Jean Dauberval
Jean Dauberval (1742-1806). French dancer, choreographer and educator.
Son of an actor with the Comédie-Française, he was trained at the dance school of the Académie Royale de Musique (ARM) in Paris. He appeared on stage in Bordeaux, Lyon (where he worked with J. G. Noverre) and Turin before debuting on stage at the ARM in 1761. Although he joined Noverre in Stuttgart (1762-1764) then London (1764), he spent most of his career performing at the ARM, where he was appointed principal Demi-Caractère dancer in 1763, then principal Noble dancer in 1770. Becoming a Ballet Master at the ARM together with Maximilien Gardel in 1781, he resigned in 1783, as the two were unable to get along. He then became Ballet Master at the King’s Theatre in London (1783-1784) then at the Grand Théâtre in Bordeaux, where he created, from 1785 to 1790, a repertoire that highlighted his dancer wife, Mademoiselle Théodore, and at the Pantheon Theatre in London in 1791-1792, where he produced his last ballet.
Greatly appreciated as a dancer by Noverre, who considered him full of spirit, taste and intelligence, he excelled in the allegro dances. A partner of J.-B. Lany, Marie Allard and Marie-Madeleine Guimard, he appeared in a number of operatic works (including by J.-Ph. Rameau and C. Gluck) and participated in the creation of pantomime ballets by Gardel (“La Chercheuse d’esprit”, 1777) and Noverre (“Les Petits Riens”, 1778).
He scored his first choreography in 1759 in Turin (Il Trionfo di Bacco in Tracia), but was at his best from 1785 on in Bordeaux. He began by creating serious works then turned to lighter, Anacreontic subjects (inspired by the Greek poet Anacreon)- “Pygmalion”, 1785; “Psyche”, 1788; “Télémaque Dans l’Ile de Calypso”, 1791 – or he included ordinary characters in the comic mode (“Le Page Inconstant” and “L’Épreuve Villageoise”, 1787; “La Fille Mal Gardée”, 1789; “La Foire de Smyrne” and “Les Amants Réunis”, 1792).
Rather than dazzle the audience, he sought to touch their hearts. Skilled at presenting the characters, he blended dance and pantomime, demanding of his performers solid technique allied with varied expressive displays. S. Viganò, C.-L. Didelot, J.-P. Aumer and E. Hus were among his students.
Source: Dictionnaire de la Danse, Larousse, éd. 1999, en ligne
