Anne-Françoise Bias, known as Fanny Bias ( – ), was a

dancer Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...

at the

Paris Opera The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...

from 1807 to 1825. She was one of the first dancers to use the

pointe technique Pointe technique ( ) is the part of classical ballet technique that concerns ''pointe work'', in which a ballet dancer supports all body weight on the tips of fully extended feet within pointe shoes. A dancer is said to be ''en pointe'' () when ...

Biography

Bias was born in Paris, France, and trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School under

Louis Milon Louis-Jacques-Jessé Milon (18 April 1766 – 26 November 1849)Life dates are according to Babsky 1998, p. 422, who also says that there is some uncertainty: he may have been born in 1765 or 1769, and may have died in 1845. was a French ballet danc ...

. She made her debut at the opera in 1807 and became one of the most famous dancers of the

French Restoration The Bourbon Restoration was the period of French history during which the House of Bourbon returned to power after the first fall of Napoleon on 3 May 1814. Briefly interrupted by the Hundred Days War in 1815, the Restoration lasted until the J ...

period, together with her friend

Émilie Bigottini Émilie Bigottini (16 April 1784, in Toulouse – 28 April 1858, in Paris) was a French dancer of Italian ancestry. The daughter of Francesco Bigottini, a famous harlequin at Paris's Comédie-Italienne, she joined the Opéra ballet at age 17 a ...

. Later in her career she became a first soloist at the company. In 1820 she was a principal in '' Les Pages du duc de Vendôme'' by

Jean-Pierre Aumer Jean-Louis Aumer (21 April 1774 – 6 July 1833), also referred to as Jean-Pierre Aumer, was a French ballet dancer and choreographer. Early life and career as a dancer Aumer was born in Strasbourg of a manual labourer and non-theatrical parents ...

and

Adalbert Gyrowetz Vojtěch Matyáš Jírovec (Adalbert Gyrowetz) (20 February 1763 – 19 March 1850) was a Bohemian composer. He mainly wrote instrumental works, with a great production of string quartets and symphonies; his operas and singspiele numbered mo ...

. She performed in many other productions, including in London. She retired due to poor health and died in Paris at the age of 36.

References

French female dancers Paris Opera 1789 births 1825 deaths 19th-century French dancers Dancers from Paris {{Ballet-bio-stub