Jean-Christophe Maillot

Jean-Christophe Maillot was born in 1960 in Tours, France. He studied dance and piano at the Conservatoire National in Tours before joining Rosella Hightower’s International School of Dance in Cannes. In 1977, he won the Prix de Lausanne, and in 1978, he was invited to join the Hamburg Ballet, where director John Neumeier created principal roles for him in many works. In 1983, Maillot was appointed choreographer and director of the Ballet du Grand Theatre in Tours, subsequently one of France’s National Choreographic Centres. He choreographed some twenty ballets for this company, and in 1985, he founded the festival Le Chorégraphique. In 1992, he was awarded the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture, Jack Lang.

In 1993, H.R.H. the Princess of Hannover invited Maillot to become director of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. As principal choreographer for a company of fifty dancers, he has created new more than 28 ballets, such as Vers un Pays Sage (1995), Roméo et Juliette (1996), Cendrillon (1999), La Belle (2001), Le Songe (2005), Altro Canto (2006), Fuast (2007), and LAC (2011). Several of these works are now included in the repertoires of major international ballet companies. In 2009, he developed the content and coordinated the Centenary of the Ballets Russes in Monaco, which would see over 50 companies and choreographers pass through the Principality in one year, providing entertainment for 60,000 audience members.