Etoiles nominated by Rudolf Nureyev

Sylvie GUILLEM  
December 24, 1984

After having been promoted to "première danseuse" on 29 December 1984 at the Ballet Competition, five days later, at the end of her first Swan Lake Nureyev's version), she was nominated "Etoile" on stage by Rudolf Nureyev. She was only nineteen years old at the time. She left the Opéra de Paris in 1988 to pursue an international career.


>>> www.sylvieguillem.com
Isabelle GUERIN
November 2, 1985

She was nominated "Etoile" on stage by Rudolf Nureyev at the same time as Laurent Hilaire, at the end of a performance of Swan Lake (the Bourmeister version).

She retired from the Opéra in May 2001. She was also responsible for rehearsals for the revival of La Bayadère (November-December 2001) at the Bastille, and she re-staged the Don Quixote of Nureyev at the Scala of Milan (November 2003).

Elisabeth MAURIN
December 23, 1988

Rudolf Nureyev nominated her "Etoile" on the set of The Nutcracker Suite, a film produced by Nureyev and Colin Nears for French Television, in the studios at Bry-sur-Marne.

Manuel LEGRIS
July 11, 1986 *

He was nominated "Etoile" by Rudolf Nureyev on stage at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, at the end of the performance of Raymonda, in which he danced the role of Jean de Brienne, during the official tour of the Opéra de Paris in the United States, which the Company had not visited since 1948.

Since September 1, 2010, he has directed the Vienna State Ballet.

>>> www.manuel-legris.com.com

Laurent HILAIRE
November 2, 1985 *

He was nominated "Etoile" on stage by Rudolf Nureyev at the end of the performance of Swan Lake (the Bourmeister version).

* These are unique occurrences in the history of the Opéra de Paris, since Laurent Hilaire and Manuel Legris were still only "soloists" when they were nominated "Etoiles". They had not yet graduated to the category of "premiers danseurs", which had no vacancies for three seasons (from 1983 to 1986).