Petit, Roland, 1924–, French dancer and choreographer, b. Villemoble. Petit joined the Paris Opéra company at 15 and in 1948 founded Les Ballets de Paris de Roland Petit. His best-known work, Carmen (1949), set to music from Georges Bizet's opera, was created for his company, with Renée (Zizi) Jeanmaire, who later (1954) became his wife, in the title role. Other well-known early works include Le Jeune homme et la mort (1946) and Ballabile (1950). Petit later turned to less classical forms, such as choreographing films, e.g., Hans Christian Andersen (1952) and Daddy Long Legs (1955), and music hall revues (1956–61). He returned to ballet in the 1960s when commissioned to present the Festivals populaires de ballet at the Chaillot theater in France. In 1972 he founded the Ballet de Marseilles, which he directed until 1997. Among his later dances are Symphonie Fantastique (1975), The Blue Angel (1985), and Clavigo (1999). Petit's chic and theatrical style have made him an extremely popular figure in French dance.

Petit, Roland

(born Jan. 13, 1924, Villemomble, Fr.) French dancer and choreographer. He danced with the Paris Opéra Ballet (1940–44) and then formed several companies, with which he toured Europe and the U.S. His dramatic ballets combined fantasy with elements of contemporary realism and included The Strolling Players (1945), The Young Man and Death (1946), and Carmen (1949). He choreographed dances for films in the 1950s, and he later staged revues featuring his wife, Zizi Jeanmaire. From 1973 to 1997 he was director of the Ballet de Marseille.