Aurelie Dupont is a former étoile dancer of the Paris Opera Ballet and was one of the most sought-after dancers in the world until retiring from the stage following a performance of Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon in May 2015. In February 2016, she took over as director of the Paris Opera Ballet, making her – in an industry that is still surprisingly male-dominated – one of the few women in the world to direct a ballet company.

Her credentials are impeccable: critics described her on stage as both ‘slightly cool’ and ‘intriguingly flirtatious’. She has starred in a number of films, most notably Frederick Wiseman’s La Danse, and is the subject of Cédric Klapisch’s documentary Aurélie Dupont, l’espace d’un instant (2010).