Marius Petipa

Marius Petipa (1818–1910) studied the violin while also training at the Brussels conservatory of dance under his father. He started out as a child at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, his career then taking him to Bordeaux, Nantes, the United States, Madrid and Paris. He was hired as first principal dancer in Saint Petersburg in 1847, and remained at the Imperial Russian Ballet until he retired in 1904. He assisted Jules Perrot and Arthur Saint-Léon before becoming ballet master in 1869, teaching at the dance school that he was director of from 1855 to 1887. After being dismissed in 1904, he wrote his memoirs (in French, published by Actes Sud, 1990), which were translated into Russian then into English (1968). A good dancer, he shone in character roles and mime. He excelled as a choreographer, creating around sixty ballets and around thirty opera dances. He developed the large-scale ballet lasting a whole evening, which was lavishly staged and involved a large number of performers, with pas de deux and solos for the best dancers. Attaching as much importance to pantomime as to dance, he developed a brilliant, expansive, poetic and elegant style, featuring character divertissements and also sometimes drawing on traditional dances. Spreading outside Russia after his death, his work still forms an important part of the repertoire for every classical company.

Source: CND