He was one of the figures of the ballet world. French choreographer Pierre Lacotte died of sepsis after a wound infection on Monday, April 10, at the age of 91, announced his wife, prima ballerina Ghislaine Thesmar. “Our Pierre abandoned us at 4 a.m.,” she said, adding that he died in a clinic in La Seyne-sur-Mer in the Var.
He was known for his reconstructions of 19th century ballets for the world’s greatest companies. And despite his age, he was still very committed to his art. “He was full of energy and had plans for companies,” including the Rome Opera Ballet. “It’s very sad, he was still full of projects and was writing a book,” said his partner, who had married him in 1968.
His last creation dates back to October 2021. He was then nearly 90 years old and had adapted Stendhal’s novel, Le Rouge et le Noir, into a ballet for the Paris Opera. “He loved the Opera, it was his one and only home,” said Ghislaine Thesmar.
This passion was born very early. At the age of 10, he joined the Paris Opera School in 1942, despite poor health, and joined the corps de ballet, then became a principal dancer in 1951. Interested in choreography, he founded the Ballets de la Eiffel Tower, after having resigned from the Opera, then led, from 1959, a career as a dancer and independent choreographer.
In 1968, an ankle injury forced Pierre Lacotte to slow down his activity and it was then that he devoted himself to researching archives of old ballets, prompting him to recreate La Sylphide, the first ballet sur pointes (1832 ). These reconstructions will become his passion. He will revive, in particular, Coppélia (1870), Pas de six from La Vivandière (1844), La Fille du Pharaon (1862), Paquita (1846) for the greatest stages in the world, from the Bolshoi to the Paris Opera by the Mariinsky, the Staatsoper Berlin.
“He was a lover of the classical and romantic period, but he loved what was modern,” said Brigitte Lefèvre, former director of dance at the Opera.
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