Claude Bessy

After studying at the Paris Opera Ballet School, she joined the company’s corps de ballet in 1946. In 1956 she was nominated Danseuse Étoile and went on to have an illustrious career there. Invited abroad, she performed with the ABT (1958 and 1959) and with the Bolshoi in Moscow (1961). She was appointed for a year as director of the Paris Opera Ballet (1970-1971), then directed the Opera Ballet School from 1972 to 2004. She featured in several films (in particular Invitation to the Dance, directed by G. Kelly, 1956) and is the author of the books Danseuse étoile (1961) and La Danse pour passion (2006).

With her feminine, sensual, sculptural beauty, she shone in a variety of dramatic styles. As a classical repertoire performer, she appeared in many creations produced by Serge Lifar and Gene Kelly amongst others and Maurice Béjart chose her for the reproduction of Boléro in 1970. She created several choreographies, including Play Bach (1962) and Mouvements (1980), for the Paris Opera Ballet School students. She brought her experience to this institution, which she reformed, managed to decentralize it to Nanterre and implemented boarding facilities. Strong-willed, she established high-level training there which, although continuing to uphold French academic tradition, opened up to other techniques and disciplines. By organizing annual open days, performances and tours, she was key to the School’s renown in France and abroad.

Source : Germaine Prudhommeau, Nathalie Lecomte, Dictionnaire de la danse, dir. Philippe Le Moal, Larousse, 2008