Jean-Baptiste Landé (died 26 February 1748) was a French

ballet dancer A ballet dancer is a person who practices the Art (skill), art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. B ...

, active in Sweden, Denmark and Russia. He is the founder of the Russian Ballet

Mariinsky Ballet The Mariinsky Ballet () is the resident classical ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's ...

Sweden

Landé was employed at the Polish royal court in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

when he was engaged by King

Frederick I of Sweden Frederick I (; 28 April 1676 – 5 April 1751) was List of Swedish monarchs, King of Sweden from 1720 until his death, having been prince consort of Sweden from 1718 to 1720, and was also Landgrave of Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Kassel fr ...

in 1721. He was appointed dancing master of the Swedish court and in 1723 he became the director of the French Opera-Theatre in

Bollhuset Bollhuset, also called (The Big Ball House), (Ball House Theater), and Gamla Bollhuset (Old Ball House) at various times, was the name of the first theater in Stockholm, Sweden; it was the first Swedish theater and the first real theater buildin ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, which he named ''L'Académie royale de musique et de danse''. In 1726, he was a guest

ballet master A ballet master (also balletmaster, ballet mistress, ''premier maître de ballet'' or ''premier maître de ballet en chef'') is an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company. In mo ...

at the first theatre in Denmark, the Lille Grönnegade theatre (1722-1728), where he performed with his wife.

Denmark

He left Sweden in 1728, after a conflict with Charles Langlois (actor), who intruded on his theatre privilege by arranging his own plays at Bollhuset. He went to Denmark, where the only previous theatre had been closed in 1728, and tried to start his own theatre, but theatre was banned in Denmark in 1730-1746, and he supported himself as a dance teacher.

Russia

In 1734 he was invited to Russia, where he was made dance master at the military academy. After a ballet performance for

Empress Anna Anna Ioannovna (; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much of her administration ...

in 1735, the Russian Ballet School was established in 1738 with Landé as its ballet master. He educated the first dancers in Russia, which were taken from the staff at the royal palace: Timofei Bublikov, Nikolai Choglokov, Afanasy Toporkov, Ivan Shatilov, Nikolai Tolubeyev, Sergei Chalyshkin, Andrei Samarin and Andrei Nesterov, and among the females Yelizaveta,

Avdotia Timofeyeva Avdotia Timofeyeva (c. 1739-?), was a Russian ballerina. She belonged to the first group of ballet dancers in the history of Russian ballet. Timofejeva was a part of the first group of ballet students trained by the founder of the Russian ballet, ...

and Aksinya Sergeeva. Landé was the dance instructor of

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

after her arrival in Russia in 1744.Henri Troyat: ''Catherine the Great'' (1987)

References

Other sources

* Samuel H. Cross, "The Russian Ballet Before Dyagilev." ''Slavonic and East European Review. American Series'' 3.4 (1944): 19-49
in JSTOR
* Gidlunds förlag: ''Ny svensk teaterhistoria. Teater före 1800'' (New Swedish theatre history. Theatre before 1800)

External links

michaelminn.net

* ttp://www.bournonville.com/bournonville46mainFrame.html#3 The history of the Royal Danish Ballet, by Erik Aschengreen {{DEFAULTSORT:Lande, Jean-Baptiste 18th-century French male actors French male stage actors Swedish theatre directors French male ballet dancers Russian male ballet dancers French ballet masters Year of birth missing 1748 deaths 18th-century ballet dancers from the Russian Empire 18th-century French ballet dancers 18th-century theatre managers