Paquita - Grand pas de deux (Letestu, Martinez)

Ludwig Minkus

Choreography: Joseph Mazilier
Pierre Lacote
Marius Petipa

Paquita
Grand pas classique

In 1847, Paquita was staged for the first time in Russia for the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg by Marius Petipa and Pierre-Frédéric Malavergne, being the first work ever staged by Petipa in Russia. In 1881 Petipa produced a revival of the ballet for which he added new pieces specially composed by Ludwig Minkus. This included the Pas de trois (a.k.a. the Minkus Pas de trois or Paquita Pas de trois) for the first act, and the Paquita Grand pas classique and the Mazurka des enfants (Children's mazurka) for the last act. Petipa's version of Paquita was retained in the repertory of the Mariinsky Theatre until 1926.

Marius Petipa's 1881 additions for Paquita survived long after the full-length ballet left the stage. Today these pieces, particularly the Grand pas classique, are major cornerstones of the traditional classical ballet repertory and have been staged by ballet companies throughout the world.
In 2001, the choreographer Pierre Lacotte produced a revival of the full-length, two act Paquita for the Paris Opera Ballet. Although Lacotte re-choreographed all of the ballet himself, he restored Joseph Mazilier's original mime sequences and mise-en-scène, as well as Marius Petipa's 1881 additions.

Paquita..................................................Agnes Letestu
Lucien d'Hervilly....................................Jose Martinez
Isabelle Ciaravola
Maurielle Halle
Aurelia Bellet
Marie-Solenne Boulet
Miteki Kudo
Mauriel Zausperreguy

Le premiers Danseurs, le corps de ballet et L'Orchestre de L'opera National de Paris

Ballet d'Opera Paris
Paris, France

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