Elisabeth Platel (EP)

Director of the Paris Opera Ballet School

Awarded first prize at the Paris Conservatory, she entered the Paris Opera Ballet School in 1975, joining the Corps de Ballet the following year, aged 17.

Rising in grade annually, she was ranked « Sujet » by 1978, and won the silver medal at the Varna Competition.

She was promoted to « Première danseuse » in 1979, dancing soloist roles in The Rite of Spring, Serait-ce la mort ? (Maurice Béjart), La Sylphide (Pierre Lacotte), Don Quixote (Rudolf Nureyev), Swan Lake (Bourmeister version), and Paquita.

After her début in the title role of Giselle on the 23 December 1981 – she was awarded the title of « Etoile ».

Subsequently, she has danced the full repertory at the Opéra : from The Sleeping Beauty to Noces (Nijinska), from Song of the Earth (MacMillan) to The Nutcracker (Neumeier),as well as the ballets by Balanchine, Lifar, Robbins and Nureyev.

Elisabeth Platel has danced in many new ballets created at the Opéra:  Life (Béjart – 1979), Manfred (Nureyev – 1979), Schéma (Alwin Nikolaïs – 1980), Vaslaw (Neumeier – 1980), Raymonda (Nureyev – 1983), Premier Orage (Lucinda Childs – 1984), Swan Lake (Nureyev – 1984), Before Nightfall (Nils Christe – 1985), Sans armes citoyens! (Rudi van Dantzig – 1987), Les Anges Ternis (Karole Armitage – 1987), Magnificat (Neumeier – 1987), La Bayadère (Nureyev – 1992), Sylvia (Neumeier – 1997.

In 1983, she received the West End Theaters Award (London), the Massine prize in 1998 and 1999 the Benois prize in 1999. She is entitled Chevalier of Arts and Letters and Officier of the Légion d’Honneur and Officier of the Ordre National du Mérite.

Her many guest appearances include the Royal Ballet in London, the Berlin Ballet, the Hamburg Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet, the Finnish National Ballet, the New Zealand Ballet, the Vienna Opera Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Rio de Janeiro Theatre Ballet, on tour in Japan with Nina Ananiashvili’s group of soloists, and in the United States with a soloists from the Paris Opéra.

She teaches ballet as a guest teacher to the Lyon Conservatory/CNSM and to the Jeune Ballet de France JBF/JMF.

She has also worked with Claude Bessy to restage Suite en Blanc (Lifar) in 1996 and Daphnis et Chloé (Skibine) in 1998 for the theatre of Rio de Janeiro. She has also worked with Pierre Lacotte on La Sylphide for the same theatre in 1997 and on Paquita for the Paris Opera Ballet in 2001.

She has also been advisor for the making of films such as La Belle au bois dormant in 1997 and Raymonda in 1998, produced by François Roussillon.

« She is one of the rare true ballerinas of today :  linked to a queenly carriage and long Balanchinian lines is a style that is composed of assurance and nobility, and always respectful of the rigorous canons of classical dance – harmony of form, clarity of statement, and beautifully rounded technique. » (Financial Times).

She became Director of the Paris Opera Ballet School in September 2004.

Elisabeth Platel is “Chevalier des Arts et Lettres”, “Officier de la Légion d’honneur” and “Officier de l’Ordre national du mérite”.