Since May 2023, a number of personalities from the world of classical dance in France have been approaching the Azerbaijani diplomatic representation in France, notably Michel Odin, director of the magazine “Danser”. He was involved in the cultural cooperation project with the Baku ballet, and was present at the Azerbaijani embassy in May 2023, along with Ilham Aliyev's representatives and the mayor of Gugy-le-Château, Loup Bommier (featured in this publication). Since then, the collaboration between these players has taken on many different forms.
Born in Lyon on January 26, 1950, Michel Odin is a classical dance enthusiast and former freelance cultural journalist. According to an article published in Le Progrès, he worked for Le Point and Le Figaro, among others, after graduating from the Sorbonne with a degree in Classical Literature in 1970.
In 1984, he founded the magazine “Danser”, which he has directed ever since, with the aim of “Defending classical dance”. Another article, also published in Le Progrès in 2021, claimed that nearly 10,000 copies were distributed each month in France.
In May 2023, after visiting Azerbaijani diplomats at the Paris embassy, presumably to discuss “cultural cooperation around the Baku ballet”, Michel Odin, again accompanied by Loup Bommier, travelled to Azerbaijan, and more specifically to Shushi, which has become a showcase city of strategic importance in the Azerbaijani dictatorship's plans for influence.
The city, disguised as the “cradle of Azerbaijani culture” by state propaganda, was captured from Armenian forces by Azerbaijan during the 44-Day War in 2020 and emptied of its Armenian inhabitants. It now finds itself continually mobilized in Azerbaijani influence communication.
Loup Bommier's presence is not surprising. In September 2024, he and Michel Odin co-founded the French company “FUTURA MC DOLIN”, whose business is “publishing magazines and periodicals”. Which magazines and periodicals? It's still too early to say. However, given the simultaneous and sudden presence of the two men alongside the Azerbaijani representative, it's reasonable to assume that a communication plan is being drawn up, perhaps in the service of Azerbaijan.
Their simultaneous trip in May 2023 also gave Loup Bommier and Michel Odin the opportunity to meet Soltan Mammadov, President of the France-Azerbaijan friendship group (still inactive, but until when?) and Azerbaijan's Deputy Minister of Culture, Seadet Yusifova. Finally, a visit to singer Fidan Haciyeva's music school was also organized. Mirvari Fataliyeva, Secretary General of the Association des Amis de l'Azerbaïdjan and central coordinator of the Azerbaijani lobby in France, was part of the trip.
Against this backdrop, the pro-Aliyev online media galaxy publicized the two Frenchmen's visit to Azerbaijan and Shushi. For example, Michel Odin was quoted as saying that “Azerbaijan is rapidly renovating the liberated territories”. The various articles, sometimes repeating the same texts down to the comma, insisted on the “destruction perpetrated by the Armenians”, on the role of the “great leader Heydar Aliyev” and on the “role of Shush[a] as the cultural cradle of Azerbaijan”, all major themes of historical falsification repeated by the propaganda of the Aliyev regime.
In November 2024, as if to confirm the ties between Michel Odin, “Danser” magazine and Azerbaijan, the publication celebrated its 40th anniversary at the Azerbaijani Embassy, “under the high patronage of Her Excellency Madame Leyla Abdullayeva, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to France”.
However, Michel Odin was not alone, as he came in the company of other important representatives of classical dance in France: Claudine Tavares, Secretary General and Chargée de Mission of the Association Française des Maîtres de Danse Classique (AFMDC) and Director of the Pierrefitte Conservatory; Claude de Vulpian, former prima ballerina at the Paris Opera and professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris; Jacques Namont, principal dancer at the Paris Opera; and Laurence Jardin, former Paris Opera student, choreographer and artistic director.
Danser" magazine has already devoted three issues to the Azerbaijani dictatorship. Part of the July 2023 issue was devoted to Shushi, the Baku Ballet and the Baku Opera Academy of Choreography. In November 2024, the monthly evoked in an article the “long history of Opera in Azerbaijan”. Finally, in January 2025, an article evoked the reception given by the Azerbaijani embassy for the magazine's 40th anniversary, a sign that its management had no qualms about publicizing its ties with one of the world's worst dictatorships. The aim of the magazine's representatives - to help de-demonize the regime of despot Aliyev and legitimize his past and future political and war ambitions - had been achieved.
There is no longer any doubt as to the lobbying role adopted by Loup Bommier and Michel Odin. The former, as shown by the portrait we have drawn up here, is an adept lobbyist in the service of tyrants. The latter, on the other hand, is either perfectly aware of the interests he serves, or particularly naive and/or ignorant. In either case, we'll be following the progress of this “cultural cooperation”, as well as that of their recently created company.
