Association Française pour le Rayonnement du Théâtre du Château de Drottningholm

The DROTTNINGHOLM Programme allows artists, craftsmen or researchers working in Drottningholms Slottsteater or Sveriges teatermuseum to come to Paris for one week of work, which is an opportunity for them to explore historical links between the practice of theatre in France in the Eighteenth Century, and their own daily activity in Sweden. After two travel grants offered to craftsmen working for Drottningholms Slottsteater, the Académie Desprez will welcome the first librarian of the Sveriges Teatermuseum’s Library. Magnus Blomkvist is leading a research about Louis Gallodier (1733-1803) and would like to find information about the dancer’s youth in Paris. The documentation gathered by the laureate may be used for two purposes: in the long term, the completion of a thesis, and in a shorter perspective, an exhibition about Gallodier, taking place in Sveriges Teatermuseum next year and commemorating the death of the ballet master.

Discover the Gallodier grant:

• the forecasted description of the project.
• presentation of the journey (in ) (december 2002)
• the agenda of the grant-holder's journey (in ) (december 2002)
• the exhibition on Louis Gallodier - Den Svenska Balettens Fader 1733 –1803 - at the Sveriges Teatermuseum, notably realized with items collected in France thanks to the Gallodier Grant

Who was Gallodier ?

Concerning the first elements we have about this subject, it is worth quoting Magnus Blomkvist: “What was (...) remarkable, however, was the (...) birth of Swedish ballet, with artists of international standing and a corps de ballet that impressed even the most exigent foreigners. For this latter miracle we have to thank one man: Louis Gallodier, a forty-year-old Frenchman who when he was summoned to Stockholm to join the French troupe in 1758 already had behind him a career in Paris. It was he who would build up the opera ballet, provide them with a repertoire, organize the dance school, and himself dance the leading roles. (...) Not merely did Gallodier found the Swedish ballet; throughout the entire Gustavian period, right up to his death in 1803, he remained its leader.”

in Blomkvist, Magnus, Ballet in the Royal opera’s repertoire 1773-1806, Gustavian Opera, an interdisciplinary reader in Swedish opera, dance and theatre 1771-1809, Royal Swedish Academy of Music, Uppsala, 1991.