Guillaume Diop interview in the Financial Times

The Financial Times newspaper published an interview with Guilaume Diop, the first black person to become an Etoile with the Paris Opera Ballet, on 28th August.

Born in Paris, Diop joined the Paris Opera Ballet in 2018 from the Paris Opera Ballet School. In 2021, he, then quadrille or corps de ballet, replaced an injured Germain Louvet as Albrecht in Giselle. Then he ascended to Coryphee in 2022 and Sujet in 2023. In March the same year, he was named Etoile after dancing Albrecht in South Korea. He skipped the rank of premier danseur.

In the Financial Times interview, Diop talked about his experiences as a mixed-race ballet student, his interests outside ballet and the solo dance wearing sneakers on the rooftop of the Hôtel de Ville for the rain soaked Paris Olympics opening ceremony in July. He said surface of the rooftop was very slippery, so a piece of carpet was placed.