Historical context

The Pharaoh's Daughter is a ballet in 3 acts by Marius Petipa, with music by Cesare Pugni and libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, based on Le Roman de la momie by Théophile Gautier. Premiered on 18 January 1862 at the Bolshoi Kamenny Imperial Theatre in St Petersburg, it was Petipa's first major spectacular ballet. It was Petipa's last role as a dancer, and he was to become ballet master and choreographer for good.

From its very first performances, The Pharaoh's Daughter, created in the space of five weeks, was a huge success. It was a grandiose, magical spectacle that had no equivalent in nineteenth-century imperial ballet in Petersburg. Everything contributed to making it an extraordinary experience: the sumptuous, large-scale, meticulously painted sets (designed by A. Roller), the colourful Egyptian-style costumes, the large number of ensemble dances and solos, and a first-rate cast - the lead role was danced by Carolina Rozati, her partner was Marius Petipa himself, while Lev Ivanov appeared in the role of the fisherman.

When he set about recreating The Pharaoh's Daughter for the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 2000, Pierre Lacotte revised the libretto and music and designed the sets and costumes. 

In 2024, Pierre Lacotte's La Fille du Pharaon is still in the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and remains a great success with audiences.

Recommendations 

The Congo variation has a joyful connotation. It requires a great deal of precision and legibility in the steps.

You should : 

- Anticipate the chassés on the turn of the first diagonal to ensure musicality. 

- Respect the time at the bottom of this first diagonal.

- Precisely mark the little beat on the instep in front and behind.

- Start by working the manège in diagonal and take care of the ballonné in the second. 

- Respect the musicality of the manège.

Pierre Lacotte born 1932. 

I trained at the Opera School. In 1946 I joined the Corps de  Ballet and Serge Lifar chose me as soloist in "Septuor". Promoted to  PREMIER DANSEUR in 1951, I frequently partnered Yvette Chauvire, Lycette  Darsonval and Christiane Vaussard. 

One of my first choreographic works ("The Night is a Sorceress"  to music by Sydney Bechet) was shown on Belgian television in 1954, and  this led me to leave the Opera in order to continue with choreography.  In 1955 I formed my own company, Les Ballets de la Tour Effel, who  appeared at the Theatre des Champs Elysees with the following works:  "Solstices", to music by Daniel Wayenberg, "Gosse de Paris" to music by  Charles Asnavour and "Concertino" to music by Vivaldi. 

At the same time I was pursuing my dancing career and I was  invited to perform in New York with Melissa Hayden, in London with  Violette Verdy and in Benelux, Germany and Switzerland. Several  Festivals commissioned ballets from me: "Such Sweet Thunder" (Duke  Ellington) in Berlin, "Hippolyte et Aricie (Rameau) for the Festival du  Marais and "Le Combat de Tancrede" (Monteverdi) for Aix-en-Provence.  Following my appointment as Director of Ballet of the Jeunesses  Musicales de France in 1963, I created 35 ballets in 7 years, including  "Bifurcations", "Hamlet", "Penthesilee" and "La Voix" in collaboration  with Edith Piaf. 

It was in 1968 whilst writing a book on romantic ballet that I  discovered documents about Philippe Taglioni‘s "La Sylphide" (1832)  which enabled me to reconstruct the work. Produced originally for  television, "La Sylphide" was subsequently transferred to the stage when  the Paris Opera invited me and the dancers (Ghislaine Thesmar and  Michael Denard) to repeat the performance at the Palais Garnier on 9  June 1972. 

After that I sort of became a "specialist" in the reconstruction  of works from the romantic repertoire: "Coppelia" and the pas de six  from "La Vivandiere" (Arthur saint-Leon) as well as the pas de deux from  "Papillon" (Marie Taglioni) for the Paris Opera (I danced this pas de  deux with Dominique Khalfouni in 1976), Taglioni‘s "La Fille du Danube"  for the Buenos Aires Colon Theatre, "Giselle" by Jean Corelli and Jules  Perrot (set and costumes based on the original 1841 production) for the  Ballet du Rhin, the Ballets de Monte Carlo and the Ballet National de  Nancy, "Nathalie or the Swiss Milkmaid" for Ekaterina Maximova in Moscow  (1980), "Marco Spada" by Joseph Mazilier at the Rome Opera in 1981 and  at the Paris Opera in 1985, "La Gitana" at the National Ballet of WARSAW  and "L‘Ombre" at the Ballet National de Paris, both in 1993, Le Lac des  Fees" at the Berlin Staatsoper in (1995) and "Le Lac des Cygnes" at  Nancy (1998). 

Having taught at the Conservatoire National Superior and at the  Paris Opera, I was appointed, with Ghislane Thesmar, Director of the new  Ballets Monte-Carlo where I put on "Te Deum" by Georges Bizet and "24  Hours in the Life of a Woman" based on the work by Stefan Zweig to a  score by Herve Niquet. I left in 1988 for the Verona Opera Ballet. From  1991 to 1999 I was Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Nancy and  Lorraine. 

Master of Arts and Literature, I co-authored with Jean-Pierre Pastori a book entitled "Tradition". 

After studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where she was unanimously awarded first prize for dance, Anne Salmon joined the Compagnie des Ballets de Monte-Carlo, under the direction of Pierre Lacotte and Ghislaine Thesmar. There she danced a number of ballets and played her first leading role (Lise) in La Fille Mal Gardée. In 1988, she joined Pierre Lacotte at the Ballet de Vérone where she danced in particular

La somnambule by Balanchine and La Sylphide by Pierre Lacotte. In 1989, she continued her career at the Ballet Royal des Flandres as a demi-soloist (artistic director: Robert Denvers). She worked there for two years, appearing in Balanchine's Sérénade, Nureyev's Don Quixote and Bournonville's La Sylphide.

In 1991, Pierre Lacotte invited her to join the Ballet de Nancy et de Lorraine as principal soloist. There she performed Giselle, La Sylphide, Marco Spada, Swan Lake and L'Ombre in Pierre Lacotte's versions, as well as works by other choreographers including George Balanchine, Michel Fokine, Agnès de Mille, Norbert Schmucki, Roland Petit, Jiri Kylian and Antonio Gades. 

At the same time, she became Pierre Lacotte's assistant for the creation of La fille du Pharaon at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, thus inaugurating an international career as ballet mistress, which has since taken her to Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Milan, Tokyo, Shanghai, Buenos Aires, Moscow and St Petersburg, and has led to the staging in the main theatres of these cities of major ballets choreographed by Pierre Lacotte, Michel Fokine and Vaslav Nijinsky. 

Since Pierre Lacotte's death in April 2023, Anne Salmon has been responsible for the artistic direction of his work. 

Anne Salmon holds a certificat d'aptitude à l'enseignement de la danse classique, and since 2006 has taught classical dance at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. She was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2022 for her work as a ballet dancer, ballet mistress and teacher.

Director of the production company La Huit since 1990, Gilles Le Mao has produced and directed, on behalf of the General Delegation of Artistic Creation, more than 300 variations of “Dance Events” since 1996.

 Executive producer of some 400 audiovisual and cinema programs at La Huit, he also carries out major interviews on personalities from ethnology, architecture, landscape and art history with the Ministry of Culture. 2009 World Music Favorite Prize from the Charles Cros Academy for the film “The Drums of Tokyo”, he has produced around fifty documented concerts on jazz, world music and classical music since 1999.

 He has also been a member of various selective cinema commissions since 2009 at the CNC and in the Limousin, Normandy and Grand-Est regions. Since 1995, he has worked with the Ministry of Culture - Drac Ile de France in high school and BTS cinema and production section.

Numeridanse is an online consultation platform only, so videos and music for variations cannot be downloaded. 

You can find all the information you need on the dedicated page of the Ministry of Culture website: culture.gouv.fr