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elisabeth platelb. 1959 Elisabeth Platel was born in Paris on 10 April 1959. One of the most acclaimed and admired French ballerinas of the last two decades of the 20th century, Elisabeth Platel epitomises for many the French School at its purest and its most sublime. For others she remains one of the rare authentic ballerinas of her generation. Elisabeth Platel's first steps as a dancer were coincidental. Her parents were not engaged in the world of ballet or theatre, although Elisabeth's mother danced a little in her time. Yet, as was quite customary in those years - the mid-sixties - many young girls were advised to take dancing lessons in order to enhance their physical appearances or improve their health. Elisabeth Platel first entered the Conservatoire de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where she acquired a firm choreographical and musical base, before she was introduced by her teacher to Christiane Vaussard, former étoile of the Paris Opéra and now a distinguished professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. Christiane Vaussard immediately took the young Platel under her wings and became the key figure in her development as a dancer. Between 1971 and 1975 Platel studied at the Conservatoire de Paris. She graduated with First Prize, which allowed her to complete her studies at the Paris Opéra School (L'Ecole de Danse de l'Opéra), 1975-1976. Other influential teachers of Platel were Pierre Lacotte, who worked with her in the Paris Opéra School and Raymond Franchetti, who owned a studio where the budding dancer was able to watch professional artists taking class, among others soloists from the Paris Opéra like Noëlla Pontois, or guest stars like Rudolf Nureyev. 
In 1976 Elisabeth Platel was engaged in the Paris Opera Ballet, as "quadrille" in the corps de ballet. She was 17. She swiftly conquered the successive ranks of the company's hierarchy. The following year she was already promoted to " coryphée ". In 1978 she became "sujet" and obtained a Silver medal (Junior Prize) in the International Ballet Competition at Varna. That same year she danced her first soloist roles in ballets by George Balanchine, Divertimento No. 15 and The Four Temperaments. Balanchine, who always retained a rewarding relationship with the Paris Opéra, became one of Platel's favourite choreographers (she considers him "the choreographer of the 20th century"), although she never had the opportunity to work with the famous choreographer personally. In 1979, at nineteen, she was appointed " première danseuse ". Platel was selected by Maurice Béjart to perform in Life with Jean Babilée in 1979. The following year she also performed "The Chosen One" in Béjart's Le sacre du printemps. In 1981 Platel started to prepare her first great classical ballet, La Sylphide with Pierre Lacotte, her former teacher. La Sylphide, this landmark work from 1832 which introduced romanticism in ballet and made Marie Taglioni a world famous ballerina, became one of Platel's signature roles during her career at the Paris Opéra. In that same year she also learned and danced the leading roles in Swan Lake, Paquita, and Giselle. At the issue of her debut as Giselle on 23 December 1981 she was nominated "étoile". When Rudolf Nureyev was invited in 1981 to mount his Don Quixote for the Paris Opera, he chose Platel to dance the Queen of the Dryads. Nureyev often gave very young dancers a chance in his ballets. For Platel it meant the beginning of a successful artistic collaboration with Nureyev, who became, especially when he was director of the Paris Opéra Ballet (1983-1989), one of the most important figures in her career. In 1983, Rudolf Nureyev mounted his first full-length ballet as recently appointed director of the Paris Opéra Ballet, Marius Petipa's late masterpiece Raymonda. Elisabeth Platel was chosen to dance the title role at the premiere, with Charles Jude as Jean de Brienne. (Elisabeth Platel later danced Raymonda as a guest artist with the Bolshoi Ballet.) The following year she created the roles of Odette/Odile in Nureyev's new version of Swan Lake for the Paris Opéra. Swan Lake is her most frequently performed ballet. Nureyev also entrusted her with the creation of the leading roles in his versions of The Sleeping Beauty (1989) and his final work for the Paris Opéra, La Bayadère (as Gamzatti - 1992; later Platel also danced Nikiya). Her performance as Gamzatti has been preserved on video. 
During her career at the Paris Opéra, Platel danced most of the company's vast and rich repertoire. Next to the choreographers already mentioned, she also danced ballets by Lifar, Robbins, MacMillan, Forsythe, Nikolaïs, Childs, Armitage, van Manen, van Dantzig, and Neumeier. Especially with John Neumeier she developed a fruitful and lasting rapport ever since she appeared in his Vaslaw in 1980 when she was "premiere danseuse". Later she also danced in his Magnificat, Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Sylvia. Neumeier is one of the few choreographers who continued to work with Platel throughout her career. With Petipa (mainly through the transcriptions of Nureyev) and Balanchine, he is one of Platel's favourite choreographers. On 9 July 1999 Platel gave her farewell performance as danseuse étoile of the Paris Opéra in La Sylphide. Opéra rules require female étoiles to retire at 40 (male étoiles retire at 45). For the occasion she performed with two of her favourite partners, Nicolas Le Riche and Manuel Legris, who danced the role of James in the 1st and the 2nd Act respectively. Since her official retirement, Platel has been performing as a guest artist in her former company and in various countries. Elisabeth Platel is a recipient of: |
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