Death of Yvette Chauviré, legend of the dance – The Point

The star Yvette Chauviré, who passed away in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday at the age of 99 years, has incarnated the quintessence of classical ballet, French in the Twentieth century. The director of the Paris Opera, Stephane Lissner, the director of the dance Aurélie Dupont and the entire staff of the Paris national Opera said Wednesday their “sadness” to learn of the disappearance of the huge dancer. She had made her farewells in 1972 on the stage of the Palais Garnier from its beginnings, with “Giselle”, an iconic role to which his name has remained associated. Yvette Chauviré has served the choreographers of his time, in the first place, its master Russian choreographer Serge Lifar, who had named star, December 31, 1941 . This “prima ballerina absoluta” of the Twentieth century has triumphed in “Giselle”, a masterpiece of the romantic ballet, which has regained the graces of the public, thanks to her, a century after its creation by Grisi.

Yvette Chauviré, born April 22, 1917 in Paris, will remain above all, in the history of the Ballet of the Paris Opera, as the inspirer and interpreter flagship of Serge Lifar, who reigned over the venerable company for almost three decades, until the late 1950s. It is this last which has set the terrifying variation of 20 minutes of ballet “Istar” on the music of Vincent d’indy, a play that has earned Yvette Chauviré its title star. Lifar was associated as a performer with many of his new ballets, “David triumphant” in 1937 to “The Peri” in 1955, by way of “The Knight and the Damsel” or “animal models”.

Intelligence and purity

In one of these rooms, “The Mirages” (1944), Yvette Chauviré danced the character of the Shadow, one of the great roles of the repertoire of the Twentieth century, in which she initiated a number of young or aspiring stars. His dance is both ample and luminous should be the worlds symbolic in that changing the wili elusive “Giselle”, the mysterious babylonian goddess”Istar,” and the Shadow of the “Mirages”, in contrast with the daily reality. The intelligence of style, the purity of the technique, Yvette Chauviré had acquired with Carlotta Zambelli, a professor at the School of dance of the Opera, and then with two teachers white russians, Boris Kniasef and Victor Gsovski. The latter paid him in 1949 a piece of bravery, the “Grand pas classique” on the music of Auber. Engaged early on in the corps de ballet of the Opera, she left in 1946 in the wake of Lifar — party in Monte-Carlo — and then reinstated from 1947 to 1949, before leaving for tours in the world.

In the 1960s, always the “star guest” at the Paris Opera, she has performed with the most famous companies in the world, from Russia to the United States via London, Milan, Copenhagen, together with partners as brilliant as Maris Liepa, Erik Bruhn and Rudolf Nureyev. Up to an advanced age, to the Opera and everywhere where one wants to find the truth of the French dance, Yvette Chauviré has passed his knowledge on to dancers such as Sylvie Guillem, Marie-Claude Pietragalla. It is attached to show the steps, jumping and turning, always anxious to assist in the development of the technique and teach his cadets the intricacies of a role.