4.8.6. Who was Petipa?
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This article is from the Ballet and Modern Dance FAQ, by Tom Parsons twp@panix.com with numerous contributions by others.
4.8.6. Who was Petipa?
Marius Petipa (1822-1910) was trained in France and had danced in
Spain and the United States before he emigrated to Russia in 1847, where
he dominated Russian ballet from 1870 to 1905. He choreographed (among
many other ballets) "Sleeping Beauty", "Raymonda", and "Swan Lake" (this
last in collaboration with Lev Ivanov.) Together with Ivanov, Christian
Johansson, and Enrico Cecchetti, he raised Russian ballet to world pre-
eminence. He is generally regarded as a ballerinas' choreographer,
however; his parts for male dancers were weak.
For the purposes of choreography, Petipa divided ballet steps into
seven categories:
Preparatory or connecting steps (e.g., "pas de bourr'ee" or
"glissades")
Steps of elevation (e.g., "grands jet'es" or "entrechats")
Steps with beats (e.g., "bris'es" or "cabrioles")
Pirouettes
Poses (e.g., "arabesque" or "attitude")
"Port des bras"
Pointe work
These are expressive categories, defined with reference to their artistic
function rather than being purely technical, as Noverre's list is.
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