Pas de Quatre
Pas de Quatre (French; "Dance for Four") is a ballet choreographed by Jules Perrot in 1845 - divertissement .
The piece was commissioned by Benjamin Lumley , then director of Her Majesty's Theater in London . The music is by Cesare Pugni .
The London premiere in July 1845 was a sensation with the public and the press. The reason for this was that the original cast of the work brought together the four most famous ballerinas of the Romantic era on stage. In order of increasing age they were Lucile Grahn , Carlotta Grisi , Fanny Cerrito and Marie Taglioni . In order to avoid conflicts between the dancers, Perrot set this sequence of performances for the solos and for the applause order. This celebrity cast only danced four performances, including one in front of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Great Britain.
The ballet dancer Fanny Elssler was originally supposed to take part in the performance, but she declined. Lucile Grahn appeared instead.
Re-performances
Almost a hundred years later, the ballet was performed again by the choreographer Anton Dolin in 1941 . As a cast he chose
- Nathalie Krassowska as Lucile Grahn
- Mia Čorak Slavenska as Carlotta Grisi
- Alexandra Danilowa as Fanny Cerrito
- Alicia Markova as Marie Taglioni
Since then, many companies have added the piece to their repertoire.