Agnès Letestu Dancer

Biography

Trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School, Agnès Letestu joined the company in 1987, then under the direction of Rudolf Nureyev. She won the Grand Prix at the Eurovision Young Dancers competition in 1989 and the Gold Medal at the Varna International Ballet Competition in 1990.

Promoted to première danseuse in 1993, she was named Étoile following a performance of Swan Lake on October 31, 1997. A favored interpreter of major repertoire roles—Giselle, Juliet, La Bayadère, Raymonda, Aurora, Kitri, Paquita, and Cinderella—she also excels in works by Balanchine, Carlson, Ek, Forsythe, Kylián, Lacotte, Li, Lifar, McGregor, Nureyev, and Robbins. She officially retired from the Paris Opera on October 10, 2013, in Neumeier’s The Lady of the Camellias.

In 2018, she created Dancing Piano with pianist Edna Stern, performing original contemporary works and designing all the costumes for the production, which was presented at the Lacoste Festival, on tour in Japan, and in Geneva.

In 2021, she performed and designed the costumes for the creation Aliénor, Variation on Courtly Love, in a choreographic staging by Alain Marty at the Théâtre du Gymnase. Alongside her dancing career, she has designed costumes for the creations of José Martinez, Patrick De Bana, Heinz Spoerli, and Pierre Lacotte. Agnès Letestu was the principal performer in Paris Opera recordings of Paquita, Swan Lake, Le Fils prodigue, Cinderella, Jewels, and The Lady of the Camellias, which were broadcast on television and released on DVD.

She is the subject of the films Regards sur une Étoile and Marlène Ionesco’s Agnès Letestu, l’apogée d’une Étoile, as well as Jean‑Marie David’s Agnès Letestu, une Étoile à la sensibilité d’actrice. She has been invited as a teacher and Ballet Master at numerous international companies. Agnès Letestu is a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, a Knight of the Legion of Honour, and an Officer of the National Order of Merit.

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Immerse in the Paris Opera universe

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