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Benjamin Millepied

Choreographer

About this Artist

Benjamin Millepied (Artistic Director) is a French dancer, choreographer and filmmaker. Millepied was a principal with the New York City Ballet where he danced from 1995 to 2011. Millepied’s many ballets are in the repertory of major dance companies around the world such as American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, The Mariinsky Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Berlin Staatsoper, Lyon Opera Ballet, and Dutch National Ballet. Millepied also choreographed the solo Years Later for Mikhail Baryshnikov in 2008. His collaborators include composers Nico Muhly, Nicholas Britell, David Lang, Bryce Dessner; artists Christopher Wool, Barbara Kruger, Mark Bradford, Daniel Buren, Liam Gillick, United Visual Artists; and designers Rodarte, Iris Van Herpen, and Alessandro Sartori.

In 2010, Millepied choreographed and starred in the award-winning film Black Swan. In 2012, Millepied founded L.A. Dance Project. In 2014, Millepied was appointed Director of Dance at Paris Opera. For the two seasons he programmed at POB, Millepied commissioned new works by William Forsythe, Justin Peck, Jérôme Bel, Wayne McGregor, Crystal Pite, Tino Seghal, Nico Muhly, and James Blake. In 2015, Millepied was the subject of the documentary Reset, which follows him choreographing and directing at the Paris Opera Ballet. In 2016, Millepied resigned from his position in order to focus his energy on making L.A. Dance Project the organization he envisions for dance today.

Millepied has directed numerous dance short films over the years. In 2023, he made his directorial feature debut with the film musical Carmen.

Millepied is a recipient of the Prix de Lausanne, the Mae L. Win Award, and the U.S.A. Artists fellowship, and a Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters.