Marcia Haydée was born in Brazil in 1937. She studied at the Sadler’s Wells School in London and began performing at the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro while still a student. In 1961, she was hired by the “Stuttgart Ballet.” Over the course of her extraordinary career, she became one of the most significant international dancers of the postwar era. Marcia Haydée’s artistry inspired not only John Cranko but also other prominent choreographers such as Kenneth Macmillan, Maurice Béjart, and John Neumeier. In 1976, Haydée was appointed artistic director of the “Stuttgart Ballet” and led the company until 1996. From 1992 to 1995 and again since 2003–04, Marcia Haydée has also served as director of the “Ballet de Santiago de Chile.” In January 2009, her new production of “Swan Lake” premiered at the “Royal Ballet of Flanders” in Antwerp. Marcia Haydée is a recipient of the “Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.”