Marie-Agnès Gillot

Marie-Agnès Gillot (born in 1975) is a French ballet dancer and choreographer. She danced with the Paris Opera Ballet as an étoile. She is also POB's first in-house female dancer to choreograph for the company.

Early life Gillot was born in Caen, to an accountant and a physical therapist. She started In 1985, at age 9, she left home to train at Paris Opera Ballet School.

When Gillot was 12, she grew 12 centimetres in a year, and was diagnosed with double scoliosis. Fearing a surgery would leave her disabled, she opted to wear a brace instead. She wore it for 6 years, only remove it when she was dancing, and hid it from her peers.

Career As dancer In 1990, at age 15, Gillot joined the Paris Opera Ballet's corps de ballet. Her first work is a piece with Dresden Semperoper Ballett principal Jiri Bubenicek, which was performed in festivals. She had since choreographed for Conservatoire de Paris, a hip-hop group and several pieces for television. She was later commissioned by the Paris Opera Ballet, making her the first in-house female dancer to choreograph for the company. Her piece, Sous Apparence, premiered in 2012. They both reunited in 2024 for a unique performance of Dauphin's piece The Future of Statues at Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris.

Style Choreographer Wayne McGregor commented she could "do anything choreographically that you throw at her, and then more." shot by Juergen Teller : "I thought of it more as a dialogue between three artists." she declared.

Before that, she was the image of Repetto and appeared in several fashion editorials - alone or together with other principal dancers of Paris Opera Ballet (shot by Philippe Robert in 2008, by Soan & Seng in 2015 ).

She confirmed her interest into fashion participating in a film by Daniel Askill : "Even where the dancer is more conventionally dressed, the film and choreography work their own transformations. Paris Opera ballerina Marie-Agnès Gillot wears a black lace dress from McQueen, yet as she dances it becomes the shroud of a dying swan, a goth ballgown, the robes of a flying angel".

"Gillot held court as the Grand Master of the Grand Temple" in Gareth Pugh's Fall 2016 show that took place at the art deco Freemasons’ Hall in Covent Garden during London Fashion Week.

Activism As an activist, Gillot became involved with children's causes, AIDS, cancer, and women's issues.

Personal life Gillot has a son, whom she chose to raise on her own.

Awards and honours Prix Benois de la Danse, 2005 Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres Ordre national du Mérite