Dance
Roland Petit
Roland Petit (1924-2011) was one of the giants of 20th-century dance, a French choreographer and dancer, founder of the Ballets de Paris and then the Ballet National de Marseille. Creator of “Le Jeune Homme et la Mort” and a celebrated “Carmen”, husband of the dancer Zizi Jeanmaire, he loved popular music as much as the classics: his very first Marseille creation was the “Pink Floyd Ballet” (1972), to the music of Pink Floyd. He spent his last years by Lake Geneva.
Roland Petit, from the Pink Floyd Ballet to Lake Geneva
A star choreographer
As early as 1946, at twenty-two, Roland Petit overturned dance with “Le Jeune Homme et la Mort”, then a sulphurous “Carmen” carried by Zizi Jeanmaire, who became his wife and muse. He choreographed for Hollywood, staged revues at the Casino de Paris and in 1972 founded the Ballet National de Marseille, which he would direct for a quarter of a century. His art blended classical rigour with the spirit of music hall and song.
The Pink Floyd Ballet
To inaugurate his Ballet National de Marseille, in 1972, Roland Petit chose the music of Pink Floyd: the “Pink Floyd Ballet” brought rock onto the ballet stage and left a lasting mark. Throughout his career he kept bringing dance into dialogue with the music of his time, just as Montreux lets genres converse on its own stages.
His last years by Lake Geneva
After leaving Marseille, Roland Petit settled in Geneva, on the shores of Lake Geneva, where he spent the last decade of his life. Like his friend Maurice Béjart, he was cared for at the Clinique Valmont, above Montreux. He died in Geneva in 2011, leaving a repertoire that the great companies still dance around the world.