Roland Petit (born in 1924)

Some biographical elements

• 1924: birth in Villemomble (France)
• 1934: becomes a student of the Dance School of the Paris Opera Ballet
• 1940: enters the corps de ballet of the Paris Opera Ballet , then lead by Serge Lifar, and studies with Mme Roussane (with Maurice Béjart, Leslie Caron, Violette Verdy...)
• 1944: resigns from the POB, attends the class of Boris Kniasseff (who created the "barre a terre")
• 1945: creates the Ballets des Champs-Elysées with Roger Eudes, Boris Kochno (former collaborator of Diaghilev in the Ballets Russes and Irène Lidova. He creates Les Forains and Le Rendez-Vous in 1945, and Le Jeune homme et la mort in 1946.
• 1948: leaves the Ballets des Champs-Elysées, and creates the "Ballets de Paris", and creates Carmen in 1949, and in 1950 Ballabile for the British Royal Ballet.
• 1951-55: makes musicals in Hollywood, such as "Daddy long legs" with Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron, and "Anything goes" with Bing Crosby.
• 1954: gets married with the dancer Zizi Jeanmaire.
• 1956-61: music-hall in Paris with the "Ballets de Paris".
• 1965: creates Notre-Dame de Paris for the Paris Opera Ballet.
• 1967: Paradis Perdu for the Royal Ballet (with Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn), Estasi for the Scala of Milano (with Rudolf Nureyev and Luciana Savignano), Turangalîla for the Paris Opera Ballet (with Georges Piletta, Jacqueline Rayet, Claire Motte).
• 1970: becomes "directeur de la danse" at the Paris Opera, but resigns after 6 months. He buys the Casino de Paris and creates a new "revue", but finally is obliged to stop it because of financial problems.
• 1972: creates the "Ballets de Marseille" (cf French companies page )
• 1975: creates La Symphonie Fantastique for the Paris Opera Ballet (with Michael Denard and Zizi Jeanmaire)
• 1979: wins the French National Prize for Dance.
• 1992: creation of the Marseille National Dance School.
• 1993: creates Dix oder Eros und Tod for the Berlin Ballet (with Michael Denard ) and wins the Benois Prize in Moscow.
• 1994: creates Passacaille, Rythme de Valses and Camera Obscura for the Paris Opera Ballet.
• 1998: creates his own version of Swan Lake and decides to leave the direction of the Ballet National de Marseille.
• 1999: creates Clavigo for the POB.

Some of his ballets

• Guernica (1945)
• Les Forains (1945) # POB 1993
• Le Rendez-vous (1945) # POB 1992
• Le Jeune homme et la mort (1946) # POB 1990
• Les demoiselles de la nuit (1948)
• Carmen (1949) # POB 1949
• L'Oeuf à la coque (1949)
• Ballabile (1950)
• La croqueuse de diamants (1950)
• Le Loup (1953) # POB 1975
• Deuil en 24 heures (1953)
• La Chambre (1955)
• Cyrano (1959)
• Les Chants de Maldoror (1962)
• Notre-Dame de Paris (1965) for the POB
• Adage et Variations (1965) for the POB
• Eloge de la Folie (1966)
• Paradis perdu (1967)
• Turangalîla (1968) for the POB
• Kraanerg (1969)
• Allumez les étoiles (1972)
• La Rose Malade (1973)
• Les Intermittences du coeur- Proust remembered (1974)
• L'Arlésienne (1974)
• Schéhérazade (1974) for the POB
• La Symphonie Fantastique (1975) for the POB
• Septentrion (1975)
• La Nuit transfigurée (1976) for the POB
• Nana (1976) for the POB
• Mouvances (1976) for the POB
• Casse-Noisette (1976)
• La Dame de Pique (1978)
• La Chauve-Souris (1979)
• Parisiana 25 (1979)
• Le Fantôme de l'Opéra (1980) for the POB
• 6 danses de Chabrier (1981)
• Les Hauts de Hurlevent (1982)
• Les 4 Saisons (1984)
• Le Chat Botté (1985)
• L'Ange Bleu (1985)
• Ma Pavlova (1986)
• Tout Satie (1988)
• Le Diable Amoureux (1989)
• La Belle au Bois Dormant (1990)
• Charlot danse avec nous (1991)
• Dix oder Eros und Tod (1993)
• Camera obscura, Passacaille, Rythme de Valses (1994) for the POB
• Le Guépard (1995)
• Clavigo (1999)

References

• Roland Petit, un chorégraphe et ses danseurs (Gérard Mannonni, Ed. Plume) (In French)
  Roland Petit has worked with many of the most remarkable dancers of this century, including Rudolf Nureyev, Erik Bruhn, Jean Babilée, Margot Fonteyn, Maïa Plissetskaïa, Natalia Makarova, Vladimir Vassiliev, Violette Verdy, Fred Astaire, Mikhail Baryschnikov, Patrick Dupond, Noëlla Pontois, Alessandra Ferri, Ghislaine Thesmar, Karen Kain, Elisabetta Terabust, Michaël Denard, Claire Motte, Carla Fracci, Cyril Atanassoff, Sylvie Guillem, Julio Bocca, Kader Belarbi... This book includes numerous pictures of the ballets of his they danced, and his comments about them.