RECRUITMENT PROCESS FOR THE POSITION OF DANCE DIRECTOR AT THE PARIS OPERA

Due to the departure of Aurélie Dupont, the Paris Opera will soon recruit its next Dance Director.

To assist him in choosing the next Dance Director, Alexander Neef, General Director of the Paris Opera, has decided to rely on the advice of a selection committee, chaired by Bernard Stirn, Honorary President of the Paris Opera’s Board of Directors and member of the Institute, and composed of Carolyn Carlson, Charles Jude and Angelin Preljocaj.

The selection committee will review the received applications, choose the people that will be auditioned in September and, finally, send a recommendation to the Paris Opera General Director, who will then make his choice.

Terms and conditions to apply

Applications must be sent before August, 12, 2022. Candidates are required to send their résumé and submit a project of about 10 pages centered on the Paris Opera Ballet, which will present their vision of the artistic, economic, management and social development of the Company. It will also take into account the training and recruitment issues, in collaboration with the Paris Opera Ballet School. The documents will be sent on the following email address: candidaturedirectiondanse@operadeparis.fr. Each candidate will be notified when their application has been received. 

About the Paris Opera

The Paris Opera is a Public Industrial and Commercial Establishment under the supervision of both the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Economy and Finance. It comprises the Palais Garnier, the Bastille Opera, the Paris Opera Ballet School located in Nanterre, and the Berthier Workshops. The Institution gathers 1,500 employees, including 154 dancers, 112 chorus artists, 174 orchestra musicians and 150 students at the POBS. Entrusted with public service missions, the Opera has to make works from the lyrical and choreographic heritage accessible to as many people as possible, promote the creation and performance of contemporary works, both in Paris and abroad, contribute to the training and improvement of singers, dancers and conductors, as well as to the development of lyrical and choreographic art in France.

With an annual budget of about 220 million Euros, the Paris Opera stages nearly 400 performances each year, with 35 productions, among which 10 to 15 are new creations. It welcomes in its two theatre houses more than 850 000 spectators and 800 000 visitors each season. 

About the Paris Opera Ballet (the Company)

The Paris Opera Ballet, a cradle of classical dance, has been maintaining for over 350 years a tradition of excellence, built on the preservation of its repertoire, but also an overture to creation. When it was created by Louis XIV, the Opera was intended to model and refine the principles and codes of the French dance school.

The Paris Opera Ballet has continued to develop ever since, and remains a home of creation. Its very wide repertoire ranges from great classical ballets by Petipa, restaged by Rudolf Nureyev, to the works of the Russian Ballets by Diaghilev, and neoclassical pieces (George Balanchine, Serge Lifar, Kenneth MacMillan, Roland Petit, Jerome Robbins, John Neumeier, John Cranko) as well as contemporary works (Pina Bausch, Maurice Béjart, Angelin Preljocaj, Mats Ek, William Forsythe, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Sasha Waltz, Jiri Kylián).

The Paris Opera enters the twenty-first century with a large repertoire, rich in tradition. It has managed to preserve this precious heritage, while opening its doors to a new generation of choreographers (Hofesh Shechter, Sharon Eyal, Wayne McGregor, Crystal Pite, Alexander Ekman), willing to establish a balance between heritage and creation.

The Paris Opera yearly stages about 12 choreographic productions, a third of which are new, for a total of almost 180 performances each year. The 154 dancers gathered in the company are mostly graduates of the Paris Opera Ballet School. With an average age of around 25, the Paris Opera Ballet is one of the youngest dance companies today. The Paris Opera is committed to providing them with the most favourable conditions possible so that each talent can fully express itself.

Each year, the Paris Opera Ballet performs outside of its walls with two to three tours, in France and abroad. These tours are an occasion for the Ballet to feature its work to a new audience and to promote the Paris Opera’s image in the entire world.

As part of the Paris Opera's audiovisual and digital policy, several choreographic performances are recorded and broadcast live or on demand on the Opéra chez soi platform.

About the Paris Opera Dance Director’s missions

The Dance Director has full artistic and management responsibility for their activity, by delegation from the General Director, and in permanent contact with the different departments of the Paris Opera, led by the Deputy General Director (finances, human resources, communication, marketing, technique and costumes, production, stage).

In addition to the dancers, they manage a team of 38 members, including a ballet administrator and an assistant administrator in charge of productions and tours, a ballet mistress associated with the direction, four ballet masters, two assistant ballet masters, six professors, seven vocal coaches, four pianists, a general manager and five stage managers, a production manager, an administrative and budget manager and a medical team. 

Required profile

The Paris Opera General Direction wishes to appoint a recognized artist, with proven artistic expertise and management experience, able to preserve the Ballet's exceptional heritage while proposing innovative ways of development.

The Paris Opera Dance Director needs to show an artistic vision that is both audacious and in line with the Company's missions and goals, but also an affinity with French choreographic culture. They need to be able to identify and encourage the Company's talents, and to ensure the daily management of the Ballet.

Ideally, the candidate is an acknowledged and respected figure in the dance world, of which they have an in-depth knowledge. They also have a wide network of national and international contacts. 

Missions

• Defining and carrying an ambitious artistic vision and managerial project for the Ballet.
• Being the ambassador and key contact of the Paris Opera Ballet, of which they will defend the reputation and artistic ambitions.
• Setting and proposing to the General Director the choreographic season’s programme, ensuring the respect of the public service missions of the establishment and the development of its income, while controlling its costs.
• Being able to cast the dancers for the performances, monitoring and controlling the artistic quality of the Ballet.
• Encouraging the talents and the development of the artistic potentials inside the Ballet.
• Managing the Company in its every dimension: the dancers’ recruitment and promotions, work’s schedule, health and prevention, preparing for career transitions.
• Contributing to define the goals of the dancers’ initial training, in close collaboration with the Paris Opera Ballet School which is an autonomous entity.
• Taking part in the works of the Diversity Advisory Committee as a permanent member. 

To this end, they must:

• Work with all operational departments to ensure the smooth running of the performance activity for which they are responsible.
• Take and delegate management responsibilities within the team by building a culture of dialogue and collaboration.
• Actively collaborate with the Sponsorship Department to support research and fundraising.