regrets or fear. My Mum from France came to join me and to meet my biological mother after all these years. That was the best thing that happened to me in life.

Tell us how you got into dance.

I’ve started dance at the age of 6 but it was just for fun. I had the chance in high school to have an amazing dance teacher named Sophie Kratchkovsky. She became a kind of mother in dance, a friend and my very best confidant and advisor. After my high school degree in literature, I’ve started in my twenties a 3 year professional training at the International Jazz Dance School of Paris directed by Rick Odums. I went for 2 years to a contemporary dance school, where I learned modern dance, contemporary and ballet class under Agnes Letestu. During those 2 years many choreographers from all over the world – Russia, Israel, Germany, United States, Belgium, France, Canada, Japan, and Netherlands – came to teach and share their choreographies with the students. I was called in 2015 after a two weeks’ immersion to join Jean Claude Gallotta’s company (Groupe Emile Dubois). Since the very beginning, I wanted to work with this pioneer of contemporary dance. I always loved his work, and I am very proud to defend his choreography today for already 3 seasons now. I danced for him in 2015, 2016 and 2017. In 2019, I’ll be part of L’homme à la tete de chou, which is based around the very provocative French singer Serge Gainsbourg.

When you came down to Sri Lanka, you talked about how you wanted to do an exchange program. Tell us more about it.

I had the chance and the honor last February to meet different actors of dance in Sri Lanka like Asanka Warnakulasuriya, a young traditional dancer and choreographer. We are working on doing a hybrid dance, which is a mix of modern and traditional dance. He is very talented and full of ideas. We hope that the Alliance Française will support our project. The aim will be to do an exchange. I also met Kapila Palihawadana before leaving Sri Lanka, who did so much in Sri Lanka to bring something new to Sri Lankan audiences. With nATANDA Festival and Dance Theatre, he brings a new point of view of dance in Sri Lanka that I do admire. I met Deanna and her daughters Natasha and Natalie Jayasuriya, who are the directors of the Deanna School of Dancing. It is an amazing ballet school, with amazing students performing at a very great level. It was strange to have been raised so far from my island where I learned ballet techniques and then coming across this school.

What are your future plans?

 I hope I will meet more and more passionate and fascinating dancers from all over the world. For the moment, I will keep dancing with Jean Claude Gallotta while working on my own projects and dreams about linking my adoptive France and my land of birth – Sri Lanka. The final goal would be to have my own company for sure. I will be back to Sri Lanka from the 24th August till the 18th of September. I hope to plan something great with Alliance Française with my friend Asanka Warnakulasuriya. I might do some ballet dancing at Deanna’s School of Dancing with Deanna, Natasha and Natalie; and I hope to have a possible exchange with Kapila Palihawadana and his amazing dancers.

Written by Rohitha Perera