Auguste Vestris

Vestris portrayed by Thomas Gainsborough , about 1781

Marie Jean Augustin Vestris , known as Auguste Vestris (born March 27, 1760 in Paris , † December 5, 1842 ibid), was a French dancer and choreographer. Auguste was an illegitimate child of Gaetano Vestris and the dancer Marie Allard . Because of his extraordinary technique he was also called the "god of dance".

Life

Vestris received thorough dance training from his father. He made his debut in 1772 in the Divertissement La Cinquantaine . In 1773 he had his first great success as Cupid in his father's ballet Endymion .

As early as 1776 he became a solo dancer, in 1778 Primo ballerino (Premier danseur) and in 1778 Premier sujet de la danse. In 1778 he danced in the world premiere of Noverre's Les Petits Riens . In 1781 he was so successful in London at the side of his father that Parliament interrupted its sessions because of her. From 1781 to 1787 he was the preferred male dancer in Maximilien Gardel's ballets . In 1785 he was famous for his interpretation of a gavotte from André Grétry's comic opera Panurge dans l'île des lanternes (1785). This gavotte was u. a. described in detail by FA Zorn (1820–1905) in his Grammar of Dance Art (Leipzig 1887, pp. 189–194 and pp. 42–43).

During the French Revolution he fled to London, where he danced with Noverre until 1793. In 1793 Auguste Vestris returned triumphantly to Paris, where he competed with the younger dancer Louis Duport and danced until 1816. After a difficult period of transition, Vestris became one of the most famous dance teachers of his time, whose students included Marius Petipa , Lucien Petipa , Fanny Elssler , Jules Perrot and Marie Taglioni . In 1835, at the age of 75, he appeared again in a minuet with Marie Taglioni . Vestris was considered vain and difficult by his contemporaries, but was praised for his dance technique and expressiveness.

His son Auguste Armand Vestris (1786-1825) was also a dancer and performed with his cousin Charles Vestris . He reportedly made his debut at the Opéra in 1800. However, he left Paris and then went as a dancer to Italy and Vienna , where he died in 1825.

literature

• Horst Koegler, Helmut Günther: Reclams Ballettlexikon , Reclam, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-15010328-2