Sylvie Guillem

Sylvie Guillem (born February 25, 1965 in Paris) is a French ballet dancer who has performed with the Paris Opera Ballet and is currently a guest principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London. As a child, Guillem trained in gymnastics under the instruction of her mother and when she was 11 she began training at the Paris Opera Ballet School. Eventually she joined the corps de ballet of this company at 16. In 1983 Guillem won the gold medal at the Varna International Ballet Competition. On December 29, 1984, at the young age of 19, Guillem became an etoile of the company after her first performance of Swan Lake. She created the leading role in William Forsythe's contemporary ballet, In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated in 1987. In 1989, Guillem shocked Rudolf Nureyev when she left the Paris Opera Ballet to become the principal guest artist at the Royal Ballet. Extremely flexible, Guillem became controversial for her high extensions, which some detractors said ruined the line of classical ballet. They called it "ear whacking." However, many dancers have since become if anything even more flexible than Guillem. And Guillem's style allowed her to dance both the classical roles and more contemporary works with equal success.