Serge Peretti

After studying at the Paris Opera Ballet School, he joined its Ballet in 1920. He became the Premier Danseur in 1930 and was the first man to be nominated Danseur Étoile in 1941. He became a ballet master in 1945 and left the Opera in 1946. He opened his own dance school in 1948, then returned to the Opera as teacher for the Danseur Étoile class between 1962 and 1970.

An exquisite dancer, the greatest of his time, he impressed through the elegance and purity of his dance, with its sure and precise technique. He imagined countless roles and adapted with pleasure to the style of choreographers ranging from M. Fokine to B. Nijinska and, in particular, S. Lifar, with whom he produced numerous ballets.

Two months before he passed away, the director Dominique Delouche dedicated a film to him entitled Serge Peretti, le dernier Italien (Serge Peretti, the Last Italian).

Source : Germaine Prudhommeau, Dictionnaire de la danse (dir. Philippe Le Moal), Larousse, 1999