Louis Dupré (1697–1774) was a French ballet dancer, ballet master and ballet teacher.

Life

Probably first dancing in child roles under the name "Petit Dupré", he made his official débuts at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

in 1714 and became its balletmaster in 1739. From 1725 to 1730, he regularly put on productions in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

and at the Polish court. Until 1743 he was one of the principal professors at the dance school of the National Opera of Paris, where his students included

Marie-Anne de Camargo Marie Anne de Cupis de Camargo (15 April 1710 in Brussels – 28 April 1770 in Paris), sometimes known simply as La Camargo, was a French dancer. The first woman to execute the '' entrechat quatre'', Camargo was also allegedly responsible for ...

Gaétan Vestris Gaetano Apolline Baldassarre Vestris (18 April 1729 – 1808), French ballet dancer, was born in Florence and made his debut at the opera in 1749. Life Born of an Italian theatrical family, he studied dance with Louis Dupré at the Royal Acad ...

Jean-Georges Noverre Jean-Georges Noverre (29 April 1727 19 October 1810) was a French dancer and balletmaster, and is generally considered the creator of ''ballet d'action'', a precursor of the narrative ballets of the 19th century. His birthday is now observed as ...

, Maximilien Gardel and

Jean-Baptiste Hus Jean-Baptiste Hus (Paris, June 1736 – Paris, 1805) was a French ballet dancer and ballet master who used the pseudonym Hus-Malo. He was the son of François Hus and Françoise-Nicole Gravillon, the brother of the future actress Mlle Hus, and ...

Casanova Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...

was one of his devoted admirers. Technically accomplished, he was an emblematic figure of French ''belle danse'', and in his time he was called "le Grand Dupré" and "god of the dance".

Collège Louis le Grand

He composed several

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

s for the students of the Collège Louis le Grand: * 1748 : ''Portrait du Grand Monarque'' * 1749 : ''Catilina'' * 1750 : ''Le Temple de la fortune'' * 1751 : ''Le Génie'' * 1754 : ''Les Spectacles du Parnasse'' * 1755 : ''La Prospérité'' 1690 births 1774 deaths 18th-century French ballet dancers French ballet masters French male ballet dancers Ballet choreographers Dupre French choreographers 20th-century ballet dancers {{ballet-bio-stub