Pierre Lacotte
French ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher Pierre Lacotte was born in Chatou on 4 April 1932. He studied at the Paris Opera Ballet School and then became a member of Paris Opera Ballet, rising through the ranks to become premier danseur, then forming his own company, Les Ballets de la Tour Eiffel. He also worked as a principal dancer with New York Metropolitan Ballet, helped Rudolf Nureyev to defect from the Soviet Union, was director of Ballet National Jeunesses Musicales de France and worked in Russia.
He specialised in reconstructing lost choreographies for romantic ballets, beginning with a pas de deux from Donizetti's La favorite and then, to great acclaim, Filippo Taglioni's La Sylphide with music by Jean-Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer.
Pierre Lacotte died in La Seyne-sur-Mer on 10 April 2023, aged ninety-one.