Master of Liberal Arts. Three cards, Roland Petit and Russian terpsichore Ballets of Roland Petit in Russia

Biography

Roland Petit - son Rose Repetto, founder of a company producing ballet clothing and shoes Repetto , and the owner of the diner (in memory of his work in his father’s restaurant, Petit would later put up a number with a tray). Studied at Paris Opera Ballet School, where his teachers were Gustave Rico and Serge Lifar. After graduation in the year he was enrolled in corps de ballet of the Grand Opera.

Roland Petit is the author of more than fifty ballets and numbers for dancers around the world. He staged performances on the best stages in Italy, Germany, England, Canada, Cuba and Russia. His opuses were distinguished by the stylistic and technical diversity of the ballet language. He collaborated with both avant-garde artists and representatives of new realism, including Martial Rice, Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle. He worked with fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent (costumes for the ballet “Notre Dame de Paris” and the number “The Death of the Rose”), singer and composer Serge Gainsbourg, sculptor Baldaccini, artists Jean Carzou and Max Ernst. The libretto for Petit was written by Georges Simenon, Jacques Prévert and Jean Anouilh. The music for his ballets was composed by Henri Dutilleux and Maurice Jarre.

The most significant productions

• Rendezvous / Le rendez-vous ()
• Guernica / Guernica
• Youth and Death / Le Jeune Homme et la Mort ()
• Traveling Comedians / Les forains ()
• Carmen / Carmen ()
• Balabile / Ballabile ()
• Wolf / Le loup ()
• Notre Dame Cathedral / Notre-Dame de Paris ()
• Lost heaven / Paradise Lost ()
• Kraanerg (1969)
• Death of the Rose / La rose malade ()
• Proust, or Heartbeats / Proust, ou Les intermittences du coeur ()
• Fantastic Symphony / Symphony phantastique ()
• Queen of Spades / La Dame de pique ()
• Phantom of the Opera / Le phantom de l'Opéra
• Les amours de Frantz ()
• Blue Angel / The Blue Angel ()
• Clavigo / Clavigo ()
• Paths of Creation / Les chemins de la creation ()

Ballets of Roland Petit in Russia

Memoirs

• J'ai dance sur les flots(, Russian translation)

Recognition and awards

Officer of the National Order of Merit in the Field of Literature and the Arts (), Knight of the Legion of Honor. (), laureate of the main French National Prize in the field of literature and art (), laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation for ballet production Queen of Spades at the Bolshoi Theater () and other awards.

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Literature

• Mannoni G. Roland Petit. Paris: L'Avant-Scène ballet/danse, 1984.
• Fiette A. Zizi Jeanmaire, Roland Petit: un patrimoine pour la danse. Paris: Somogy; Genève: Musée d'art et d'histoire; Ville de Genève: Département des affairs culturelles, 2007.
• Chistyakova V. Roland Petit. Leningrad: Art, 1977.
• Arkina N. Theater R. Petit // Theater: magazine. - M., 1974. - No. 11.

Notes

Links

• // Central House of Actors, presenter - Violetta Mainietse, 2001

Excerpt characterizing Petit, Roland

Two hours after this, Prince Andrei entered his father’s office with quiet steps. The old man already knew everything. He stood right at the door, and as soon as it opened, the old man silently, with his senile, hard hands, like a vice, grabbed his son’s neck and sobbed like a child.

Three days later the funeral service was held for the little princess, and, bidding farewell to her, Prince Andrei ascended the steps of the coffin. And in the coffin was the same face, although with closed eyes. “Oh, what have you done to me?” it said everything, and Prince Andrei felt that something was torn away in his soul, that he was guilty of a guilt that he could not correct or forget. He couldn't cry. The old man also entered and kissed her wax hand, which lay calmly and high on the other, and her face said to him: “Oh, what and why did you do this to me?” And the old man turned away angrily when he saw this face.

Five days later, the young Prince Nikolai Andreich was baptized. The mother held the diapers with her chin while the priest smeared the boy’s wrinkled red palms and steps with a goose feather.
The godfather grandfather, afraid to drop him, shuddering, carried the baby around the dented tin font and handed him over to his godmother, Princess Marya. Prince Andrei, frozen with fear that the child would not be drowned, sat in another room, waiting for the end of the sacrament. He looked joyfully at the child when the nanny carried him out to him, and nodded his head approvingly when the nanny told him that a piece of wax with hairs thrown into the font did not sink, but floated along the font.

Rostov's participation in Dolokhov's duel with Bezukhov was hushed up through the efforts of the old count, and Rostov, instead of being demoted, as he expected, was appointed adjutant to the Moscow governor general. As a result, he could not go to the village with his entire family, but remained in his new position all summer in Moscow. Dolokhov recovered, and Rostov became especially friendly with him during this time of his recovery. Dolokhov lay sick with his mother, who loved him passionately and tenderly. The old woman Marya Ivanovna, who fell in love with Rostov for his friendship with Fedya, often told him about her son.
“Yes, Count, he is too noble and pure of soul,” she used to say, “for our current, corrupted world.” Nobody likes virtue, it hurts everyone's eyes. Well, tell me, Count, is this fair, is this fair on Bezukhov’s part? And Fedya, in his nobility, loved him, and now he never says anything bad about him. In St. Petersburg, they joked about these pranks with the quarterly, because they did it together? Well, Bezukhov had nothing, but Fedya bore everything on his shoulders! After all, what did he endure! Suppose they returned it, but how could they not return it? I think there weren’t many brave men and sons of the fatherland like him there. Well now - this duel! Do these people have a sense of honor? Knowing that he is the only son, challenge him to a duel and shoot so straight! It's good that God had mercy on us. And for what? Well, who doesn’t have intrigue these days? Well, if he is so jealous? I understand, because he could have made me feel it before, otherwise it went on for a year. And so, he challenged him to a duel, believing that Fedya would not fight because he owed him. What baseness! That's disgusting! I know you understood Fedya, my dear count, that’s why I love you with my soul, believe me. Few people understand him. This is such a high, heavenly soul!
Dolokhov himself often, during his recovery, spoke to Rostov such words that could not have been expected from him. “They consider me an evil person, I know,” he used to say, “so be it.” I don’t want to know anyone except those I love; but whom I love, I love him so much that I will give my life, and I will crush the rest if they stand on the road. I have an adored, unappreciated mother, two or three friends, including you, and I pay attention to the rest only as much as they are useful or harmful. And almost everyone is harmful, especially women. Yes, my soul,” he continued, “I have met loving, noble, sublime men; but I haven’t met women yet, except for corrupt creatures - countesses or cooks, it doesn’t matter. I have not yet encountered that heavenly purity and devotion that I look for in a woman. If I found such a woman, I would give my life for her. And these!...” He made a contemptuous gesture. “And do you believe me, if I still value life, then I value it only because I still hope to meet such a heavenly being who would revive, purify and exalt me.” But you don't understand this.
“No, I understand very much,” answered Rostov, who was under the influence of his new friend.

In the fall, the Rostov family returned to Moscow. At the beginning of winter, Denisov also returned and stayed with the Rostovs. This first time of the winter of 1806, spent by Nikolai Rostov in Moscow, was one of the happiest and most cheerful for him and for his entire family. Nikolai brought many young people with him to his parents’ house. Vera was twenty years old, a beautiful girl; Sonya is a sixteen-year-old girl in all the beauty of a newly blossoming flower; Natasha is half a young lady, half a girl, sometimes childishly funny, sometimes girlishly charming.
In the Rostov house at that time there was some kind of special atmosphere of love, as happens in a house where there are very nice and very young girls. Every young man who came to the Rostovs’ house, looking at these young, receptive, smiling girlish faces for something (probably at their happiness), at this animated running around, listening to this inconsistent, but affectionate to everyone, ready for anything, hope-filled babble of a woman The youth, listening to these inconsistent sounds, now singing, now music, experienced the same feeling of readiness for love and expectation of happiness, which the youth of the Rostov house themselves experienced.
Among the young people introduced by Rostov, one of the first was Dolokhov, who was liked by everyone in the house, with the exception of Natasha. She almost quarreled with her brother over Dolokhov. She insisted that he was an evil person, that in the duel with Bezukhov Pierre was right, and Dolokhov was to blame, that he was unpleasant and unnatural.
“I don’t understand anything,” Natasha shouted with stubborn willfulness, “he’s angry and without feelings.” Well, I love your Denisov, he was a carouser and that’s all, but I still love him, so I understand. I don’t know how to tell you; He has everything planned, and I don’t like it. Denisova...
“Well, Denisov is a different matter,” answered Nikolai, making him feel that in comparison with Dolokhov, even Denisov was nothing, “you need to understand what kind of soul this Dolokhov has, you need to see him with his mother, this is such a heart!”
“I don’t know this, but I feel awkward with him.” And do you know that he fell in love with Sonya?

ROLAND PETIT is a legendary personality. And not only in the world of ballet. Petit's work was admired both in Hollywood, where he choreographed dances for Fred Astaire, and in the largest theaters in the world. He was friends with Rudolf Nureyev, met Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo, worked with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Maya Plisetskaya.

The choreographer’s relationship with OUR country did not develop right away: in the 60s, the then Minister of Culture Furtseva categorically forbade Petit from bringing his ballet based on Mayakovsky’s poems to Moscow. But Roland Petit still came to Moscow. First with the ballet “The Queen of Spades” with Nikolai Tsiskaridze and Ilze Liepa in the main roles. Last Sunday, the premiere of his new ballet, “Notre Dame de Paris,” took place at the Bolshoi Theater.

- Several years ago you said that you wanted to stage a ballet on a Russian theme. And they staged “The Queen of Spades” by Pushkin. Why, as soon as we talk about Russia, does everyone immediately remember exclusively the literature of the 19th century - Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pushkin? But we also had the 20th century with no less powerful writers.

Absolutely the same thing happens when the Russians, the British, the Germans - or anyone! - they start talking about France. First of all, they remember Victor Hugo, Balzac - everyone who created centuries ago. But try to name me at least one of the modern French writers! But we still have great writers today. Michel Tournier, for example. A wonderful writer. Or Margarita Ursenar, who died 20 years ago. Who in the world knows this very talented writer?

Who is the genius?

- IS THERE ANY CONNECTION BETWEEN MONEY AND TALENT? Can a thing that is a commercial success be considered genius?

I think it all depends on luck. Some people managed to create truly masterpieces and at the same time were able to earn a lot of money. Picasso, for example. And Van Gogh, who was no less talented, at the end of his life had nothing to pay for electricity, and he died in complete poverty. There is no single rule.

- And in your case?

I confess: I love money! Who doesn't love money? Everyone loves it.

- But they say: “Talent must always be hungry.”

I don't believe in this at all. You know, I'm many years old. And I have enough money. But still, the most important thing for me is not my bank account, but the ballets that I will stage.

- Many talented people paid dearly for ascending to the top of Olympus. The same Nuriev - early death, unhappy personal life. And so - many, many...

I think that Nureyev was a very happy man. He just got sick and died early. He was obsessed with dance. One day I asked him, “Don’t you think you need to work a little less?” “No,” he said. - I’ll take care of my health later. In the meantime, I’ll dance.”

One day after a performance I went into his dressing room. Nuriev took off the tights he was dancing in on stage, and I saw that all his legs were covered with plaster from top to bottom. And when the massage therapist began to tear off the patch, the veins along the entire leg immediately swelled up, like hoses overflowing with water. I was scared: how could Nuriev do THIS to his own body? And he just waved his hand: “Oh, nothing, everything is fine!” Only death could stop his dance.

Unfortunately, we cannot say exactly what genius is and where it is hidden in a person. Same Marilyn Monroe. I worked at MGM with Fred Astaire at the same time as Marilyn Monroe. She starred in one rather mediocre film, I don’t even remember the name: “7 Years of Wealth” - something like that. And everyone was perplexed, looking at her: what did the producer find in her, why was there such a stir around her? Personally, I only interacted with her once. She extended her hand to me for a kiss, but I only shook her hand. She was disappointed with my manners: “And I thought that French men always kiss women’s hands.” Then we met several times in the studio canteen, and off the screen she was so simple, so modest, but at the same time glowing like the sun. She wasn't the most beautiful in Hollywood - you could find much more beautiful women than her. And she didn’t star in any films that would shake the foundations of cinema. But, of course, she was touched by genius, because she transformed in front of the camera. And yet, she died young. This is good for a star - it helps to become famous (laughs). You must die either very young or very old.

We don't need this kind of ballet

- THERE IS an opinion that avant-garde ballet is glorified by those who are lazy or who lack the talent to learn classical dance. Do you agree?

I want to tell you about one ballet, it is now performing in France, in Paris. This, as the program says, is an avant-garde ballet. It's called "Snore". And the music consists of a recording of a sleeping person snoring. A beam of light on a dark stage reveals a man; he is apparently sleeping. A woman sits astride him and makes characteristic movements. Then he says (he says! in ballet!): “Oh, how good it is to make love to a sleeping man.” What does everything that happens on stage have to do with dance?!

Classical ballet today has one problem - the lack of choreographers. All the young people say: “Oh, modern ballet is so easy to do! I’d rather stage modern dances.” There have never been many classical choreographers in the history of ballet - Petipa, Ivanov, Balanchine, Fokine...

Who are the masters left today? Yuri Grigorovich. But Grigorovich is already the same age as me. Where are the young people? Where?!

- One of the dangers that awaits ballet is a passion for the sporting side of dance. And a competition begins on stage: who can jump higher, who can do more pirouettes. Will ballet turn into a sport in a few years?

Yes, this is possible. But it will be creepy! The other day I watched Swan Lake at the Bolshoi with Svetlana Lunkina in the title role. She turns the fouetté - one, two, ten. Why is she doing this?! If she had just gone on stage, struck a pose, shown her beautiful legs, the quality of her ballet work, her intelligence, it would have been much better. You don't have to spin on your head to shock the viewer. If I were more familiar with her, I would advise: “Do two or three rounds - that’s enough!” Because then the circus begins! You sit and think: “Lord! Just don’t fall!”

- Nowadays, many artists in literature and cinema are carried away by creating a different reality - Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc. They invent problems, conflicts. Although in real life, real people have neither conflicts nor problems. But for some reason artists don’t notice them. Why?

Or maybe they are not artists? For me, such art does not exist - it is simply a high development of technology and bright pictures.

When my friends say, “I took the kids to Disneyland this weekend,” I don’t understand their excitement. If you took the children to the zoo, they would see how live monkeys jump on the branches. This is much better!

- It seems that Balzac said that it only makes sense to write about death and money, because only this really interests people. What feeling would you add to this list?

I think the most important thing in the world is love. In all its manifestations - to children and wife, to a lover or mistress, simply to the time in which you live.

French and Russian ballet have enriched each other more than once. So the French choreographer Roland Petit considered himself the “heir” to the traditions of S. Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet.

Roland Petit was born in 1924. His father was the owner of a diner - his son even had a chance to work there, and subsequently, in memory of this, he staged a choreographic number with a tray, but his mother was directly related to ballet art: she founded the company Repetto, which produces clothes and shoes for ballet. At the age of 9, the boy declares that he will leave home if he is not allowed to study ballet. Having successfully passed the exam at the Paris Opera School, he studied there with S. Lifar and G. Rico, a year later he began performing in mimance in opera performances.

Having completed his studies in 1940, Roland Petit became a corps de ballet dancer at the Paris Opera, a year later he was chosen as a partner by M. Bourg, and later he gave ballet evenings together with J. Charra. At these evenings, small numbers are performed in the choreography of J. Charra, but here R. Petit presents his first work - “Springboard Jump”. In 1943, he performed the solo part in the ballet “Love the Sorceress,” but he was more attracted to the work of a choreographer.

After leaving the theater in 1940, 20-year-old R. Petit, thanks to the financial support of his father, staged the ballet “Comedians” at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. The success exceeded all expectations - which made it possible to create his own troupe, called the “Ballet of the Champs-Elysees”. It existed for only seven years (differences with the theater administration played a fatal role), but many performances were staged: “Young Man and Death” to the music and other works of R. Petit himself, productions by other choreographers of that time, excerpts from classical ballets - “La Sylphide” , "Sleeping Beauty", " ".

When the Ballet des Champs-Élysées ceased to exist, R. Petit created the Ballet of Paris. The new troupe included Margot Fonteyn - it was she who performed one of the central roles in the ballet to the music of J. France “Girl in the Night” (the other main role was danced by R. Petit himself), and in 1948 he danced in the ballet “Carmen” on music by J. Bizet in London.

Roland Petit's talent was appreciated not only among ballet fans, but also in Hollywood. In 1952, in the musical film “Hans Christian Andersen”, he played the role of the Prince from the fairy tale “The Little Mermaid”, and in 1955, as a choreographer, he participated in the creation of the films “The Crystal Slipper” based on the fairy tale “Cinderella” and - together with the dancer F. Astaire - "Daddy Long Legs"

But Roland Petit is already experienced enough to create a multi-act ballet. And he created such a production in 1959, taking E. Rostand’s drama “Cyrano de Bergerac” as a basis. A year later, this ballet was filmed along with three other productions of the choreographer - “Carmen”, “The Diamond Eater” and “Mourning for 24 Hours” - all of these ballets were included in Terence Young’s film “One, Two, Three, Four, or Black Tights” . In three of them, the choreographer himself performed the main roles - Cyrano de Bergerac, Jose and the Groom.

In 1965, Roland Petit staged the ballet “Notre Dame de Paris” at the Paris Opera to the music of M. Jarre. Of all the characters, the choreographer left four main ones, each of which embodies a certain collective image: Esmeralda - purity, Claude Frollo - meanness, Phoebus - spiritual emptiness in a beautiful “shell”, Quasimodo - the soul of an angel in an ugly body (this role was played by R. Petit). Along with these heroes, there is a faceless crowd in the ballet, which can save and kill with equal ease... The next work was the ballet “Paradise Lost” staged in London, revealing the theme of the struggle between poetic thoughts in the human soul and the rough sensual nature. Some critics saw it as a "sculptural abstraction of sex." The final scene, in which a woman mourns her lost purity, seemed very unexpected - it resembled an inverted pieta... Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev danced in this performance.

Having headed the Ballet of Marseille in 1972, Roland Petit took as the basis for the ballet performance... the poems of V. V. Mayakovsky. In this ballet called “Light Up the Stars,” he himself plays the main role, for which he shaved his head. Next year he collaborates with Maya Plisetskaya - she dances in his ballet “Sick Rose”. In 1978, he staged the ballet “The Queen of Spades” for Mikhail Baryshnikov, and at the same time - a ballet about Charlie Chaplin. The choreographer was personally acquainted with this great actor, and after his death he received the consent of the actor’s son to create such a production.

After 26 years of leading the Ballet of Marseille, R. Petit left the troupe due to a conflict with the administration and even banned the staging of his ballets. At the beginning of the 21st century, he collaborated with the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow: “Passacaglia” to the music of A. Webern, “The Queen of Spades” to the music of P. I. Tchaikovsky, his “Notre Dame Cathedral” was staged in Russia. The program “Roland Petit Tells,” presented at the Bolshoi Theater on the New Stage in 2004, aroused great interest among the public: Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Lucia Lakkara and Ilze Liepa performed fragments from his ballets, and the choreographer himself talked about his life.

The choreographer passed away in 2011. Roland Petit staged about 150 ballets - he even claimed that he was “more prolific than Pablo Picasso.” For his work, the choreographer has repeatedly received state awards. At home in 1974, he was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor, and for the ballet “The Queen of Spades” he was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation.

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In Geneva, at the age of 88, the French dancer and choreographer Roland Petit, a prominent representative of the world ballet scene of the 20th century, died. Petit is the author of more than 150 ballet productions, including the great ballet “Young Man and Death”. Perhaps Petit was not a choreographer of the caliber of Balanchine or Béjart, but he turned academic dance into a live theatrical performance, and that’s what makes him interesting.

Roland Petit was born in 1924 in France. His mother was Italian Rose Repetto, who later founded the famous ballet shoe company Repetto, his father was the owner of a Parisian bistro. Petit showed an early interest in art. He loved to dance to the sounds of the pianola in his father’s restaurant, who encouraged his hobbies in every possible way. On the advice of one of the visitors, Edmond Petit sent his nine-year-old son to the ballet school of the Paris Opera, where Gustav Rico and Serge Lifar became his mentors.

After graduating from school, 16-year-old Petit was accepted into the corps de ballet and already at 19 he performed his first solo role - in the ballet “Love the Enchantress” by Manuel de Falla. However, the young dancer was not delighted with Lifar’s working methods and did not share his neoclassical views. He wanted to have his say in ballet, so at the age of 21 he left the Paris Opera and began choreographing himself as part of the “Dance Evenings” at the Sarah Bernhardt Theater.

At that time, Petit moved in the circle of Parisian bohemia, many of whom he met thanks to Jean Cocteau. Petit met the writer by chance: they met when Petit was still a student at the ballet school, and became friends. The choreographer often visited Cocteau, who was visited by famous artists, writers and musicians. Among Petit's new acquaintances were the critic Irene Lidova and Sergei Diaghilev's assistant Boris Kokhno, with whom, with the financial support of Petit's father, he founded his first troupe, the Ballet of the Champs-Elysees. With this troupe, the choreographer staged one of his most famous ballets - "Young Man and Death" based on Cocteau's story.

This one-act ballet to the music of Bach has become the quintessence of Petit's work - the hero, a young artist, suffers from unrequited love and, unable to withstand existential torment, commits suicide. The ballet was a resounding success - eroticism and frankness, unprecedented at that time, and the image of a femme fatale, which was extremely bold for a ballet, captivated the audience. Over time, this ballet became one of the most popular productions of the 20th century - it was staged in theaters around the world, and the main roles were danced by outstanding performers, including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nureyev and Nicolas Le Riche.

In 1948, Petit created a second troupe, the Ballet of Paris, with which he staged Carmen with Margot Fonteyn in London in 1949. The sensual production aroused awe among British critics: the author of one of the reviews wrote that he literally heard the men in the audience having their trouser buttons torn off with a bang. However, the public received the ballet with a bang, and London became an important step for Petit on the path to European recognition and world fame.

In 1964, at the request of the Paris Opera, Petit staged another outstanding ballet - Notre Dame de Paris to the music of Maurice Jarre. By that time, the choreographer was already a real star - in the 1950s, he spent four years in Hollywood, where he brought his troupe on tour. During this time, Petit managed to work with Orson Welles and choreograph dances in the musical films “Daddy Long Legs” with Fred Astaire, “Whatever Happens,” in which Petit’s wife, the French ballerina Zizi Jeanmaire, played, and a number of others.

In the early 1970s, Petit switched from ballet to “light genres” like cabaret for several years, but already in 1972 the choreographer headed the Marseille Ballet, with whom he worked until 1998. During this period, Petit showed himself in an unexpected way, beginning to stage ballets based on literary works. He was the only outstanding choreographer who dared to stage a ballet based on Proust's series of novels "In Search of Lost Time." This bold attempt forced many critics to reconsider the accusations of superficiality and craving for boulevard choreography that were made against Petit.

Petit was surrounded by outstanding people of his time in literally all areas of art. The music for his ballets was written by Henri Dutilleux and Henri Sauguet, the scenery for the performances was created by Pablo Picasso and Max Ernst, the costumes were created by Yves-Saint Laurent and Christian Dior, the libretto was written by Jean Anouilh, Jacques Prévert and Georges Simenon. Petit’s memoirs, published in 1993, are almost entirely composed of memories of work and acquaintance with those with whom the choreographer had the opportunity to collaborate or communicate.

A special place in Petit’s biography is occupied by his work in Russia and the Soviet Union. In the 1970s, his “Notre Dame Cathedral” in the USSR, where, unlike London, miniskirts and Jarre’s music were not only unknown but almost forbidden, created a real sensation. In 1973, Petit staged The Death of the Rose for Maya Plisetskaya at the Bolshoi Theater, and in 1988, Cyrano de Bergerac. Nevertheless, the most memorable ballet Petit staged at the Bolshoi was The Queen of Spades (2001) with Ilze Liepa and Nikolai Tsiskaridze. For this ballet, Roland Petit was awarded the Russian State Prize, becoming the first foreigner to receive such an honor. In 2010, at the request of Bolshoi Petit, he staged “Youth and Death” especially for the main young star of Russian ballet, Ivan Vasiliev.

General Director of the Bolshoi Theater Anatoly Iksanov expressed condolences over Petit’s death and promised to organize an evening in his memory at the theater. “This is a great loss for the entire ballet world and a personal grief for us, the Bolshoi Theater, in which much is connected with Roland Petit. Roland Petit is an entire era in the history of world ballet. We will always remember this great creator,” he said. There is nothing to add here.