Suzanne Théodore Vaillande Douvillier (28 September 1778 – 30 August 1826) was a French

ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on yea ...

mime Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...

and

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

. Known as Madame Placide during the early years of her career, she is considered by some historians as the first trained ballerina to dance in the United States.

Early life

Suzanne Theodore Vaillande was born in

Dole, Jura Dole (, sometimes pronounced ) is a commune in the Jura department, of which it is a subprefecture (''sous-préfecture''), in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, in Eastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 23,711. History Dole was t ...

, France, on September 28, 1778. It is believed that her birth was illegitimate; her mother was Marie Reine Vailland (sic) but her father is unknown.Encyclopædia Britannica "Suzanne Douvillier"
/ref> Due to a lack of extant records knowledge of her childhood is almost entirely bereft of even the vaguest detail - all that is known is that she was educated in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and therefore it has been conjectured that her early ballet training was at the Paris Opera. As she entered her teenage years the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

was underway, and she arrived in

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

(Saint-Domingue), then part of the

French West Indies The French West Indies or French Antilles (french: Antilles françaises, ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy fwansez) are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean: * The two overseas departments of: ** Guadeloupe, ...

, around 1790; it was there that she encountered

Alexander Placide Alexander Placide (1750–1812), was an American (originally French) actor and theatre manager.Robin O. Warren, Women on Southern Stages, 1800-1865: Performance, Gender and Identity He debuted in France in 1770 and was active in Saint-Domingue unt ...

, primarily a 'theatrical figure' though impressively multitalented, accomplished in such diverse activities as fencing, acrobatics, and the directing of plays. He would become a major professional (and, to some extent, romantic) partner and influence in her career.

Career

In 1791 the duo moved to America after the Santo Domingo rebellion. Her debut came on January 25, 1792, at the John Street Theatre in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, in The Bird Catcher, a piece generally regarded as the first ever ballet performed in New York. She was billed as Madame Placide, though they were unmarried at the time. They remained there for some months, performing many ballets and pantomimes together. For the later part of 1792 they moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, then in 1793 to Newport,

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

, where they were joined by Louis Douvillier. In 1794 they moved south to

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

. By then she was the most popular and talented dancer in America, and in 1796 became the first female choreographer in the United States by choreographing the ballet Echo and Narcissus, at the age of just 18. In June 1796 tensions between Douvillier and Placide came to a head - they had a duel over the affections of Vaillande. Despite the fact that Placide won, Douvillier married Suzanne and in 1799 they settled in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. She then started choreographing often, though continued dancing. In 1808 she became the first female to perform as a male in America; the opposite was quite widespread, though at the time this act was considered amazingly daring. In 1813 she started set design, and is said to be a pioneering female in this respect also.

Later life

Her face became disfigured in later years, according to actor

Noah Ludlow Noah Miller Ludlow (1795–1886), was an American actor and theatre manager. He was the leader of a theatre company touring Louisiana (where he introduced English language theatre) and Alabama and Mississippi, where he introduced theatre. In Ne ...

.Ludlow, Noah, 1880, Dramatic Life as I Found It Her final performance was in ''Don Juan'' in 1818; in it, she wore a mask which concealed this. She died in New Orleans in 1826 at the age of 48, outliving her husband by five years. The couple are buried in St. Louis Cemetery, New Orleans. She is seen as a pioneer in both the advancement of women's roles in society and in choreography.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douvillier, Suzanne 1778 births 1826 deaths 18th-century American people 18th-century French ballet dancers 18th-century French women 19th-century American ballet dancers 19th-century French ballet dancers 19th-century American women American ballerinas American choreographers American mimes French ballerinas French women choreographers French emigrants to the United States French mimes People from Dole, Jura Artists from New Orleans People of Saint-Domingue Dancers from Louisiana

Early life

Career

Later life

See also

References