Wilfride Piollet (28 April 1943 – 20 January 2015) was a French ballerina and choreographer. She was born in Saint-Rambert-d'Albon. Her philosophy of dance and her research led to the publication of several books. Piollet joined the Paris Opera Ballet company in 1960. She gained the rank "coryphée" in 1963, "sujet" in 1964, soloist in 1966, and was promoted to principal dancer (étoile) in 1969. In 1973, Nouvelle lune c-à-d (Andy Degroat) was created for her retirement of the Paris Opera. Invited as a guest by Rudolf Nureyev, she danced at the Paris Opera until 1990, the year when Jean Guizerix left (Carte Blanche). At the Paris Opera and worldwide, she performed the classical, neo-classical and contemporary repertory, and from the 1980s, the Baroque and Renaissance ones. She ended her dance career in 2003 with a piece on Isadora Duncan's dances studied with Madeleine Lytton, and performed with Jean Guizerix. Biography Wilfride Piollet attended the Paris Opera Ballet School in 1955 and was integrated into the corps de ballet of the Paris Opera Ballet five years later. By 1969, she was named Danseuse Etoile, and in 1983, she left. She began teaching at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1989. Main teachers were: Ballet : Lioubov Egorova, Marguerite Guillaumin, Vera Volkova, Yves Brieux, Serge Perrault, Serge Peretti Jazz : Gene Robinson Mime : Georges Wague Piano : Marguerite Long Maurice Béjart gave her her first soloist role in Noces in 1965. She was promoted to the rank of Principal dancer in Harald Lander's Etudes in 1969. She performed at the Paris Opera and throughout the world the leading roles of the classical repertory (Giselle, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia…) with amongst others, Rudolf Nureyev, Cyril Atanassoff, and Fernando Bujones. Interested in contemporary creations of Merce Cunningham, Lucinda Childs, Douglas Dunn, Andy Degroat, Félix Blaska, Dominique Bagouet and Daniel Larrieu, she formed a duet on stage and in everyday life with her husband Jean Guizerix . She also danced the neoclassical works of Georges Balanchine (Agon…), Jerome Robbins (En sol…), Serge Lifar (Suite en Blanc…) and Roland Petit (Notre-Dame de Paris…). From 1977 onwards, she choreographed her own pieces such as The Wooden Prince, Eight Hungarian Dances, Fox, Lettera amorosa, Dam'Oisel, Momerie, Figurative Ballet, Penthésilée, and The Conspiracy. In 1986, she danced in the Baroque creation Atys of Francine Lancelot. Between 1986 and 2003 she ran with Jean Guizerix the Piollet-Guizerix company