Marius Petipa - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Marius Petipa was born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa in Marseilles, France on 11 March 1818. His mother Victorine Grasseau was a tragic actress and teacher of drama, while his father, Jean Antoine Petipa was a renowned Ballet Master and teacher. At the time of Marius's birth, Jean Petipa was engaged as Premier danseur (Principal Male Dancer) to the Salle Bauveau (known today as the Opéra de Marseille), and in 1819 he was appointed Maître de Ballet to that theatre.

Marius Petipa spent his early childhood travelling throughout Europe with his family, as his parents' professional engagements took them from city to city. By the time Marius was six years old his family had settled in Brussels, in what was then the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, where his father was appointed Maître de Ballet and Premier danseur to the Théâtre de la Monnaie. The young Marius received his general education at the Grand College in Brussels, while also attending the Brussels Conservatory where he studied music and learned to play the violin.

Jean Petipa began giving the young Marius lessons in ballet at the age of seven. At first the young boy resisted, caring very little for dance. Nevertheless, he soon came to love this art form that was so much the life and identity of his family, and he excelled quickly. In 1827 at the age of nine Marius performed for the first time in a ballet production as a savoyard in his father's staging of Pierre Gardel's 1800 ballet La Dansomani.

On 25 August 1830, the Belgian Revolution erupted after a performance of Daniel Auber's opera La muette de Portici at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, where Marius' father served as Maître de Ballet. The violent street fighting that followed caused the theatre to be shut down for a time, and consequently Jean Petipa found himself without a position. The Petipa family was left in dire straits for some years.

In 1834 the Petipa family relocated to Bordeaux, France where Marius' father had secured the position of Maître de Ballet at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. While in Bordeaux Marius completed his ballet training under the great Auguste Vestris. By 1838 he was appointed Premier danseur to the Ballet de Nantes in Nantes, France. During his time in Nantes the young Petipa began to try his hand at choreography by creating a number of one-act ballets and divertissements.

In July 1839 the 21-year-old Marius Petipa accompanied his father on a tour of the United States with a group of French dancers. Among the many engagements was a performance of Jean Coralli's La tarentule at the National Theatre on Broadway, being the first ballet performance ever seen in New York City. The tour proved to be a complete disaster, as many in the uncultured American audiences of that time had never before seen ballet. To add to the fiasco, the American impresario who arranged the engagements stole a large portion of the troupe's receipts and subsequently disappeared without a trace. Upon leaving for France, Petipa's ticket only allowed him passage to Nantes, but instead of returning to that city he stowed away so that he could continue on to Paris.

By 1840, Petipa had made his début as a dancer with the famous Comédie Française in Paris, and during his first performance with the troupe he partnered the legendary Ballerina Carlotta Grisi in a benefit performance held for the actress Rachel. He also took part in performances at the Salle Le Peletier of the Paris Opéra where his brother Lucien Petipa was engaged as Premier danseur.