Report from the 4 February 2016

Madame Aurélie Dupont appointed Director of Dance at the Paris Opera

24 February 2016Philippe Jordan honoured at the Victoires de la Musique Classique

Stéphane Lissner, the Director of the Paris Opera, has appointed Aurélie Dupont, Danseuse Étoile, to be Director of Dance at the Paris Opera as of August 01, 2016. She will take the place of Monsieur Benjamin Millepied.

Aurélie Dupont entered the Paris Opera Ballet School in 1983. She followed all her training there, and takes part in productions and official tours.

After entering the Paris Opera's Corps de Ballet in 1989, she was promoted to "Coryphée" in 1991 and "Sujet" in 1992. The same year she won the Gold Medal at the Varna International Dance Competition (Junior Category).

She received the AROP (Association pour le Rayonnement de l’Opéra de Paris) Prize in 1993 and that of the Cercle Carpeaux in 1994.

After joining the Company, Aurélie Dupont took part in all the major productions of both the classical and contemporary repertoires. She also danced solo roles in Giselle ("Pas de deux" des Paysans), La Sylphide by Pierre Lacotte ("Pas de deux" des Écossais), Les Quatre Tempéraments by George Balanchine ("Sanguin" with Nicolas Le Riche and Jean-Yves Lormeau), Rythme de valse by Roland Petit (creation, 1994), La Bayadère by Rudolf Nureyev ("Pas de trois" des Ombres), Le Loup by Roland Petit (the Jeune Fille with Kader Belarbi), Annonciation by Angelin Preljocaj, The Nutcracker by Rudolf Nureyev (Clara with partners Nicolas Le Riche and Laurent Hilaire), Le Sacre du Printemps by Pina Bausch (l'Élue).

Promoted to "Première Danseuse" in 1996, she danced the main roles in Soir de fête (Léo Staats), Raymonda, Don Quichotte and that of Gamzatti in La Bayadère – three productions by Rudolf Nureyev, L’Histoire de Manon (Kenneth MacMillan) and Casanova, created by Angelin Preljocaj at the Paris Opera (1998).

On December 31, 1998, she was made an "Étoile" following a performance of Don Quichotte (Rudolf Nureyev).

Her repertoire includes: Capriccio/Rubis, Symphony in C, Violin Concerto, Concerto Barocco, Agon, Le Palais de cristal (George Balanchine), Boléro (Maurice Béjart), Giselle (after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot and in the version by Mats Ek), Tatiana in Onéguine (John Cranko), Woundwork 1 (William Forsythe), La Sylphide (Pierre Lacotte after Taglioni), Paquita (Pierre Lacotte after Mazilier and Petipa), Suite en blanc, Les Mirages (Serge Lifar), Sylvia, Le Songe d’une nuit d’été (John Neumeier), Sleeping Beauty, Cendrillon, Nikiya/La Bayadère, Roméo et Juliette, Swan Lake (Rudolf Nureyev), Carmen (Roland Petit), Le Parc (Angelin Preljocaj), In The Night, En Sol, Dances at a Gathering (Jerome Robbins).

She was also chosen for the Paris Opera creations of Musings (James Kudelka, 1997), Le Concours – role of Ada (Maurice Béjart, 1999), Perpetuum (Ohad Naharin, 2000), Stepping Stones, Bella Figura (Jirí Kylián, 2001), Liebeslieder Walzer (George Balanchine, 2003), La Dame aux camélias (John Neumeier, 2006), Mademoiselle Julie – title role (Birgit Cullberg, 2014), and the world premieres of Rythme de valses (Roland Petit, 1994), Casanova (Angelin Preljocaj, 1998), Il faut qu’une porte (Jirí Kylián, 2004), O zlozony/O composite (Trisha Brown, 2004), Amoveo (Benjamin Millepied, 2006), Roméo et Juliette (Sasha Waltz, 2007), Siddharta – role of l’Éveil (Angelin Preljocaj, 2010), L’Anatomie de la sensation (Wayne McGregor, 2011), Psyché – title role (Alexeï Ratmansky, 2011), Boléro (Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet, 2013), Darkness is Hiding Black Horses (Saburo Teshigawara, 2013), Daphnis et Chloé – role of Chloé (Benjamin Millepied, 2014) and Together Alone (Benjamin Millepied, 2015).

Aurélie Dupont, Danseuse Étoile, bid her official farewell to the stage on 18 May 2015 following a performance of Kenneth MacMillan's L’Histoire de Manon in which she performed the role of Manon.

Aurélie Dupont received the prize for best female performer at the "Benois de la Danse" 2001 for her performance of the role of Nikiya in La Bayadère (choreography by Rudolf Nureyev) and for that of Titania in Le Songe d’une nuit d’été (choreography by John Neumeier). She is Chevalier des Arts et Lettres and Chevalier in the Ordre national du Mérite.

She will take up her position as the Paris Opera's Director of Dance on 01 August 2016.

Ballet