Marie-Agnès Gillot

Marie-Agnès Gillot
Marie-Agnès Gillot par Philippe Robert (2008)
Born	(1975-09-07) 7 September 1975 (age 41) Caen, France
Occupation	étoile ballet dancer, choreographer
Years active	since 1990
Height	175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Current group	Paris Opera Ballet

Marie-Agnès Gillot born in 1975 in Caen is a French ballet dancer and choreographer with the Paris Opera Ballet.

The daughter of an accountant and a physical therapist, until starting at the Paris Opera Ballet School at age nine, she lived in Caen.

"She was only 5 when she took her first dance lesson. Despite having double scoliosis, whose treatment would imprison her in a cumbersome back brace for years, she kept dancing".

She entered the company at age 15. In 1994, she was promoted to the rank of “sujet,” or soloist. “I had a long wait, another five years, to become "Premiere Danseuse", even though I was dancing all the principal roles (...) And then a long wait to be made an étoile, five years after that. It has never been easy for me.”

She became principal dancer - "étoile" in 2004 after dancing "Signes": "It's the first time an étoile has been nominated after dancing a contemporary ballet. I think many people were surprised as modern works are generally considered less important than the classics, although they now represent half the repertoire of the company."

She is the first female in-house choreographer to receive a commission from the Paris Opera Ballet.

"Circling each other’s bodies, their limbs flashing into space, or their torsos suddenly buckling and convulsing against each other (here the influence of William Forsythe is visible), Ms. Gillot and Mr. Bezard gradually accrue a remarkable emotional intensity."

“She is especially gifted in a cosmic, mystic realm, capable of transforming that mysticism into movement,” comments Carolyn Carlson, the creator of Signes, the production that led to Gillot’s nomination to étoile at 28."

"Today Marie-Agnès Gillot is at the height of her form. Like a fighter in the ring, she conquered scoliosis and climbed up the hierarchical ladder of success at the POB. Powerfully athletic and spiritually enraptured, she is a resolutely 21st-century dancer. Under the stage lights, she projects a glow that is simply majestic, nearly angelic."

She was part of the luxury French brand Céline's Spring/Summer 2015 campaign, shot by Juergen Teller : "I thought of it more as a dialogue between three artists." she declared.

Before that, she was the image of Repetto and appeared in several fashion editorials - alone or together with other principal dancers of Paris Opera Ballet (shot by Philippe Robert in 2008, by Soan & Seng in 2015).