Born in 1983, François Chaignaud holds a degree in ballet and contemporary danse from the regional Conservatoire in Rennes He is also a graduate of the Paris Conservatoire. He danced for Emmanuelle Huynh, Gilles Jobin, Tiago Guedes and Boris Charmatz, with whom he followed the project of a nomadic and ephemeral school, Bocal. In 2005, François Chaignaud met Cecila Bengolea. Ever since, their dialogue has been enriched by many exchanges and experiments and has given rise to the creation of three plays born from the desire to connect art with reality. Their writing is closely related to experience - through a kind of phenomenology of intensity. After their first joint creation Pâquerette (2005-2008), Sylphides presented in 2009 at the Festival d’Avignon, puts the bodies under vacuum in a latex casing and suspends their vital functions to the minimum, between destruction and mutation. In 2010, Castor et Pollux brought together technicians and dancers, using slings and pulleys to replay the tragic myth of the twins. At the same time, Cecilia Bengolea and François Chaignaud have been involved in many collaborations, notably with Bodak for Danses libres, and Marlene Monteira Freitas and Trajal Harrell for (M)IMOSA. Apart from his occupations as a dancer and choreographer, François Chaignaud holds a master in contemporary history. His researches focus on history of gender and unions. In 2009, he published his first book L’affaire Berger-Levrault : le féminisme à l’épreuve (1897-1905) [ The Berger-Levrault case: feminism tested (1897-1905) ] (PUR).