Some liked to portray him as a “ballet archaeologist”. Pierre Lacotte, a French dancer and choreographer, has died at the age of 91, his wife, star dancer Ghislaine Thesmar, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Our Pierre abandoned us at 4 a.m.,” said Ms. Thesmar, adding that he died in a clinic in La Seyne-sur-Mer in the Var, of sepsis triggered by the infection of a wound.
“He was full of energy and had plans for companies” including the Rome Opera Ballet, said the woman who married him in 1968, adding that he “was writing a book.” .
Pierre Lacotte has devoted his life to reconstructing 19th century ballets which he has brought back to life for the greatest companies in the world. His last creation dates back to October 2021, when he was already almost 90 years old. It was the ballet adaptation of Stendhal’s novel The Red and the Black for the Paris Opera. “He loved the Opera, it was his one and only home,” Ms. Thesmar assured.
“When I recreate, I look for the flavor of the era”
Born on April 4, 1932 in the Paris region, he joined the school of the Paris Opera in 1942 despite fragile health. He entered the corps de ballet and then became first dancer in 1951.
Interested in choreography, he founded the Ballets de la tour Eiffel company, after resigning from the Opera, then from 1959 led a career as a dancer and independent choreographer.
In June 1961, he was one of the protagonists of the resounding defection of the legendary dancer Rudolf Nureyev, who fled the USSR, at Le Bourget airport.
A few years later, in 1968, an ankle injury forced him to slow down his activity and it was then that he devoted himself to researching archives of old ballets, prompting him to reassemble La Sylphide, the first ballet sur pointes (1832).
These recreations will become his passion. He will resurrect, among others, 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. , passing by the Mariinski, the Staatsoper of Berlin. “When I recreate a ballet, I’m looking for the flavor of the time,” he said.
Pierre Lacotte also held several positions in dance houses, including the Ballet de Nancy et de Lorraine (where he succeeded Patrick Dupond).
“He was a lover of the classical and romantic period but he loved what was modern,” Brigitte Lefèvre, former director of dance at the Opera, told AFP.
