to interpret La Bayadère, a classic ballet choreographed by Rudolf Nureyev in 1992, like a contemporary ballet. To achieve this goal, he had already hired guest principal dancers to present La Bayadère. The other stumbling block was that Millepied had broken the hierarchy of the "Danseurs Étoiles" dancing the leading roles, as he had chosen for the cast of his first contemporary ballet creation "Clear, Loud, Bright, Forward" (the first one in his time as director) out of the 154 danseurs a "dream team" of 16 dancers which he considered to be the fittest to put to practice his ideas and visions (on the programming, the dream team was named "United visual artists"). Karl Paquette, principal dancer, said in an interview that he had never felt as bad in his 30 years at the Paris Opera Ballet as he had the past 6 months. Stéphane Bullion, principal dancer, added that it was clear that things could not be straightened out. Stéphane Lissner, the Paris Opera director who hired Benjamin Millepied in January 2013 — and who has final authority on decisions about budget, hiring and promotion — said at a news conference at the Palais Garnier on Thursday 4 February 2016 that he had no regrets about that choice. “He leaves too soon, but others leave too late.” Lissner added, “I think that the two jobs, director of dance and a choreographer who is more and more in demand, not just at the Opera, raised a certain number of questions.” Aurélie Dupont Aurélie Dupont took over the direction of the ballet company on 1 August 2016. She was Danseuse Étoile from 1994 to 2015. Dupont was the inspiration behind the Cédric Klapisch film about the star, considered the grande dame of the Paris Opera Ballet. Dupond is stepped down from the position on 31 July 2022, as announced in June of that year. José Martínez José Martínez took over the company in December 2022. Hierarchy The hierarchy of the Paris Opera Ballet is very strict. For a dancer, it is virtually compulsory to enter first the Paris Opera Ballet School. As Mathilde Froustey put it: "You cannot get into the company if you have not done the school". The competition for admission to both institutions is extremely fierce, as well as the competition for the highest ranks in the ballet company. More than 90 percent of the candidates don't pass