Pietragalla was born in Paris to a Coriscan
father and mother from Bordeaux. At 16, she joined the Ballet de l'Opera
National de Paris and was named étoile on 22 December 1990 after the
performance of Don Quixote in which she played the role of Kitri. In 1998, she
was appointed to the leadership of the National Ballet of Marseille, where she
remained five years. After a conflict, the dancers of the company obtained her
resignation.
She danced at the Opéra Bastille with Patrick
Dupond the "Swan Lake" (1992) and "Les Variations d'Ulysse"
(1995) under the direction of Jean-Claude Gallotta. In 1998 she received the
Prix Benois de la Danse. In 2000 she appeared in a one-woman show "Don't
look back", a solo performance created for her by Carolyn Carlson. In
October that year she introduced the ballet Sakountala that evokes the internal
struggle of the sculptor Camille Claudel with her own demons.
In 2002 she choreographed the show
"Enzo", a duo created for the show at the Olympia of Christophe
(Victoire de la Musique 2002).
In 2003 she choreographed the show
"Metamorphoses" for the dance school of Marseille. The same year she
also choreographed "Ni Dieu ni maître", a show about anarchist poet
and singer-songwriter Léo Ferré, which was presented first at the Théatre
Toursky in Marseille, then at the Olympia in Paris. The show was about music
and songs by Léo Ferré (and Elizabeth Cooper). She signed a new version of
"Don Quixote" (Minkus-Cooper).
Since 2004 she has run her own company, the
Pietragalla Company. In 2006 she presented a show called "Conditions
humaines". In 2007 she began her second year of residency at the
Nord-Pas-de-Calais and under the direction of Pierre Cardin created the
dance-drama "Sade ou le théâtre des fous". Presented first at the
castle of Lacoste in July 2007, this ballet was also given in February 2008 at
the Espace Pierre Cardin in Paris. In March 2009 she presented the show
"Marco Polo" at the Palais des Congrès in Paris.