Petipa, Marius << peh tee PAH, ma RYOOS >> (1818-1910), was a great French choreographer (creator of dances). Petipa joined the ballet of the Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1847. He was its ballet master from 1869 to 1903. He composed 57 evening-long ballets and many shorter ones. The best known include The Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda, La Bayadère, and Act III of Swan Lake.
Petipa’s style is clear and grand. It demands highly trained dancers with a dramatic yet cool and aristocratic quality. Petipa made the St. Petersburg ballet the finest in the world. Its school produced such great dancers as Vaslav Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova, and Michel Fokine.
Petipa was born on March 11, 1818, in Marseille. His father and brother were dancers. Petipa made his debut as a dancer at the age of 20. A leg injury slowed down his career and turned him toward choreography. He died on July 14, 1910.
