Roland Petit

Roland Petit, born on 13 January 1924 in Villemomble, near Paris, was a French ballet dancer, choreographer, and company director whose career spanned decades of significant contribution to the art form. The son of shoe designer Rose Repetto, Petit received his formal training at the Paris Opéra Ballet school under Gustave Ricaux and Serge Lifar, joining the corps de ballet in 1940. He died on 10 July 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland, of leukemia, at the age of 87.

Petit established two major ballet companies in the years following World War II. In 1945 he founded the Ballets des Champs-Élysées, and in 1948 he launched the Ballets de Paris at the Théâtre Marigny, with Zizi Jeanmaire as its principal star. His 1946 work Le jeune homme et la mort, created with a libretto by Jean Cocteau, is regarded as his most celebrated achievement, notable for the modernity of both its choreography and costumes. His 1949 ballet Carmen introduced an unconventional use of the en dedans, while his later work Turangalîla, presented at the Paris Opéra in 1968, provoked considerable controversy within that institution.

Petit's relationship with the Paris Opéra was marked by both productivity and friction. He returned there in 1965 to stage Notre Dame de Paris, with music by Maurice Jarre, but resigned in 1970 after just four months as the company's ballet director. His departure came by letter, as he had no telephone in his office, and cited poor working conditions, failed labor contract negotiations, and the rejection of two of his three proposed new productions. In 1972, he founded the Ballet National de Marseille, inaugurating the company with the Pink Floyd Ballet, created in collaboration with the band. He directed that organization for 26 years.

Throughout his career Petit collaborated with a wide range of artists and composers, including Constant Lambert on Ballabile in 1950, Henri Dutilleux on Le Loup in 1953, and Serge Gainsbourg, Yves Saint-Laurent, and César Baldaccini on various projects. He also worked closely with painter Jean Carzou on ballet décor, as well as with artists Max Ernst, Martial Raysse, Niki de Saint Phalle, and Jean Tinguely. Over the course of his career he choreographed 176 works across multiple genres, directing ballets for major theaters in France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Canada, and Cuba.

Petit's contributions extended to film as well. He appeared as a dancer in the 1942 short Symphonie en blanc and served as choreographer for the 1948 film Alice in Wonderland. He contributed choreography to The Glass Slipper in 1954 and Anything Goes in 1956, and in 1960 took on the roles of choreographer, writer, and dancer in Black Tights.

His Broadway career ran from 1949 to 1980 and included appearances in Coppelia, Contre-Pointe, and L'Oeuf á la Coque, as well as a credit in Les Ballets de Paris. His choreographic work for the stage earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Choreography in 1981.

In 1954, Petit married Jeanmaire, who appeared in a number of his productions. The couple had one daughter, Valentine Petit, herself a dancer and actress. Petit published his memoirs in 1993 under the title J'ai dansé sur les flots. In 1994, he received the Prix Benois de la Danse in recognition of his work as a choreographer.