BABILÉE (Gutmann), JEAN

BABILÉE (Gutmann), JEAN (1923– ), French dancer and choreographer. Babilée studied at the Paris Opera's ballet school and as a child showed astonishing technical facility and natural grace. His career began in Cannes during the German occupation, where he distinguished himself in Le spectre de la rose and the Bluebird pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty. In 1945 he became the star of Roland Petit's Le Ballets des Champs Elysées (1945–50) in the role of Jeune Homme et la Mort (1946). His own choreography includes L'Amour et son Amour (1948) and Til Eulenspiegel (1940), as well as one of his best for the Monte Carlo opera – Balance à trois (1955). During the 1950s and 1960s he acted in French films and stage productions. In 1967 he earned the Gold Star for best dancer at the International Festival Dance in Paris. In 1979, at the age of 56, he danced in Life, created for him by Béjart. In 1995 a film, Babilée '95, was shown in France. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: International Enyclopedia of Dance, vol. I, p. 251. (Amnon Shiloah (2nd ed.)