Roland Petit (13 January 192410 July 2011) was a French

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...

company director,

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who c ...

and dancer. He trained at the Paris Opera Ballet school, and became well known for his creative ballets.

Life and work

The son of shoe designer Rose Repetto, Petit was born in Villemomble, near Paris. He trained at the Paris Opéra Ballet school under Gustave Ricaux and Serge Lifar and began to dance with the corps de ballet in 1940. He founded the Ballets des Champs-Élysées in 1945 and the Ballets de Paris in 1948, at Théâtre Marigny, with Zizi Jeanmaire as star dancer. Petit collaborated with Constant Lambert (''Ballabile'' - 1950), Henri Dutilleux (''Le Loup'' - 1953),

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provoc ...

, Yves Saint-Laurent and César Baldaccini and participated in several French and American films. He returned to the Paris Opéra in 1965 to mount a production of ''Notre Dame de Paris'' (with music by Maurice Jarre). He continued to direct ballets for the largest theatres of France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Canada and Cuba. In 1968, his ballet ''Turangalîla'' provoked a small revolution within the Paris Opéra. Four years later, in 1972, he founded the

Ballet National de Marseille The Ballet National de Marseille is a dance company based in Marseille, France. The company combines modern dance and classical ballet. Overview The Ballet National de Marseille was founded by the dancer and choreographer Roland Petit in 1972. ...

with the piece "Pink Floyd Ballet". He directed the Ballet National de Marseille for the next 26 years. For the décor of his ballets, he would work in close collaboration with the painter Jean Carzou (1907–2000), but also with other artists such as

Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealis ...

. The creator of more than 50 ballets across all genres, he choreographed for a plethora of famed international dancers. He refused the free technical effects; he did not stop reinventing his style, language, and became a master in the arts of

pas de deux In ballet, a pas de deux (French, literally "step of two") is a dance duet in which two dancers, typically a male and a female, perform ballet steps together. The pas de deux is characteristic of classical ballet and can be found in many well- ...

and of narrative ballet, but he succeeded also in abstract ballets. He collaborated also with the nouveaux réalistes including Martial Raysse, Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely. '' Le jeune homme et la mort'' ("The Young Man and Death") of 1946 (libretto by

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

) is considered his magnum opus and it is also his most well-known work; the choreography and the costumes are of astonishing modernity. In his 1949 ballet ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the ...

'', he made an unusual use of the ''en dedans'', while he gave a non-figurative treatment to ''Turangalîla''. Among the films to which he contributed are ''Symphonie en blanc'' by

René Chanas René Chanas, real name René Lindecker (13 September 1913 - 9 July 1990) was a French film director, screenwriter, and film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or workin ...

and François Ardoin (1942 short film on history of dance) in which he appeared as a dancer; the choreography for the 1948 film ''Alice in Wonderland'', '' The Glass Slipper'' in 1954, '' Anything Goes'' (with others) in 1956, and '' Black Tights'' as choreographer, writer, and dancer in 1960.

Honours

In 1994, he was awarded the Prix Benois de la Danse as choreographer.

Personal life

In 1954, Petit married dancer Zizi Jeanmaire, who performed in a number of his works. His memoirs were published in 1993 under the title ''J'ai dansé sur les flots'' ("I Danced on the Waves"). He and Jeanmaire had one daughter, Valentine Petit, a dancer and actress. Petit died in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

, Switzerland, aged 87, of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

in 2011.

Ballets

During his career, Petit choreographed 176 works, including: *''Guernica'' (1945) *''Les forains'' (1945) *'' Le jeune homme et la mort'' (1946) *''

'' (1949) *''Ballabile'' (1950) *''Le loup'' (1953) *'' The Lady in the Ice'' (1953) *''Notre-Dame de Paris'' (1965) *''Paradise Lost'' (1967) *'' Kraanerg'' (1969) *''Pink Floyd Ballet'' (1972 and later) *''Roland Petit Ballet'' (1973) *''Proust, ou Les intermittences du coeur'' (1974) *'' L'Arlésienne'' (1974) *''

Coppélia ''Coppélia'' (sometimes subtitled: ''La Fille aux Yeux d'Émail'' (The Girl with the Enamel Eyes)) is a comic ballet from 1870 originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon to the music of Léo Delibes, with libretto by Charles-Louis-Étie ...

'' (1975) *''La symphonie fantastique'' (1975) *''Cyrano de Bergerac'' (1978) *''Le fantôme de l'Opéra'' (1980) *''Les amours de Frantz'' (1981) *''The Four Seasons'' (music of

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread ...

, 1984) *''The Blue Angel'' (1985) *''Clavigo'' (1999) *''Duke Ellington'' (2001) *''Les chemins de la création'' (2004)

References

External links

*
CMI
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petit, Roland 1924 births 2011 deaths Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery Deaths from cancer in Switzerland Deaths from leukemia Paris Opera Ballet dancers French male ballet dancers Ballet choreographers French choreographers Prix Benois de la Danse winners Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Paris Opera Ballet artistic directors 20th-century ballet dancers