Violette Verdy

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Portrait of Violette Verdy, in Serenade. Photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, 1961

Violette Verdy (1933–), born Nelly Guillerm, is a French ballerina who has worked as a director of dance companies and in other related capacities since her retirement from performing in the late 1970s. As do most great ballerinas, Verdy began dance training as a small child. She performed with Les Ballets de Champs-Elysees beginning in 1945. She went on to dance with Les Ballets de Paris (1950; 1953-1954), the London Festival Ballet (1954-1955), La Scala, Milan (1955-1956), and the American Ballet Theatre (1956-1957). She spent most of her career as a principal dancer in the New York City Ballet (1958-1977). While with NYCB, Balanchine created many roles for Verdy, including Emeralds, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, La Source, and Sonatine.

Upon her retirement from NYCB, she became the director of the Paris Opera Ballet, and became codirector of the Boston Ballet in 1980. She is currently a professor at Indiana University and Artistic Advisor to the Rock School.