Artist Profiles
Jean Coralli, Choreographer
Jean Coralli Peracini was born in Paris on January 15, 1779. He studied at the Opéra ballet school and made his stage debut as a dancer at the Opéra in August 1802, at age 23. Before this debut, he had already experimented with choreography in Vienna in 1800.
From 1815 to 1825, he produced a number of ballets in Milan, London, and Marseilles. In 1826, he became the ballet master of the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, where he choreographed additional works.
It was in 1831 that Coralli became ballet master of the Théâtre de l'Académie Royale (Opéra), where he received a wide range of responses to his choreography, including works such as
La Tempête (1834),
Le Diable Boiteux (1836),
La Tarentule (1839),
Giselle (1841), and
La Peri (1843). Arthur Saint-Léon described Coralli's work as "... essentially French, that is to say, refined, delicate, and poetic."
Jean Coralli retired from the Opéra in 1848 and died in Paris on May 1, 1854, at age 75.
Jules Perrot, Choreographer
Born August 18, 1810, in Lyon, France, he began training at 9 but achieved early recognition by performing a parody of a famous entertainer of the day. At 10, he went to Paris, where he obtained engagements in the vaudeville houses, performing his parodies. Eventually Perrot decided to put his talents to work in classical ballet.
He studied with Auguste Vestris and combined the best of Vestris' teaching of classical dance technique with his own knowledge of theatricality. He danced at the Paris Opéra in
La Musette de Portico in 1830. He partnered often with Marie Taglioni, who eventually severed the partnership, as she feared Perrot would outshine her.
Perrot left the Opéra in 1835 to tour European dance centers such as London, Milan, Vienna, and Naples, where he met and noticed the talent of Carlotta Grisi. He coached her and presented her to the world as the next great ballerina in an 1836 performance in London, with himself as her partner. In that same year, Perrot began to experiment with the art of choreography.
Following the success of his contributions to the choreography of
Giselle, Perrot went on to choreograph
Alma ou la Fille du Feu (1842) for Fanny Cerrito, which was hailed as a major choreographic success. In 1945 he created his famous masterpiece
Pas de Quatre, successfully negotiating the intricacies of persuading the four leading ballerinas of the day to appear on stage together.
In St. Petersburg, Perrot was engaged first as a dancer, and then in 1851 as ballet master where he remained until 1858. He retired after a disappointing season in Milan in 1864. In later years he gave classes at the Paris Opéra, where as a teacher he was immortalized by the Impressionist artist Edgar Degas in paintings such as
The Dance Class (1874).Perrot died in Paramé, France on August 29, 1892.
(excerpted from www.balletmet.org and www.brittanica.com)
Adolphe Charles Adam, Composer
In ballet, Adam is absolute master and he knew no rivals. It is in ballet that he revealed his great poetic feeling…and he brought to this type of music all the flexibility of writing and all the diversity of style which he had shown us elsewhere."
-- Critic Pier Angelo Fiorentino's memorial tribute to Adam in
Le Moniteur.
Adam was born in Paris on July 24, 1803. As a child, he preferred to improvise music of his own rather than study music seriously.
Adam began musical studies at boarding school and entered the Conservatoire in 1821, studying organ and harmonium under Benoist and later Boïeldieu. By age 20, Adam was writing songs for Parisian vaudeville houses and was playing in the orchestra at the Gymnase, where he would later become chorus master.
Adam's first solo ballet composition was
Faust in 1833 for choreographer André Deshayes at the King's Theatre in London. His first work for the Paris Opera was the music for the ballet
La Fille du Danube for Taglioni in 1836. He traveled to St. Petersburg to present the same work, a new ballet,
L'écumeur de mer, and an opera for the court of Tsar Nicholas I.
Adam's next important work was the music for the ballet
Giselle, for which he is probably best known today. It premiered at the Paris Opéra on June 28, 1841.
Adolphe Adam died on May 3, 1856, in Paris having written 40 operas, 14 ballets, and numerous light operas and vaudevilles.
(excerpted from www.balletmet.org)
Stephen Mills, Staging
Stephen Mills has created more than 40 works for companies in the United States and abroad, with noted collaborators including the band Asleep at the Wheel, musician Shawn Colvin, and flamenco artist José Greco II. From his inaugural season as Artistic Director in 2000, Mills attracted attention from around the United States with his world-premiere production of
Hamlet, hailed in
Dance Magazine as, “…sleek and sophisticated.” Under Mills’ direction, Ballet Austin has toured nationally and internationally to venues including The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C,. and The Joyce Theater in New York.
Mills’ critically acclaimed contemporary ballets include
One/The Body’s Grace, which won the Steinberg Award at the
Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur International Choreographic Competition in Montreal. In 2005, Mills led 13 organizations through a community-wide human rights collaboration that culminated in the world premiere work
Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project. In 2006, Mills’ work
on Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project was awarded the Austin Anti-Defamation League's Audrey & Raymond Maislin Humanitarian Award.
Michelle Martin, Staging
Michelle Martin danced with the Alberta Ballet Company for four years before joining the Indianapolis Ballet Theatre (IBT) in 1982. While with IBT and, subsequently, the Hartford Ballet in Connecticut, she performed leading and soloist roles in
Romeo and Juliet,
The Nutcracker,
The Sleeping Beauty and
The Moor's Pavane as well as creating roles in many original works. Martin's teaching credits include guest-teaching engagements at schools and universities in Canada, South Carolina, Michigan, and throughout Indiana and Texas.
She was on faculty at Butler University in Indianapolis for five years. Martin began her tenure with Ballet Austin in 1991 as a dancer with the Company, and in 1992 she was appointed Ballet Mistress and Curriculum Director of the Academy. In 1999, she founded Ballet Austin II, Ballet Austin's apprentice program, providing professional development for the 10-member second company and designing educational programming for presentation in schools. Martin has served on the Texas Commission on the Arts advisory panel for Arts Education and is a recipient of the Austin Under Forty award for contributions in the area of the Arts and Entertainment. Martin was appointed Associate Artistic Director of Ballet Austin in 2000.
David Heuvel, Costume Designer
David Heuvel is presently Costume Production Director for Ballet West. He has been associated with Ballet West since 1979. Prior to his work in the United States, he was Chief Costumer for Ballet at P.A.C.T. in South Africa. Apart from Heuvel’s work with Ballet West, he has designed and built costumes for ballet companies both nationally and internationally, including Ballet Du Nord (France), Alberta Ballet, Ballet Met, Singapore Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Atlanta Ballet, American Repertory Ballet, Carolina Ballet, Ballet Hawaii, Nashville Ballet, and Ballet Memphis.
(excerpted from fashionremixslc.wordpress.com)
Peter Cazalet, Scenic Designer
Peter Cazalet was born in Kitwe, Northern Rhodesia, and, while studying ballet part time, qualifiedas an architect from the University of Cape Town. In 1958, Peter went to London and, after doing television work, he joined London Festival Ballet and also danced for Western Ballet Theatre and Ballet Rambert. Due to injury, he turned to stage design. In 1971, he returned to South Africa to design for CAPAB Ballet and in 1980 was appointed Head of Design for CAPAB. Peter’s commissions have included operas, ballets, and plays for South African and international theatres. He designed the costumes for Dawn Weller’s
La Bayadere during 1995/96.
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