Laura
Hecquet

Benois de la Danse nominee

Laura Hecquet was born in France in 1984 and began to study dance in Dunkerque at the age of six. Following six years of studies at the Conservatoire National Régional (CNR) de Paris, she was selected to enter the School of Dance of the Paris Opera.

In 2002, Hecquet entered the corps de ballet of the Paris Opera, where she took part in performances of Swan Lake, Rudolf Nureyev’s La Bayadère and Don Quixote, John Neumeier’s Sylvia, George Balanchine’s Symphony in C, The Four Temperaments and Serenade, Giselle, Maurice Béjart’s The Miraculous Mandarin and Harald Lander’s Etudes.

In 2003, Jean-Guillaume Bart chose Hecquet to perform in a pas de deux from his ballet Javotte at one of the “Evenings of Young Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet” and the following year he engaged her to perform his choreography for the Dancer in Richard Strauss’ opera Capriccio, as staged for the Paris Opera by Robert Carsen.

Hecquet was promoted to Sujet in December 2005. Since then, her repertoire has come to include solo parts in Swan Lake, La Bayadère, Cinderella, Raymonda, Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty (Aurora), Diamonds from George Balanchine’s Jewels, John Neumeier’s The Lady of the Camellias and The Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler, Serge Lifar’s Suite en blanc, Giselle (Myrtha), Roland Petit’s Proust ou les intermittences du coeur, Pierre Lacotte’s Paquita and La Sylphide and José Martinez’ Les Enfants du paradis.

She has also participated in the world premieres of Wayne McGregor’s Genus (2007), Emmanuel Gat’s Hark (2009) and Jean-Guillaume Bart’s La Source (2011). In October 2006, Hecquet received the Audience Sympathy Prize of the Association of Friends of the Paris Opera and the Prize of the Cercle Carpeaux.

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