Petipa, Marius (märyüs` pĕtēpä`), 1822–1910, French dancer and choreographer, b. Marseilles. Petipa rose to prominence at the Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg. He was the principal creator of the modern classical ballet. Bringing French and Italian traditions to Russia, he gave increasing importance to pure dance over pantomime and greatly expanded the roles of male dancers. His major works include Don Quixote (1869), La Bayadère (1875), The Sleeping Beauty (1890), The Nutcracker (1892), Swan Lake, Acts One and Three (1893), and Raymonda (1898).

Bibliography

See his memoirs (tr. 1958).

Petipa, Marius

(born March 11, 1818, Marseille, Fr.—died July 14, 1910, Gurzuf, Ukraine, Russian Empire) French-born Russian dancer and choreographer. He received his early training from his ballet-master father and was a principal dancer in France, Belgium, and Spain before joining the Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg in 1847. There he also created several ballets, including The Pharaoh's Daughter, which led to his appointment as chief choreographer in 1869. By his retirement in 1903, he had produced more than 60 ballets for the imperial theatres in St. Petersburg and Moscow—including Don Quixote (1869), La Camargo (1872), Sleeping Beauty (1890), Swan Lake (1895), and The Seasons (1900)—which formed the core of the classical Russian repertoire.