Marius Petipa

Hello! My name is Marius Petipa. A long, long time ago, in the year 1818, I was born on March 11th. When I was a little boy, I loved music and moving my body. My father was a dancer, and he showed me how to dance, too! It was so much fun. I loved to leap high in the air and twirl all around. For me, dancing felt like telling a happy story without using any words.

When I got bigger, I still loved to dance, but I had a new dream. I wanted to make up the dances myself! In 1847, I moved to a faraway place called Russia to become a choreographer. A choreographer is someone who creates all the special steps for the dancers. I made up beautiful ballets about princes and princesses. I even made a dance with a sweet Sugar Plum Fairy! I worked with my friend, a wonderful music maker named Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Together, we created famous ballets that you might know, like 'The Nutcracker' and 'Swan Lake'.

My ballets were like big, magical parties on a stage. The dancers wore sparkly costumes, and the stage had amazing pictures on it called scenery. So many people loved coming to the theater to watch the stories I told with dancing. Even today, a very long time after I created them, families still go to see my ballets. 'The Nutcracker' is a special favorite for many families during Christmastime. It makes me so happy to know my dances still bring joy to everyone.

I filled my whole life with music and dancing. I lived to be 92 years old. People remember me as the 'Father of Classical Ballet'. That's because my dancing stories are still shown all over the world, making people smile and dream.