Louis Duport


Louis-Antoine Duport was a French ballet dancer, ballet composer and ballet master.

Life

After studying dance under Jean-François Coulon, he began his career on the Boulevards and at the Ambigu-Comique, then made his debut at the Opéra de Paris in 1800, quickly becoming its premier danseur, with rivalries with Auguste Vestris as a dancer and with Pierre Gardel as a choreographer. He unilaterally broke his contract in 1808 and left Paris for Saint Petersburg, via Vienna.
At the Mariinsky Theatre, he danced in the ballets by Charles-Louis Didelot, before being made the head of a theatre in Naples and returning to Vienna as professor and director at the Theater am Kärntnertor. After spending many seasons in Naples, London and Turin, he returned to Paris in 1836 and retired from artistic activity.

Works