French choreographer Pierre Lacotte, famous for his work adapting 19th-century ballets for major companies around the world, died Monday at the age of 91, his wife, dancer Ghislaine Thesmar, confirmed to the AFP news agency. Thesmar reported that Lacotte died in a clinic in Seyne-sur-Mer, in southern France, due to septicemia following an infection from a wound. The news of his death has been mourned throughout the dance world.
His wife explained that her husband was still full of projects and was working on a book. Lacotte’s last creation was in October 2021, when he was almost 90 years old, and was a ballet adaptation of Stendhal’s novel “Red and Black” for the Paris Opera. Thesmar described the Paris Opera as Lacotte’s “only home.”
Born on the outskirts of Paris in 1932, Lacotte joined the Paris Opera School in 1942 and became a prima ballerina in 1951. However, an ankle injury forced him to limit his activities, and he decided to focus on reconstructing the archives of old ballets. Among his most notable works are the reconstruction of “La Sylphide,,” the first ballet with pointe (1832), “Coppélia” (1870), “The Pharaoh’s Daughter” (1862), and “Paquita” (1846), for some of the world’s most prestigious stages, from the Bolshoi in Moscow to the Paris Opera, the Mariinski in St. Petersburg, and the Staatsoper in Berlin.
Lacotte’s death has been received with great sadness in the world of dance, where he is remembered as an exceptional artist and an important defender of the choreographic heritage.