Pierre Lacotte, a 91-year-old French ballet choreographer who assisted legend Rudolf Nureyev in fleeing the Soviet Union, has passed away.
His wife, retired principal dancer Ghislaine Thesmar, stated, “Pierre left us at 4:00 a.m.”
In 1961, Lacotte assisted Nureyev in evading KGB agents in Paris and seeking asylum at Le Bourget Airport.
The role he played in the infamous defection was depicted in the 2018 biopic The White Crow, directed by Ralph Fiennes.
Ms. Thesmar stated that her spouse passed away due to a septic wound.
Lacotte began his career as an adolescent with the Paris Opera Ballet and later focused on the revival of forgotten 19th-century productions.
In 1961, he befriended Nureyev in Paris while he was on tour. In 2012, Lacotte revealed to the BBC that he accompanied Nureyev on multiple tours of the city’s restaurants, bars, and institutions.
This enraged the KGB agents on the expedition, and Nureyev was instructed to return home. Nureyev believed that he would no longer be permitted to depart the country.
Nureyev begged Lacotte not to leave his side at the airport, but KGB agents surrounded Nureyev.
Lacotte asked the agents if he and his companion, the socialite Clara Saint, could bid their friend farewell before he departed.
“I told Rudolf to check behind me, where Clara Saint and a police officer are located. You need only approach him. You kiss me, you kiss Clara, and you declare your desire for independence. And it’s done,” Lacotte said.
“I said to have no fear, be still, and do as I say.”
Then Nureyev dashed towards two French police officers and declared his desire to remain in the West.
Nureyev and his family paid a heavy price despite being acknowledged as one of the finest dancers of his era. He was only permitted to return to the USSR more than 25 years later when his mother was dying, while the careers of his Soviet companions suffered.
After sustaining an ankle injury, Lacotte shifted his focus to the 1968 archives of the Paris Opera.
La Sylphide was the first ballet to be performed entirely “en pointe” – where performers stand on the tips of their toes – when it premiered in 1832.
His final project in 2021 was a rendition of Stendhal’s 1830 novel The Red and the Black titled The Red and the Black.
His wife stated that he was still working at age 91.
“It’s quite upsetting. “He was still working on numerous projects and a book,” she added.
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