Six years ago, Benjamin Millepied resigned as dance director at the Paris Opera Ballet in August, which surprised many in the ballet world.
Now, with another amazing move, and with an unusually short notice, his successor Aurélie Dupont has also resigned.On Thursday, DuPont said in news release She said she would leave the 353-year-old company on July 31st. She “wants to focus on her personal project,” the release said. Those projects included books and documentary films. She also wanted to spend more time with her family, she said.
“I’m leaving this epic institution with a sense of accomplishment,” DuPont said in a release. “My greatest pride is in contributing to the emergence of talented artists, dancers and choreographers,” she added.
The Paris Opera will set up a selection committee to select her successor, Release said.
In February 2016, she recently retired as an Etoile, or star dancer, at the company when DuPont was appointed head of the Paris Opera Ballet. After a year of struggling to modernize it, including Millepie’s attempt to diversify her class, she was intended to bring stability to her institution. rice field.
DuPont’s artistic vision was very different from that of Millepie. She was devoted to the request of a contemporary dance choreographer rather than a choreographer focused on classical techniques. And she refused to maintain her relationship with the choreographer William Forsythe, which Millepie started.
Still, her time was turbulent. In April 2018, the company was in jeopardy when the results of an anonymous survey of her views on the dancer’s company were leaked to the French media.
In that 179-page document, 77% of the dancers who responded to the survey said they had experienced or witnessed verbal harassment, and 26% said they had experienced or witnessed sexual harassment. Almost 90% answered “no” to the question “Do you think you are benefiting from high quality control?” This document contained some anonymous comments that seemed to be aimed at DuPont. “Current directors do not have the management ability and do not want to acquire it.”
In 2019, there was another storm when the Paris Opera Ballet announced that Sergei Polnin would appear as a guest at “Swan Lake”. Within a few days, DuPont canceled his appearance.
Some of the French press on Thursday praised her time at the facility. Ariane Bavelier, Write in Le Figaro, DuPont said he was “raising his head” and trying to leave the company. The company was “calm again,” Baverier added, adding that the program had a decent balance between classic and contemporary work.
Philip Neusette, a dance journalist at Paris Match and Les Echos, said in a telephone interview, especially in such a sudden notice, that “everyone was surprised” at DuPont’s departure.
DuPont was artistically successful, Neusette said, especially for raising young stars. Some of her company’s loyal audience accused her of not promoting her fan favorite François Al to Etoile. In April of this year, there was a cry of “Aurelie, resign!” After Al played at “La Bayadère,” Neusette said, Alu achieved rank At the next performance.
Hoping for success in his next move, Nef said in a news release that DuPont has always been “one of the most prominent figures at the Paris Opera Ballet” and will help find her successor.
Roslyn Sulcas contributed to the report