Filippo Taglioni

Filippo Taglioni (born Nov. 5, 1777, Milan [Italy]—died Feb. 11, 1871, Como) was an Italian dancer and choreographer who developed the Romantic style of ballets.

Taglioni’s father, Carlo, and his brother, Salvatore, were also important in the dance world at the time. He made his debut in Pisa in 1794 and subsequently performed in ballets in Livorno, Florence, Venice, and Paris, where he studied with the Coulon family. In 1803 he was designated principal dancer and ballet master in Stockholm, from where over the years he toured Cassel, Vienna, Munich, Turin, Stuttgart, Berlin, Warsaw, and St. Petersburg.

Taglioni had two children, Paul and Marie, both of whom were dancers. Marie became one of the world’s greatest ballerinas, and Filippo created his famous La Sylphide for her in 1832, the first of the “ballets blancs,” or Romantic “white ballets.”