He found the strength to break the silence. This weekend, Yanis Marshall announced that he was going to “file a criminal complaint” against Bruno Vandelli for “aggravated rape of a minor”. The former dance teacher of the Star Academy accuses the choreographer of having raped him when he was 14 years old. “It has been several years since the events I suffered at the age of 14 have haunted me, destroyed me, and plunged me into real distress,” Yanis Marshall confided in a message shared on his Instagram account.
“I considered him my father”
Now aged 34, the dancer found the strength to testify because “he knows that he is not the only one in this situation” and “this distress”.
Interviewed by our colleagues from BFMTV on Saturday January 20, Yanis Marshall gave a chilling testimony, that of a little boy under the influence of his dance teacher. “In the dance world, there are not many little boys. I was one of the only ones. And very quickly, there was a rapprochement on his part,” he explained. “There was a hold on a minor. It lasted for years and it was in fact manipulation. I became in love with him, I was 14 and he was 42, my mother’s age. I considered him my father, he was God.”
Yanis Marshall denounces omerta in the world of dance
Yanis Marshall then remembered a moment in particular. That evening, Bruno Vandelli allegedly took him to his home, claiming to want to give him a music compilation and show him a Janet Jackson concert. “He says to me: ‘The CD is at home’ (…) He stands next to me and my legs begin to tremble instinctively, as if I felt that it was starting to be strange and without going into details, he did to me what he did to me.” The dancer then denounces the omerta in the world of dance. “That’s the most traumatic thing for me. I’ve always been aware of it. It’s known in the community. It’s just that no one ever wanted to talk,” he regretted. Yanis Marshall would have received testimonies from “16 or 17 people” just after speaking on social networks. According to him, seven to eight victims would be ready to testify.
For his part, Bruno Vandelli denies the facts and assures that the presumption of innocence has been “despised”: “Today we are lawyers, judges, executioners on social networks without any discernment or real knowledge, we must give ourselves moment of glory (…) by pointing at others”.