Discovered in the pieces of Nikolaïs, whom she first met in 1965, Carolyn Carlson was the key figure in his company in New York for seven years. She toured the world and received the Prix du Meilleur Danseur du Festival de Danse de Paris in 1968. She came to Paris in the early seventies after Rolf Liebermann founded the GRTOP for her as an experimental ballet studio attached to the Paris Opera.

Developing a technique and a poetry based on improvisation and composition, she revolutionized choreography in France with some creations that have entered into the mythical history of ballet. Since then she has been teaching dancers and choreographers. Carolyn Carlson, artistic director of the Atelier de Paris, was appointed director of the Centre Chorégraphique National Roubaix Nord-Pas de Calais in 2004.