Paris Opera Ballet

French ballet company based in Paris, and the oldest national ballet company in the world. It has its origins in the Académie Royale de Danse, which was founded by Louis XIV in 1661 to improve dance instruction for court entertainments, and the Académie d'Opéra (later the Académie Royale de Musique), a performing organization founded in 1669. Pierre Beauchamps was the first ballet master. In 1672 he and Lully inaugurated a new form of opera which included dance. The first professional ballerina was Mlle de La Fontaine (1665-1738), who danced in the premiere of Triomphe de l'Amour in 1681. The associated school, today known as the Paris Opera Ballet School, was opened in 1713. In the mid-18th century, the operas of Rameau helped to set higher standards for the dancers, later (from 1774) Gluck's operas continued the process. A key period was the directorship of Noverre (1776-81), who staged the first production of Mozart's Les Petits Riens in 1778. Noverre's successors were M. Gardel (1781-7) and Pierre Gardel (1787-1829), whose choreography included La Marseillaise and Offrande à liberté. The premiere of F. Taglioni's La Sylphide (which starred his daughter Marie in the title role) in 1832 was a landmark event for it brought Romantic ballet to the world, although the Ballet of the Nuns in Meyerbeer's opera Robert le diable had introduced Romanticism the previous year. Coralli and Perrot's Giselle, with Carlotta Grisi, followed in 1841, another major event in the history of dance. Ballet masters of the mid-19th century included Saint-Léon, Mazilier, and L. Petipa. Saint-Léon's Coppélia was premiered in 1870; it went on to become one of the most popular ballets in the Paris repertoire. At this point in the company's history male dancers had been virtually banished, with female dancers taking over male roles en travestie. The Paris Opera moved to the Palais Garnier in 1875, where it remains today. Mérante's Sylvia (1876), L. Petipa's Namouna (1882), and Mérante's Les Deux Pigeons (1886) were the final successes of the 19th century. By the start of the 20th century, the company had been in serious decline for many years, with the ballet reduced to divertissements in operas. The Paris seasons of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes dominated the city's dance culture from 1910, while in the 1920s Les Ballets Suédois proved another enticing option for the city's dance audiences. It was only when Lifar was appointed ballet master and principal dancer in 1930 that the company began to emerge from its doldrums. He made the company stronger and more disciplined, added more than 100 ballets to the repertoire, and established a more regular performing pattern. He also got rid of abonnés from the foyer; abonnés were season ticket holders who were allowed to meet with the ballerinas, giving rise to suggestions of immoral relationships. After the Second World War, however, the rise of independent companies, like those of Petit, Charrat, and Béjart, with their adventurous new work, meant that the Paris Opera was stagnating once again. Lifar resigned in 1958. Directors who followed him included George Skibine, Violette Verdy, Rosella Hightower, Rudolf Nureyev, Patrick Dupond, and Brigitte Lefèvre (from 1995), and today Paris Opera Ballet is again one of the world's leading companies. It boasts some outstanding dancers, equally at home in both the modern and classical repertoires. Twentieth century choreographers represented in the repertoire include Balanchine, Robbins, Béjart, Petit, Forsythe, Neumeier, Kylián, Ek, Tharp, MacMillan, Taylor, Graham, and Preljocaj. The affiliated Groupe de Récherche Chorégraphique de l'Opéra de Paris (GRCOP), the forum for experimental new work, was founded in 1981 and was active throughout the 1980s.