:Sylvie Guillem
{{short description|French ballet dancer (born 1965)}}
{{Distinguish|Sylvie Guillaume}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox person
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size="100%"|CBEh}}
|name = Sylvie Guillem
|image = Sylvie Guillem & Russell Maliphan.jpg
|caption = danced with Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant in 2010 in Bolshoi Theatre in
|birth_name = Sylvie Guillem
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1965|2|23|df=yes}}
|birth_place = Paris, France
|occupation = Ballet dancer
|years_active = 1984–2015
}}
Sylvie Guillem {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBEh}} ({{IPA|fr|silvi gilɛm|lang}}; born 23 February 1965) is a French ballet dancer. Guillem was the top-ranking female dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet from 1984 to 1989, before becoming a principal guest artist with the Royal Ballet in London. She has performed contemporary dance as an Associate Artist of London's Sadler's Wells Theatre. Her most notable performances have included those in Giselle and in Rudolf Nureyev's stagings of Swan Lake and Don Quixote. In November 2014, she announced her retirement from the stage in 2015.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/11207604/Sylvie-Guillem-retires-from-dance-after-39-years.html|title=Sylvie Guillem retires from dance after 39 years|publisher=telegraph.co.uk|access-date=24 October 2016}}[http://moreintelligentlife.co.uk/content/features/sarah-crompton/goodbye-guillem "Goodbye Sylvie Guillem"], The Economist (May/June 2015).
Biography
=Early life=
Guillem was born on 23 February 1965 in Paris, and raised in the suburbs in a working-class family. As a child, she trained in gymnastics under the instruction of her mother, a gymnastics teacher.{{cite book|title=Encyclopædia Britannica Year in Review 2002|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica| year=2003|pages=75–76|isbn=0-85229-957-5}} Her father was a car mechanic.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/feb/22/sylvie-guillem-interview-dance-nureyev|title=Sylvie Guillem: 'You dance, and there is always an answer'|website=TheGuardian.com |date=22 February 2015}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/11608337/Ballet-icon-Sylvie-Guillem-retirement-interview-I-knew-for-a-long-time-that-I-had-to-stop.html|title=Ballet icon Sylvie Guillem retirement interview: 'I knew for a long time that I had to stop'}}
In 1977 at age 11, she began training at the Paris Opera Ballet School where Claude Bessy, then director of the school, immediately noticed her exceptional capacities and potential, and in 1981 at age 16, she joined the company's corps de ballet. Initially she hated dancing, preferring gymnastics, but after taking part in her show she found she loved performing.The Culture Show; BBC broadcast (9 October 2013).
=Career=
In 1983, Guillem was awarded the Special Prize of the Youth Organization of Varna in junior division at the Varna International Ballet Competition,{{Cite web|title=International Ballet Competition, Varna 1983|date=18 April 2018|url=https://varna-ibc.org/history/eleventh-international-ballet-competition-varna-1983/}} which later in the year earned her her first solo role, dancing the Queen of the Dryads in Rudolf Nureyev's staging of Don Quixote. On 29 December 1984, after her performance in Nureyev's Swan Lake, she became the Paris Opera Ballet's youngest ever étoile, the company's top-ranking female dancer. In 1987, she performed the lead role in William Forsythe's contemporary ballet In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated with one of her favourite partners, Laurent Hilaire.{{Cite web|last=Crompton|first=Sarah|date=2015-03-07|title=Elevated visions: how William Forsythe changed the face of dance|url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/mar/07/in-the-middle-somewhat-elevated-william-forsythe-dance|access-date=2021-07-12|website=the Guardian|language=en}}
In 1988, she was given the title role in a production of Giselle staged by the Royal Ballet to celebrate Nureyev's 50th birthday. Her performance was a success, and in the following year she left Paris for London, to become a freelance performer and one of the Royal Ballet's principal guest artists. Her desire to work independently from a company gained her the nickname "Mademoiselle Non".{{cite web|first=Ismene|last=Brown|title=Smoking!|work=The First Post|url=http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/795,arts,,3|access-date=31 July 2008}} In 1995, Guillem created the dance television program, Evidentia, which won several international awards. In 1998, she staged her own version of Giselle for the Finnish National Ballet, and in 2001 restaged the ballet for La Scala Ballet in Milan.
In 2001, she became the first winner of the Nijinsky Prize for the world's best ballerina, although in her acceptance speech she criticised the "supermarket culture" of such awards. In the same year, she controversially appeared nude and without make-up in a photo-shoot for French Vogue.{{cite news | title = Sylvie's wake-up call| work=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2002/03/30/btisme30.xml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020616073618/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2002/03/30/btisme30.xml|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 June 2002|access-date=24 October 2016|location=London, UK|first=Ismene|last=Brown}}
In 2003, she directed the central section of a Nureyev tribute program, but was criticised for having the dancers perform in front of a giant projected backdrop of Nureyev, which the audience found distracting.{{cite web|title=Royal Ballet Guest Principals|publisher=Ballet.co|url=http://www.ballet.co.uk/links/dancers_rb_guest_principals.htm#sylvie_guillem|access-date=31 July 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090603110049/http://www.ballet.co.uk/links/dancers_rb_guest_principals.htm#sylvie_guillem|archive-date=3 June 2009|df=dmy-all}} By 2006, she had moved from ballet to contemporary dance, working with such performers as Akram Khan as an Associate Artist of the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London.{{Citation needed|date=October 2016}}
In March 2015, Guillem embarked on an international farewell tour titled Life in Progress, featuring works by Khan, Russell Maliphant, Mats Ek and Forsythe.{{cite news|title=Sylvie Guillem to Give Farewell Performance in LIFE IN PROGRESS|url=http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwdance/article/Sylvie-Guillem-to-Give-Farewell-Performance-in-LIFE-IN-PROGRESS-1114-20150529|access-date=12 February 2016|work=Broadway World|date=29 May 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Miller|first1=Nick|title=Sylvie Guillem: Life in Progress - the greatest dancer of our time calls it quits|url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/dance/sylvie-guillem-life-in-progress--the-greatest-dancer-of-our-time-calls-it-quits-20150810-givh00.html|access-date=12 February 2016|work=Sydney Morning Herald|date=14 August 2015}}
The tour concluded in Japan,{{cite news|last1=Kosaka|first1=Kris|title=Guillem bids adieu to her life of dance|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2015/11/24/stage/guillem-bids-adieu-life-dance/#.Vr0ovq3HR8F|access-date=12 February 2016|work=Japan Times|date=24 November 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Smart|first1=Richard|title=Ballerina Sylvie Guillem bows out with Boléro in Japan|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/dec/30/ballerina-sylvie-guillem-bows-out-bolero-japan|access-date=12 February 2016|work=The Guardian|date=30 December 2015}} and she gave her final performance live on Japanese television on 31 December 2015, performing Maurice Béjart's Boléro as the clock counted down to midnight local time. The performance ended right at the stroke of midnight local time on 1 January 2016.{{cite news|title=Goodbye to Sylvie Guillem|url=http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/culturesports/20151223.html|access-date=12 February 2016|work=NHK World|date=22 December 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215232115/http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/culturesports/20151223.html|archive-date=15 February 2016|df=dmy-all}} In 2021, Guillem gave her first interview since retiring to speak about her life and artistry, as part of a talk with Daniil Simkin.{{Cite news |last=Craine |first=Debra |title=Sylvie Guillem on her life in ballet |newspaper=The Times |language=en |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/europe-travel/france/paris/sylvie-guillem-on-her-life-in-ballet-vvl2g0q9m6p |access-date=2022-06-12 |issn=0140-0460}}
=Personal life=
As of 2006, Guillem was in a long-term relationship with photographer Gilles Tapie.{{cite news|first=Judith|last= Mackrell|title=Fear is the drug|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2006/sep/14/dance|access-date=31 July 2008|date=24 October 2016|location=London, UK}}
She is a supporter of environmental group Sea Shepherd.The Culture Show; BBC broadcast, 9 October 2013. In later life she became a vegan.
Repertoire
Guillem's repertoire includes Giselle (Giselle), Swan Lake (Odette/Odile), Don Quixote (Kitri), In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, Romeo and Juliet (Juliet), The Sleeping Beauty (Aurora), Boléro, Cinderella, Notre-Dame de Paris, Raymonda, La Bayadère (Nikiya and Gamzatti), Fall River Legend, Prince of the Pagodas (Princess Rose), Hermann Schmermann, Le Martyre de Saint-Sébastien, and Sacred Monsters (with Akram Khan).{{Cite web |date=2014-11-26 |title=Sacred Monsters review – poignant swansong for Guillem and Khan's duet |url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/nov/26/sacred-monsters-sylvie-guillem-akram-khan-sadlers-wells-review |access-date=2022-06-12 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}
Awards
Guillem has received numerous decorations during her career.
- 1983 : Special Prize of the Youth Organization of Varna at the Varna International Ballet Competition
- 1984 : Prix du Cercle Carpeaux (Paris)
- 1988 : Andersen Prize (Copenhagen), Grand Prix national de danse (Paris), Commandeur of the Arts et Lettres (Paris)
- 1989 : Grand Prix Pavlova
- 1993 : Médaille de Vermeil de la Ville de Paris
- 1994 : Prix Benois de la Danse
- 1994 : Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur
- 1999 : Officier of the Ordre national du Mérite
- 2000 : Gente Dame of honor of the Hospitaliers de Pomerol
- 2001 : Prix Nijinski
- 2003 : Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire{{cite web|title=Sylvie Guillem Biography|publisher=Official website of Sylvie Guillem|url=http://sylvieguillem.com/sylvie/biography|access-date=31 July 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820031654/http://www.sylvieguillem.com/sylvie/biography|archive-date=20 August 2008|df=dmy-all}}
- 2009 : Officier of the Légion d'honneur
- 2012 : Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, from the Biennale Danza of Venice
[http://www.labiennale.org/en/dance/news/12-05.html Sylvie Guillem Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120528190437/http://www.labiennale.org/en/dance/news/12-05.html |date=28 May 2012 }}, labiennale.org; accessed 24 October 2016.
- 2015 : Praemium Imperiale, Tokyo
- 2015 : Society of London Theatre Special Award
- 2016 : Critics' Circle National Dance Award: De Valois Award for outstanding achievements
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{OlivierAward SpecialAward}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Guillem, Sylvie}}
Category:French prima ballerinas
Category:Prix Benois de la Danse winners
Category:Honorary commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Category:Commanders of the Ordre national du Mérite