Born in February of 1965, French ballerina Sylvie Guillem originally trained to be a gymnast before enrolling in the Paris Opera Ballet School at age 11. At 16, she was promoted into the Company and a year later, after winning the Varna International Ballet Competition, Guillem became an Etoile of the company after her first performance of Swan Lake. She went on to create a lead role for William Forsythe's modern ballet In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated in 1987, before shocking her fellow Company members, particularly Rudolf Nureyev, and leaving the Paris Opera Ballet Company to become the principal guest artist at the Royal Ballet.