It’s a page that turns for Aurélie Dupont who will no longer be the director of dance at the Paris Opera from July 31, when she held this position since 2016, a year after having bowed out. as a prima ballerina. She had then succeeded Benjamin Millepied, renowned choreographer and husband of Natalie Portman, who had slammed the door after only a year in office. It’s Aurélie Dupont’s turn to leave this time since she now wants “devoting oneself to personal projects”, such as a book, a documentary film, a musical and his family, she said in a press release. Alexander Neef, director general of the Opéra national de Paris, has accepted his resignation.
“18 creations for the company, 23 entries in the repertoire, nomination of 7 dancers and star dancers“…Aurélie Dupont has enjoyed great success during her tenure.”She was given freedom of action allowing her to deploy her programming skills which attracted large audiences, with the attendance rate for ballet performances reaching 98% for the 21/22 season.“, can we also read in the press release from the Opera.
His family as a priority?
But her time at the Paris Opera as director was not always rosy. In the spring of 2018, just two years after the start of his mandate, a document had the effect of a bombshell within the establishment: an internal survey exposed the frustrations of the company’s dancers, taking in a new way to the director. Some denounced a lack of support, others a lack of dialogue. Subsequently, Aurélie Dupont announced that she would set up regular meetings with the dancers. And it is finally this summer that his adventure will end.
Among her personal projects to which she now wishes to devote herself, the 49-year-old Parisian spoke of her family. Since she is the mother of two boys born in May 2008 and January 2011, born of her union with the star dancer Jérémie Bélingard whom she married in 2011. But it is her relationship with the famous comedian Gad Elmaleh, between 2002 and 2006, which caused a lot of ink to flow at the time. Since then, Aurélie Dupont has therefore become a mother, and now wishes, according to the press release, to devote herself more to her little family.