Paquita

For the Mexican singer, see Paquita la del Barrio

Paquita is a ballet in two acts and three scenes. It premiered in the Académie Royale de Musique theatre in Paris on April 1, 1846. The original choreography was by Joseph Mazilier (1808-1868) to a score composed by Edouard Deldevez. It was not performed in France after 1851. However, in 1847 the ballet was danced and stage by Marius Petipa in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Then in 1881 he staged a new version of the ballet to musical additions contributed by Léon Minkus . These additions, for the Grand Pas Classique, Children's Polonaise and Mazurka at the end of the ballet, and the Pas de Trois in Act I, have become some of the most well known compositions in ballet. The original ballet was danced by Lucien Petipa and Carlotta Grisi.

Plot Outline

The plot takes place in Spain under the occupation of Napoleon's army. The heroine is a young Gypsy girl, Paquita. In fact, she is a girl of noble birth who had been carried off by Gypsies when she was a baby. She manages to save the life of a young French officer, Lucien d'Hervilly, who is the target of a Spanish governor who wants to have him killed by Iñigo, a gypsy chief. She discovers at the end, thanks to a medallion, that she is in fact the cousin of Lucien, and can marry him. Most of the action takes place in a palace in Spain, under the command of Lucien, where Paquita dances with the other noble girls of the country.

Gallery of Paquita

• 
  (left to right) Elsa Vill, Pierre Vladimirov, and Elizaveta Gerdt in the Paquita Pas de Trois (AKA Minkus Pas de Trois), St. Petersburg, 1909
• 
  Pierre Vladimirov in the Paquita Pas de Trois. St. Petersburg, 1909
• Maria Tallchief, Andrè Eglevsky, and Rosella Hightower in George Balanchine's staging of the Paquita Pas de Trois, New York City, 1951
  Maria Tallchief, Andrè Eglevsky, and Rosella Hightower in George Balanchine's staging of the Paquita Pas de Trois, New York City, 1951
• 
  (clockwise from left) Erin Joseph, Patricia Barker, Bathurel Bold, and Kimberley Davey in the Pacific Northwest Ballet's staging of the Paquita Grand Pas Classique, Seattle, 1998
• 
  Students of the Imperial Ballet School in the Petipa/Minkus Children's Polonaise and Mazurka from Paquita. St. Petersburg, 1881
• 
  Carlotta Grisi as Paquita. Paris, 1844
• 
  (left to right)Georges Ellie as Iñigo, Carlotta Grisi as Paquita, and Lucien Petipa as Lucien d'Hervilly in Act I-Scene 2. Paris, 1844
• 
  Carlotta Grisi as Paquita and Lucien Petipa as Lucien d'Hervilly. Paris, 1844