Laetitia Pujol

Laetitia Pujol (born 8 October 1975) is a French ballet dancer. She joined the Paris Opera Ballet in 1993, becoming a principal in 2000 and a star (étoile) in 2002.

Early life Born in Toulouse, she started to dance ballet when she was eight but was not admitted to the Conservatoire régional de Toulouse until 1992. After she won first prize at the Lausanne Ballet Competition the following year, she was able to proceed immediately to the final year of the Paris Opera Ballet School. There she danced Lise in Claude Bessy's La fille mal gardée. Pujol graduated in 1993 at the age of 18.

Career After joining the Paris Opera's corps de ballet, she became a principal in 2000, which provided opportunities for her to dance Polyhymnia in George Balanchine's Apollo, Catherine in Kader Belarbi's Wuthering Heights, Henriette in Raymonda and Clara in The Nutcracker. Jiri Kylian chose her to dance the pas de trois in the First Act of Pierre Lacotte's adaptation of Paquita.

Awards In addition to the Lausanne medal in 1992, Laetitia Pujol has received the Silver Medal (juniors) at the 1994 Varna International Competition and, in 1997, the Prix du Cercle Carpeaux.