“When I was doing gymnastics, I was playing. It was fun. The ballet was not fun at all. Yes, I agree you must have discipline, but you don't need to be a witch. You can't teach a child like that. Three times a week, I went back to train as a gymnast. Then I was happy.”

French ballet dancer

Sylvie Guillem is a French ballet dancer, best known for her career with the Paris Opera Ballet and later as a principal guest artist with the Royal Ballet in London. She was born in 1965. From 1984 to 1989, Guillem was the top-ranking female dancer at the Paris Opera Ballet. She later expanded into contemporary dance as an Associate Artist of Sadler's Wells Theatre in London. Among her best-known performances are Giselle and Rudolf Nureyev's stagings of Swan Lake and Don Quixote. In November 2014, she announced that she would retire from the stage in 2015.