Florence Clerc, a former Danseuse Étoile of the Paris Opera Ballet, received her education at the Ballet School of the Paris Opera. In 1967, at the age of 16, she became a member of the Corps de ballet of the Paris Opera Ballet. Soon, she was appointed Quadrille, Coryphée, Sujet and Première Danseuse. After her interpretation of the title role in »Giselle« in 1977 she was promoted to Danseuse Étoile. Until her stage farewell in 1992 she danced a large repertoire, among them several main roles such as Rudolf Nureyev’s »La Bayadère«, »Don Quixote«, »Raymonda«, »The Nutcracker«, »Cendrillon, »Sleeping Beauty«, »Swan Lake«, »Romeo and Juliet« and »Manfred«. Furthermore, she appeared in works by Alicia Alonso, George Balanchine, Maurice Béjart, Nils Christe, John Cranko, Juri Grigorowitsch, Serge Lifar, John Neumeier, Roland Petit, Jerome Robbins and Paul Taylor. She also danced on international stages and was guesting, among others, at the invitation of Mikhail Baryschnikov in the role of Clara in his »The Nutcracker« at the American Ballet Theatre in 1976.
After her career as a dancer Florence Clerc worked at the invitation of Brigitte Lefèvre from 1996 as a ballet master at the Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris. From 2002 to 2003 she led the ballet of Florence. Until today, she is an international ballet master and responsible for re-staging Nureyev’s ballets such as at the Boston Ballet »La Bayadère« (2010) as well as at the Scala di Milano »Don Quixote« (2018), »Sleeping Beauty« (2019) and »La Bayadère« (2021), also there Vladimir Bourmeister’s »Swan Lake« (2004) and Yvette Chauviré’s »Giselle« (2005).
Her awards comprise the Officier des Arts et lettres and Officier de la Légion d’honneur.
At the Vienna State Opera Florence Clerc was guesting in 1985 twice in the title role of Nureyev’s »Raymonda«. With Nureyev’s »Don Quixote« she is re-staging for the first time a ballet at the Vienna State Ballet in the 2022/23 season.