Reflections on a Star Ballerina: Agnès Letestu

The great Rudolf Nureyev’s last student, then étoile dancer of the Opéra national de Paris from 1997 to 2013, Agnès Letestu has led a career out of most young ballerinas’ dreams, a true perfectionist acclaimed for her elegance, precision, beauty, and interpretive sensibility. Enter into Letestu’s world when she was at the height of her powers with this fascinating 2006 documentary by Marlène Ionesco. Narrated by the artist herself, the film features extended excerpts from her performances of five different ballets (including timeless masterpieces like Shéhérazade, Giselle, and Don Quixote) in Paris, Valencia, and Florence, and at the side of another étoile, the legendary José Martinez.