Noverre, Jean-Georges

(1727-1810)

   dancer, choreographer

   Born in Paris, Jean-Georges Noverre debuted at the court of louis XV in 1742. He subsequently traveled to Germany (where he later returned to serve as ballet master in Stuttgart, 1755), then returned to France to stage his first ballets. From 1755 to 1757, he studied in London with the English mime David Garrick, whose techniques influenced Noverre in his efforts to bring innovations and reform to ballet. In lyon, Noverre staged a number of works and published his celebrated Lettres sur la danse et sur les ballets (1760). There, he discusses new theatrical forms for the dance, emphasizing plot and incorporating elements of pantomime. Called to vienna (1767), he collaborated with Christoph von Gluck (Iphigénie en Tauride, Alceste) and, returning to France (1776), was named, through the patronage of Queen marie Antoinette, director of the Paris Opera. During the revolution of 1789, Noverre was in exile in London and, upon his return to France, devoted his later years to editing a dictionary of the dance.