Brigitte Lefèvre (born 15 November 1944) is a French ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher. She was director of the

Paris Opera Ballet The Paris Opera Ballet () is a French ballet company that is an integral part of the Paris Opera. It is the oldest national ballet company, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it. It is still regarded a ...

from 1995 to 2014.

Early life and education

Lefèvre attended the

Paris Opera Ballet School The Paris Opera Ballet () is a French ballet company that is an integral part of the Paris Opera. It is the oldest national ballet company, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it. It is still regarded a ...

from the age of eight and joined the corps de ballet in 1961 when she was 16. She danced not only in the great classical ballets but also in the more recent works of

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers ...

Roland Petit Roland Petit (13 January 192410 July 2011) was a French ballet company director, choreographer and dancer. He trained at the Paris Opera Ballet school, and became well known for his creative ballets. Life and work The son of shoe designer Ro ...

Maurice Béjart Maurice Béjart (; 1 January 1927 – 22 November 2007) was a French dancer, choreographer and Theatre director, opera director who ran the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He developed a popular expressionistic form of modern ballet, tac ...

and

Gene Kelly Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, director and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...

. In addition to training under the Opera's clacissists such as

Yvette Chauviré Yvette Chauviré (; 22 April 1917 – 19 October 2016) was a French prima ballerina assoluta and actress. She is often described as France's greatest ballerina, and was the mentor of another pair of well-known prima ballerinas named, Sylvie Guill ...

, she attended courses with American choreographers including Alwin Nikolais,

Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

and Paul Taylor.

Career

In 1970, Lefèvre choreographed ''Mikrokosmos'' to the music of Bartók for the

Avignon Festival The ''Festival d'Avignon'', or Avignon Festival (), is an annual arts festival held in the French city of Avignon every summer in July in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes as well as in other locations of the city. Founded in 1947 by Jean ...

before devoting more time to musicals and the theatre. In 1972, she left the Opéra to found her own dance company, the Théâtre du Silence, at

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

where she remained until 1985. In 1985, she was appointed Principal Inspector of Dance at the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...

where from 1987 she became Inspector General and Principal Dance Delegate. In 1992, she returned to the

Opéra Garnier The (, Garnier Palace), also known as (, Garnier Opera), is a historic 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at ...

as Administrator General before becoming associate director, Head of Dance, in 1994. In July 1995, she was appointed Director of Dance at the Paris Opera, a position she held until October 2014 when she was succeeded by

Benjamin Millepied Benjamin Millepied (; born 10 June 1977) is a French dancer and choreographer, who has lived and worked in the United States since joining the New York City Ballet in 1995, where he became a soloist in 1998 and a principal in 2002. He has als ...

. During her long tenure, she opened up the ballet to the major contemporary choreographers who created new works for the company.

Other responsibilities

Lefèvre also serves as vice-president of the

Paris Conservatory The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

. Since 1998, she has been an administrator at Société Radio France and in 2013 was elected president of the Orchestre de chambre de Paris. She has been a board member of the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel since 2013, in charge of foreign broadcasting.

Decorations

Lefévre is a commandeur of the

Ordre national du Mérite The (; ) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's establishment was twofold: to replace the large number of ...

, of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

and of the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lefevre, Brigitte 1944 births French female dancers Dance teachers 21st-century French educators Commanders of the Legion of Honour Commanders of the Ordre national du Mérite Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Living people Paris Opera Ballet artistic directors Prix Benois de la Danse winners