Claude Bessy

Claude Bessy (21 October 1932 – 23 April 2026) was a French ballerina, ballet master of the Paris Opera Ballet (1970–1971), and director of the Paris Opera Ballet School (1972–2004).

Life and career Bessy was born Claude Jean Andrée Durand in Paris on 21 October, 1932. She later took the surname of her grandfather, the actor Paul Bessy. she introduced profound reforms to the teaching regime which led to the birth of a new generation of highly technical dancers like Sylvie Guillem, Patrick Dupond, Élisabeth Platel, and Marie-Claude Pietragalla, and succeeded in organising the construction of a new school building in Nanterre inaugurated in 1987.

Bessy was named to France's Ordre national du Mérite (dignity of the Grand Cross, its highest class), in 2009.

Bessy died at her home in the Paris suburb of Chatou on 23 April 2026, at the age of 93. Publications Danseuse étoile, 1961 Claude Bessy présente les Ballets classiques de sa vie, Ed. Hors Collection, 2009.

Honors

Pavlova Prize (1961)

Légion d'honneur (1972).