Loyola Dance Theatre 2015 - Pas De Quatre

Choreography: Jules Perrot
Composer: Cesare Pugni
Reconstruction/Additional Choreography: Anton Dolin
Staging: Randall Newsom
Costume Construction: Alex Meadows
Lighting Design: Lee Keenan
First Performance: Her Majesty’s Theatre, London, England. July 12, 1845

Dancers (listed in order of variation):
Lucile Grahn-Mary O’Rourke
Carlotta Grisi-Margaret Ulland
Fanny Cerrito-Maureen Osario
Marie Taglioni-Elizabeth Modde

The Director of Her Majesty’s Theatre, Benjamin Lumley, conceived a plan to enhance ticket sales by uniting four of the reigning ballerinas to dance in a divertissment. He hired Jules Perrot to choreograph the work and Cesare Pugni to compose the music. Little did they know the difficulties they would encounter in attempting to put these four ferociously competitive and jealous rivals on stage at the same time. The variations were to highlight the specific gifts and style of each ballerina, but when all four dancers were to be on stage at the same time, every step had to “be weighed in balance so as to give no preponderance.”

On the day of the opening performance a decision had yet to be made as to the order in which the variations would be allotted. Each ballerina wanted to be assigned the last spot, usually known as “Pride of Place.” It was finally agreed that Taglioni would be awarded that slot, but the other three ballerinas were adamant that they should have the spot preceding Taglioni. After much controversy and many threats, Mr. Lumley decided that the ballerinas would dance in order of age! These great ballerinas suddenly started tittering and giggling like schoolgirls and went out of their way to “graciously” acknowledge their elder competition.

On opening night Pas de Quatre made dance history. It was only performed four times with the original cast. A veneer of civility lightly covers the intense rivalry between these four great ballerinas in this beautiful little divertissement.