2021-03-11 Thu

Marius Ivanovich Petipa was a French ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. Petipa is one of the most influential ballet masters and choreographers in ballet history.

He worked for nearly 60 years at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and had a profound influence on modern classical Russian ballet. He directed many of the greatest artists in Russian ballet and developed ballets that retain an important position in the Russian dance repertoire.

Petipa revived a substantial number of works created by other choreographers. Many of these revivals would go on to become the definitive editions on which all subsequent productions would be based. The most famous of these revivals were Le Corsaire, Giselle, La Esmeralda, Coppelia, La Fille Mal Gardée (with Lev Ivanov), The Little Humpbacked Horse and Swan Lake (with Lev Ivanov).

Later, after becoming choreographer in 1862 and chief choreographer in 1869, Petipa produced more than 60 ballets, working from carefully detailed plans that became the basis of modern classical ballet in Russia.

To celebrate the 175th Birth Anniversary of Marius Petipa, Russia Postal Department has issued a set of 4 stamps in 1993.

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