Born in Paris, France, Valentin Chou graduated from the Paris Opera Ballet School in 2013. Under the direction of Claude Bessy and Elisabeth Platel, he performed works by Rudolf Nureyev, Maurice Béjart, and George Balanchine and worked closely with choreographers such as Niels Christe, Violette Verdy, José Martinez, Nicolas Paul and Béatrice Massin.
During his final year, Valentin created and performed the lead role in Nicolas Paul and Beatrice Massin’s co-creation, “D’ores et Déjà”, as part of the Paris Opera School’s 300th Anniversary, sharing the stage with other students from La Scala Milan, the Hamburg Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, the Bolshoï Academy, the Royal Danish School and the Royal Ballet School.
Upon graduation, Mr. Chou joined the Canada’s National Ballet School’s Post-Secondary Program, where he developed his contemporary and improvisational techniques under the mentorship of Shaun Amyot, performing works by Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, John Neumeier, Nacho Duato, Robert Binet, Demis Volpi and Aszure Barton.
In 2015, Valentin joined the Ballet Kelowna in Canada under the artistic direction of Simone Orlando after being invited to the prestigious Banff Centre for the Arts Summer program under the Susan and Brian Lee Award, during which he developed “Glas” by Gabrielle Lamb through a 4-week residency.
Following that, Valentin had the chance to be one of the main performing artists of the company for six seasons, during which he created and performed over 35 works by Canada’s most established choreographers such as John Alleyne, Heather Myers, Alysa Pires, Kirsten Wicklund, James Kudelka, Joe Laughlin, Amber Funk Barton, Simone Orlando, Gioconda Barbuto, Donald Sales, Wen Wei Wang and others.