Editing Paris Opera Ballet (section)

===Transition===
There were turbulent times for the company with [[Benjamin Millepied]], director of the Paris Opera Ballet from November 2014 until he quit on 15 July 2016.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/11/arts/dance/benjamin-millepied-opens-up-on-leaving-paris-opera-ballet.html Benjamin Millepied Opens Up on Leaving Paris Opera Ballet], article by Roslyn Sulcas, 10 February 2016, The New York Times.</ref> There were two stumbling blocks with Millepied, a French dancer and choreographer, who left France in 1993, at the age of 16, got his main professional education as a dancer and choreographer in the United States and came back to France in 2014 as newly appointed director of the Paris Opera Ballet.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.liberation.fr/culture/0101599511-les-mille-et-une-vies-de-benjamin-millepied | title = ''Les mille et une vies de Benjamin Millepied'' (The Many Lives of Benjamin Millepied) |work=Libération |language=fr | author = Vernay, Marie-Christine | date = 27 October 2009}} ([https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.liberation.fr/culture/0101599511-les-mille-et-une-vies-de-benjamin-millepied English translation via Google])</ref> The first one was that Millepied wanted the Paris Opera Ballet dancers to interpret ''La Bayadère'', a classic ballet choreographed by Rudolf Nureyev in 1992, like a contemporary ballet.<ref name=millepiedsexitarticlelemonde>[http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2016/02/04/benjamin-millepied-va-t-il-quitter-l-opera-de-paris_4858949_3246.html Benjamin Millepied démissionne de ses fonctions de directeur de la danse à l’Opéra de Paris], article and interview by Rosita Boiseau, 4 February 2016, [[Le Monde]].</ref> To achieve this goal, he had already hired guest principal dancers to present ''La Bayadère''.<ref>[http://www.lefigaro.fr/theatre/2015/12/17/03003-20151217ARTFIG00225-benjamin-millepied-le-ballet-doit-sortir-de-sa-bulle.php Départ surprise de Benjamin Millepied: les sujets qui fâchent], interview of Benjamin Millepied by Ariane Bavélier, 17 December 2015, [[Le Figaro]]</ref>

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").<ref>Benjamin Millepied explained his ideas in a documentary "Relève" which could be watched in a preview on 25 November 2015 and broadcast regularly on Canal+ on 23 December 2016.</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GydXpJ44RNU Relève, le documentaire sur le ballet de Benjamin Millepied - Bande annonce CANAL+], 1:07 min</ref><ref>[http://www.canalplus.fr/c-infos-documentaires/pid8295-releve-millepied.html documentary "Relève"], site of canal+.</ref> 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.<ref name=millepiedsexitarticlelemonde/>

[[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.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/arts/dance/benjamin-millepied-paris-opera.html Benjamin Millepied to Step Down From Paris Opera Ballet], article by Roslyn Sulcas, 4 February 2016, ''The New York Times''.</ref> “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.”