Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Violette Verdy (born Nelly Guillerm in 1 December 1933 in Pont-l'AbbA©) is a French ballerina who has worked as a director of dance companies and in other related capacities since her retirement from performing in the late 1970s. Verdy began dance training as a small child and performed with Les Ballets des Champs-ElysA©es beginning in 1945. She went on to dance with Les Ballets de Paris (1950; 1953a??1954), the London Festival Ballet (1954a??1955), La Scala, Milan (1955a??1956), and the American Ballet Theatre (1956a??1957). She spent most of her career as a principal dancer in the New York City Ballet (1958a??1977). While with NYCB, Balanchine created many roles for Verdy, including Emeralds, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, La Source and Sonatine.