Aurélie Dupont Dance director

Aurélie Dupont joined the Paris Opera’s Ballet School in 1983. She attended all its classes and participated in performances 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 (in the junior category) at the Varna International Ballet Competition.
She received the Prix AROP (Association pour le Rayonnement de l’Opéra de Paris) in 1993 and the Prix du Cercle Carpeaux in 1994. After entering the Company, Aurélie Dupont performed in all the major productions from the classical and the contemporary repertoires. She was also cast in solo roles in Pierre Lacotte’s Giselle and La Sylphide, George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments, Roland Petit’s world premiere production of Rythme de Valses (1994), Rudolf Nureyev’s La Bayadère, Roland Petit’s Le Loup, Angelin Preljocaj’s Annonciation, Rudolf Nureyev’s The Nutcracker, and Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring (“The Chosen One”).

Promoted to “Première Danseuse” in 1996, she danced the principal roles in Soir de fête (Léo Staats), Raymonda, Don Quichotte and La Bayadère – three productions by Rudolf Nureyev, Manon (Kenneth MacMillan) and Casanova in Angelin Preljocaj’s world premiere production at the Paris Opera (1998).
At the end of the performance of Don Quichotte (Rudolf Nureyev) - on December 31 1998 – she was made an “Étoile”.

Since then, she has added numerous roles and works to her repertoire, including: Capriccio/Rubies, Symphony in C, Violin Concerto, Concerto Barocco, Agon, Le Palais de Cristal ( George Balanchine), Boléro ( Maurice Béjart), Giselle (Jean Coralli & Jules Perrot, as well as the version by Mats Ek), Tatiana in Onegin (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, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (John Neumeier), The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Nikiya / La Bayadère, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake (Rudolf Nureyev), Carmen (Roland Petit), Le Parc (Angelin Preljocaj), In The Night, En Sol, and Dances at a Gathering (Jerome Robbins)... .

She was also chosen to dance in numerous first productions at the Opera, including Musings (James Kudelka, 1997), Le Concours – the role of Ada (Maurice Béjart, 1999), Perpetuum (Ohad Naharin, 2000), Stepping Stones, Bella Figura (Jiří Kylián, 2001), Liebeslieder Walzer (George Balanchine, 2003), La Dame aux Camélias (John Neumeier, 2006), Mademoiselle Julie – the title role (Birgit Cullberg, 2014). She has also danced in several world premieres, including Rythme de valses (Roland Petit, 1994), Casanova (Angelin Preljocaj, 1998), Il faut qu’une porte (Jiří Kylián, 2004), O zlozony/O composite (Trisha Brown, 2004), Amoveo (Benjamin Millepied, 2006), Romeo and Juliet (Sasha Waltz, 2007), Siddharta – the role of the Spiritual Awakening (Angelin Preljocaj, 2010), L'anatomie de la sensation (Wayne McGregor, 2011), Psyché – the title role (Alexeï Ratmansky, 2011), Boléro (Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui/Damien Jalet, 2013), Darkness is Hiding Black Horses (Saburo Teshigawara, 2013), Daphnis et Chloé – the role of Chloé (Benjamin Millepied, 2014) and Together Alone (Benjamin Millepied, 2015).

Étoile dancer Aurélie Dupont made her official farewell to the stage of the Paris Opera on Monday, May18, 2015, after a performance of Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon.
In 2001, Aurélie Dupont, received the Prix Benois de la Danse for her interpretation of the roles of Nikiya in La Bayadère (choreographed by Rudolf Nureyev) and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (choreographed by John Neumeier).
She is a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres and a member of the Ordre National du Mérite.
Appointed by the Paris Opera’s Director Stéphane Lissner on February 4 2016, Aurélie Dupont officially took over as the Paris Opera’s Director of Dance on August 1 2016.
She succeeds Benjamin Millepied.