Sophie Chevigny

Sophie Chevigny (12 May 177210 March 1855), known professionally as Mlle Chevigny was a French ballet dancer and mime who performed as a principal dancer at the Opéra de Paris.

Early life

Geneviève-Sophie Chevigny was born in Paris, France on 12 May 1772.

In the late 1780s, she had a son with French architect Jacques Cellerier who designed the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique. Going by the stage name Mlle Chevigny, she was within two years promoted to one of the principal dancers of the Royal Academy, a position she shared for a long period with Madame Gardel, and later with the dancer Clotilde Mafleuroy. Chevigny's portrayal of Eurycleia, Ulysses' nurse, in Le Retour d'Ulysse by Louis Milon, which premiered on 27 February 1807, was a great success. In 1810, Chevigny was cast in Persée et Andromède by Pierre Gardel as Cassiopeia. The role of Octavia in Antoine et Cléopâtre brought Chevigny great success. The ballet, featuring music by Rodolphe Kreutzer, had its first performance on 8 March 1808.

Throughout her twenty-five-year career at the opera, she successfully created numerous roles in pantomime ballets performed at the theater, including Le jugement de Paris, Oenone, Figaro, Suzanne, Telemachus, Eucharis, Hero and Leandre, Venus, The Marriage of Gamache, Quitterie, Lucas and Laurette, Nicole, The Loves of Antoinette and Cleo, Shepherd, and Octavie, each earning her widespread acclaim.

Death Sophie Chevigny died in Montreuil, Eure-et-Loir, France on 10 March 1855.