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14 novembre 2010, huitième soirée : Gustave Ricaux
Dans la même rubrique Gustave Ricaux Gustave Ricaux Gustave Ricaux Ricaux, mon maître Ricaux, my Master Ricaux e la Scuola Italiana Ricaux et l’Ecole italienne Ricaux and the Italian School Gustave Ricaux Gustave Ricaux Gustave Ricaux Perché Ricaux a Roma? Souvenirs de Gustave Ricaux A recollection of Gustave Ricaux Ricordi di Gustave Ricaux
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Gustave Ricaux
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Pierre Lacotte, élève de Ricaux à l’Ecole de l’Opéra |
It was with Ricaux that I took my first lesson, and I remember it as distinctly as though it were yesterday. His rigour impressed me, but I was no less aware of the eloquence of his every movement. Full of humble admiration, I tried to follow what he had demonstrated, clumsily no doubt, because I sensed all round me the bigger boys all-too-ready to poke fun at my mistakes. His wife though took pity on me – she too had been a dancer – and far more patiently than her husband, corrected my arm position. I was struck by the beauty of her explanation as to how one raised the arms above the head en couronne, and stared raptly at her. I learnt the proper arm and leg positions, and two or three exercises. I was only eight years old, and that was enough for an initial contact. Need one add that every evening, I would run it all through in my mind in order to retain it.
For two years, I worked nose-to-the-grindstone daily. I realised that I was in the hands of a great scientist of the dance; it was stimulating to be surrounded by all his pupils, who stood in awe of him, and I knew I was terribly lucky to have found a teacher who was truly a master! I felt I should have to work very hard not to disappoint him, and live up to expectations.
The children danced like Gods! Given my own level, every pirouette seemed to be a glorious achievement! Alas, during the first years of WWII, Ricaux left the Opera. I was consternated, and felt quite lost! Nevertheless, I persisted with his exercises, determined to lose nothing of the endurance he had given us. No-one else could show how to link one movement to the other, and tie the steps together with such deportment, such breadth! I refused to forget him. A few years later, he returned from Monte Carlo – one of the happiest days in my life. I would take his class every morning, and then at lunch-time, take a daily private lesson with him, without a pianist, in a studio at Cité Pigalle that no longer exists.
I could speak of him for hours, of how he taught us to do grandes pirouettes à la seconde, the manèges of coupés-jetés left and right. The best we can do is to recreate one of his lessons, and recall some of the students he trained: Serge Peretti; Paul Goubé; Roger Fenonjois; Roland Petit; Jean Babilée; Serge Golovine; Raymond Franchetti; Daniel Seillier; Raoul Bari; Lucien Duthoit; Gilbert Mayer; Attilio Labis; René Bon; Alexandre Kalioujny; Michel Renault; Jean-Paul Andréani; Michel Descombey. Madeline Lafon and Claude Bessy were also his students.
I have written these lines to pay him homage, and to express the gratitude he inspires in me to this very day.