French dancer, ballet-master and choreographer

He was born in Marseilles. After touring France, Spain and the USA as a dancer, he went to St Petersburg in 1847 to join the Imperial Theatre where his father Jean had been a teacher. In 1858 he became the company's second ballet-master, and four years later staged his first ballet, Pharaoh's Daughter, setting the style of ballet à grand spectacle which was to dominate Russian ballet for the rest of the century. In 1869 he became ballet-master, and in the 34 years until his retirement in 1903 he created 46 original ballets, the most famous being Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty (1890) and Swan Lake (1895).

Russian dancer and choreographer. He rose to fame in 1847 as principal dancer at the Maryinski Theatre, St Petersburg, and was choreographer of the Imperial Russian Ballet (1862-1903). His Don Quixote (1869), Sleeping Beauty (1890), and Raymonda (1898) laid the foundations of classical ballet. 

He exercised an important influence on the Russian imperial ballet in St Petersburg, where he worked from 1847 until 1903. He became its chief choreographer in 1862. His many ballets include Don Quixote (1869) and The Sleeping Beauty (1890), on which he collaborated with its composer, Tchaikovsky.