Black Swan choreographer to head Paris Opera Ballet
CBC News
Posted: Jan 24, 2013 1:53 PM ET
Last Updated: Jan 24, 2013 1:52 PM ET
Dancer/actor Benjamin Millepied, shown with his wife, actress Natalie Portman, is to be director of Paris Opera Ballet, beginning in 2014. (Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)
Benjamin Millepied, the choreographer who worked with actress Natalie Portman in making the 2010 film Black Swan and eventually married the actress, has been named the new director of the Paris Opera Ballet.
Millipied, 35, was born in Bordeaux, France, mentored by famed choreographer Jerome Robbins and danced with the New York City Ballet before beginning a career as a choreographer and artistic director.
He married Portman in 2012, after training her to look like a ballet dancer for Black Swan, a film that earned her an Oscar in 2011. Portman and Millipied have a son, Aleph, born in June 2011.
Millepied left the New York City Ballet in 2011 to work on the L.A. Dance Project for the Los Angeles Music Center. He has choreographed work for American Ballet Theatre, The Metropolitan Opera and Paris Opera Ballet. He takes up his new post in Paris in October 2014.
Founded in 1661 by Louis XIV, the Paris Opera Ballet is the oldest and one of the most prestigious ballet companies in the world.
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