Side Steps

Lifetime Achievement

Sylvie Guillem

No living dancer deserves this award more than she does: Sylvie Guillem, aka "Mademoiselle Non" (a fitting title given her unconventionality), will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Prix de Lausanne 2026. Indeed, the ballerina, who began as a gymnast, has had a legendary career that has taken her from the Paris Opera to the entire world.

Like no other colleague, Guillem was equally adept at the classical repertoire and the contemporary avant-garde. Whether she was dancing MacMillan or a Nureyev adaptation, whether she was premiering William Forsythe's spectacular In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated with Laurent Hilaire or later commissioning new works herself—her charisma, comparable only to that of Maya Plisetskaya whom she revered, captivated critics and audiences alike. In 2015, La Guillem retired from public life at the age of 50. Since then, she has cultivated olive groves on extensive estates in Italy, occasionally coaches young colleagues, and seems to be enjoying her life, which she has long shared with dogs and photographer Gilles Tapie. Congratulations!

Dorion Weickmann

www.prixdelausanne.org