Dorothée Gilbert - Étoile(s)

Description

When she attended her first ballet, Dorothée was just ten years old and had been dancing at the Toulouse conservatory for three years. At the end of the performance, she has only one idea in mind: to become a ballet dancer. After a first failure which, far from putting her down, gives her even more determination and strength, Dorothée joined the school of the Paris Opera the following year. She just turned twelve.

Then, because she cannot imagine another route and because she knows that she will only achieve her happiness by performing the biggest roles in the repertoire, the young ballerina will hang on to her dream, to her star, encouraged and supported by her parents who did not hesitate to leave everything to follow her to Paris. She will climb all the steps that will lead her to consecration: on November 19, 2007, at twenty-four, after the performance of The Nutcracker, she was named a star.

In this work, superbly illustrated by the photographs of James Bort, Dorothée Gilbert reveals with touching sincerity her exceptional career, from her poor grades in dance school and the difficulties of a teenage "unlike any other", devoted to work and competition, to the immense roles of interpretation which lead her to the most beautiful stages in the world, passing through injuries and moments of doubt but also by evoking her immense happiness as a mother. So many events that punctuate his young and dazzling trajectory.

But even more, it shows us how much determination and strength of character can lead to the firmament.