18 Facts About Pierre Lacotte

Pierre Lacotte was a French ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, and company director.

Pierre Lacotte specialised in the reconstruction of lost choreographies of romantic ballets.

Pierre Lacotte received private training with Lyubox Yegorova, Rousanne Sarkissian, and Nicolas Zverev.

Pierre Lacotte rose through the ranks, reaching the position of premier danseur in 1953.

Pierre Lacotte then returned to Europe to perform with various troupes as a guest artist.

Between 1963 and 1968, Pierre Lacotte served as the director of the newly founded Ballet National Jeunesses Musicales de France, where he danced and choreographed.

In 1966, Pierre Lacotte guest choreographed at Ballet Rambert in London, where he created Intermede and Numeros.

In 1970, Pierre Lacotte made his first attempt at reconstructing choreography based on historical record, a pas de deux from Donizetti's 1840 opera La favorite, for a production of the opera at Teatro La Fenice, Venice.

Pierre Lacotte began teaching at the Paris Opera Ballet School in 1972.

In 1975, for the Paris Opera Ballet, Pierre Lacotte revived the ballet Coppelia with original choreography by Arthur Saint-Leon, which had not been seen at the Opera since 1870.

Pierre Lacotte reconstructed Saint-Leon's pas de six from La Vivandiere for Opera-Comique, Filippo Taglioni's La fille du Danube for Teatro Colon.

In 1979, Pierre Lacotte worked as a guest artist in Russia, bringing La Sylphide to the Novosibirsk Ballet, and Le Papillon, La Vivandiere, and "La Cachucha" from Le Diable boiteux to Kirov Ballet.

Pierre Lacotte then became the director of the opera ballet in Verona, Italy.

Pierre Lacotte returned to France in 1991 to serve as the artistic director of Ballet National de Nancy et de Lorraine, succeeding Patrick Dupond.

In 2000, Pierre Lacotte revived The Pharaoh's Daughter for the Bolshoi Ballet.

In 2010, Pierre Lacotte choreographed an original ballet, Les Trois Mousquetaires, based on Alexandre Dumas's novel The Three Musketeers.

In 2021, Pierre Lacotte choreographed his final ballet, Le Rouge et Le Noir, for the Paris Opera Ballet.

Pierre Lacotte died of sepsis on 10 April 2023, six days after his 91st birthday.