Celebrated choreographer and one-time Pink Floyd collaborator Roland Petit has died in Geneva, Switzerland. He was 87.
Petit formed his ballet company, Les Ballets de Paris de Roland Petit, in 1947, and would go on to work on a number of big Hollywood productions, including “Hans Christian Andersen” (1951), “Daddy Long Legs” (1955) “The Glass Slipper” (1955) and “Anything Goes” (1956).
But Floyd fans probably best know Petit for the project he staged with live music by the band in late-1972 and early-1973.
Suggested to him by his then-10-year-old daughter, “The Pink Floyd Ballet” was performed by Les Ballet de Marseille in November 1972 in Marseille and January 1973 in Paris, with Petit serving as artistic director and choreographer.
The band provided live renditions of “One of These Days,” “Careful With That Axe, Eugene,” “Obscured by Clouds/When You’re In” and “Echoes.”
Petit had lived in Switzerland for more than a decade. He’s survived by his wife, ballerina Zizi Jeanmaire, and his daughter, Valentine Petit.
YouTube offers some clips of the Pink Floyd Ballet performances.
