Bernard Courtot de Bouteiller was born in Istres, France.
He received his dance training at the Paris Superior Conservatory of Music and Dance under the guidance of Attilio Labis, Cyril Atanassof for ballet; Suzan Alexander, Didier Lafonta for contemporary dance; and Christine Gérard for choreography classes. With the conservatory he performed "The Teacher" and was first dancer in Bournonville’s "Konservatoriet", Balanchine’s "Valse Fantaisie 1953" and Saint-Leon’s "La Vivandière" Pas de Sept reset by Pierre Lacotte.
In 1993, Helgi Tomasson offered him a full-scholarship at the San Francisco ballet school, where he worked with Jorge Esquivel.
Four months later Mr. Courtot joined the San Francisco Ballet where he danced the principal role in third movement of George Balanchine’s "Symphony in C" and in ballets by Lew Christensen and Helgi Tomasson. He took part in Donald Mac Kayle’s new work "Gumbo Ya Ya".
Courtot follows his carreer in Europe and then he joined the prestigious Paris Opera Ballet.
As a number of the company, he performed roles in Valslav Nijinski’s "Till Eulenspiegel" and "The Rites of Spring", Patrice Bart’s "Coppelia", Rudolf Nureyev’s productions of "Swan Lake" and "Romeo and Juliet". During this time, he danced contemporary works including Claude Burmachon’s "L’Ange", Manuel Legris part in Forsyth’s "In the Middle Somewhat Elevated"; and also participated at the Paris Opera Ballet’s tour in Singapur performing Angelin Prejocaj’s "Le Parc".
In 1996, Mr. Courtot joined English National Ballet. Where he expanded his repertoire to include roles in Ben Stevenson’s "The Nutcracker", Derek Deane’s production of "Giselle", "Swan Lake", "Don Quixote" Pas de deux, and Balanchine’s "Who Cares?".
In 1997 he joined the Royal Danish Ballet dancing roles in Peter Martins production of "Swan Lake", Maurice Béjart’s "La Gaitée Parisienne", John Neumeier’s "All Our Yesterdays", Flemming Flindt’s "Legs of Fire" and August Bournonville’s "Napoli".
In 1999, Mr. Courtot became Principal Dancer of the Miami City Ballet and danced principal roles in Balanchine’s "Jewels", "Glinka" Pas de Trois, "The Nutcracker", "Sylvia" Pas de Deux, "Valse Fantaisie 1953", "Western Symphony", "Minkus" Pas de Trois and "The Four Temperaments", Ashton’s "Les Patineurs" and Jimmy Gamonet’s "Movillissimanoble". He also performed the Miami City Ballet premiere of Balanchine’s "Sonatine" reset and coached by Violette Verdy and Jean -Pierre Bonnefoux; and took part in the Miami City Ballet’s tour in Turin – Italy, Newark, San Francisco and Washington at the Kennedy Center for the Balanchine Celebration Festival 2000.
During the season 2001-2002, Mr. Courtot was invited by the Ballet de Santiago as a guest artist to performed Ali and partnered Simona Noja in Ricardo Bustamante’s new production of "Le Corsaire". Later, Ricardo Bustamante offered him to keep working with company as a guest artist until the rest of the season. He performed principal roles in Ronald Hynd’s "Rosalynda" with Principal guest artist Irek Mukhamedov, Colas in Marilyn Burr’s "La Fille Mal Gardée", Youskevitch’s part in Balanchine’s "Theme and Variations", Mercuccio in Cranko’s "Romeo and Juliet", Blue Bird in Peter Wright’s "Sleeping Beauty", the prince in Bustamante’s "The Nutcracker", Oberon in Balanchine’s "A Midsummer’s Night Dream" and "Tchaikovsky" Pas de Deux . Mr. Courtot also represented the Ballet de Santiago at the VII Miami International Ballet Festival, performing Conrad in Bustamante’s "Corsaire" Pas de Trois.
He has also appeared in international galas at the Bolshoï Theater in Moscow, Nagoya (Japan), with Patrick Dupond in Varna (Bulgaria) and participated at Maya Plisetskaya’s Galas in Saint-Petersburg and Moscow.
Mr. Courtot has appeared in galas performances with Paris Opera Group in Europe and the Middle East with whom he has danced Lifar’s "Romeo and Juliet" and Suite en "Blanc" Bejart’s solo of "Fire Bird"; Pas de deux from "Le Corsaire", "Sleeping Beauty", "Raymonda" and "La Sylphide" (Taglioni-Lacotte).
He also danced as a guest artist with many companies in the United States including Channel Island Ballet Company, Western Arkansas Ballet, Ballet Wisconsin, Where he performed the principal roles in "Paquita", "The Nutcracker" and Solor in the second act of "La Bayadére".
He was invited to partner Larissa Ponomarenko in the Black Swan Pas de Deux at the Ballet Russes Celebration Gala in New Orleáns; he also performed this Pas de Deux at the Vail Dance festival 2003 with Paris Opera “Etoile” Laetitia Pujol and presented his own work: "Abattoir" for a ballet evening at the Alice Tully Hall in New York.
In 1996, 2003 and 2004, Mr. Courtot was a guest artist with Prague National Ballet where he performed in "Giselle" and Balanchine’s "Tarantella".
In February 2004 for a ballet gala evening in Paris, he danced "Tchaikovsky" Pas de Deux with a soloist of Paris Opera.
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