French choreographer Pierre Lacotte died on Monday April 10 at the age of 91. He was known for his reconstructions of 19th century ballets for the world’s greatest companies.
“ Our Pierre left us at 4am “, told AFP Ghislaine Thesmar, wife of Pierre Lacotte since 1968. The choreographer died in a clinic in Seyne-sur-Mer, in the Var, of sepsis after infection of a wound. “ It’s very sad, he was still full of projects and was writing a book “, she mentioned. His last creation dates back to October 2021, with the ballet adaptation of Stendhal’s novel, “Le Rouge et le Noir” for the Paris Opera.
Born on April 4, 1932 in the Paris region, Pierre Lacotte joined the Paris Opera School in 1942 despite poor health and entered the corps de ballet then became first dancer in 1951. Interested in choreography, he founded the company from the Ballets de la Tour Eiffel, after resigning from the Opera, then from 1959 led a career as a dancer and independent choreographer.
Protagonist of Rudolf Nureyev’s defection
At the beginning of the 1960s, he was one of the protagonists of the resounding defection to flee to the West of the legendary dancer Rudolf Nureyev. An ankle injury forced Lacotte to slow down his activity in 1968 and it was then that he devoted himself to researching archives of old ballets, pushing him to recreate “ The sylph », the first ballet sur pointes (1832).
These reconstructions will become his passion. He will resuscitate, among others, “Coppélia” (1870), the “ Pas de six by La Vivandière » (1844), « The Pharaoh’s Daughter (1862), “ paquita (1846) for the greatest stages in the world, from the Bolshoi to the Paris Opera, via the Mariinski or the Staatsoper in Berlin.
(With AFP)
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