Françoise Prévost

Who was Françoise Prévost?

Françoise Prévost was a French ballerina who helped establish dramatic dance in the early world of classical ballet. She was expressive, light and dramatic in style. Prevost debuted at the Académie d'Opera in the ballet, Atys, later replacing Marie-Thérèse de Subligny as the female lead. In 1708, she performed with Jean Balon in the final scene of Corneille's Les Horaces. The performance, though only of the final scene of the play and entirely in pantomime, is said to have caused the audience to weep. The "pantomime" came from the popular theaters of the time and freely used bold gestures and body language to communicate the narrative to the audience. The goal was to convey a story of meaning using purely movement, without spoken word. Maintaining her interest in the dramatic potential of dance, Prevost created a famous solo in 1714 called "Les Caracteres de la Danse." Choreographed to a suite of dances by composer Jean Ferry Rebel, the "characters" depicted a series of lovers of varying ages and sexes, and Prevost enacted each one to a different piece of music: the bourree, the menuet, the passepied.