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Jean Coralli
Choreographer
Biography
Jean Coralli, of Italian origin (Bologna), was born in Paris in 1779. After graduating from the Ecole de Danse de l'Opéra, he made his debut as a dancer in 1802. He then left Paris for London. He had already begun choreographing at the Vienna Opera (Paul et Rozette, 1800), but returned and remained there until 1806, producing Les Abencérages, Le Calif généreux, Les Incas, and Hélène et Pâris. Then, in Milan, Jean Coralli and his second wife Teresa formed the star couple at La Scala, performing Salvatore Vigano's masterpieces. Between 1815 and 1822, Coralli divided his time as ballet master between Milan, Lisbon and Marseille. In 1825, he took over from Frédéric-Auguste Blache at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin. He was in charge of the entertainment for some fifteen shows, and his dancers included Joseph Mazilier and Jules Perrot.
In 1831, the new head of the Opéra, Dr Véron, invited Jean Coralli to work for the Royal Academy of Music: He choreographed L'Orgie (1831), La Tempête ou l'île des génies (1834), Le Diable boîteux (1836) for Fanny Elssler, La Chatte métamorphosée en femme (1837), La Tarentule (1839), Giselle in collaboration - with Jules Perrot (1841), La Péri (1843) for Carlotta Grisi.
Most of these ballets were successes that were regularly revived and remounted by the great ballet companies. Arthur Saint-Léon described his style as ‘essentially French, that is to say refined, delicate and poetic’. He had many pupils, including his son Eugène, who became a renowned mime. He retired in 1848 and died in Paris in 1854 at the age of 75.
