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Noverre: frontispiece of Lettres sur les arts imitateurs, Paris, Collin, The Hague, Immerzeel, 1807

Jean-Georges Noverre (April 29, 1727–October 19, 1810) was a French dancer and ballet master, and is considered to be the creator of ballet d'action a precursor of the narrative ballets of the 19th century. His birthday is now observed as International Dance Day.

He first performed at Fontainebleau in 1743, and in 1747 composed his first ballet for the Opéra-Comique. In 1748 he was invited to Berlin by Prince Henry of Prussia, but went to Strasbourg where he stayed until 1750. He then went to Lyon. In 1755 he was invited by Garrick to London, where he remained for two years.

Lettres sur la danse et les ballets, Lyon 1760

Between 1758 and 1760 he produced several ballets at Lyon, and published his Lettres sur la danse et les ballets. It is from this period that the revolution in the art of the ballet for which Noverre was responsible can be dated. He was next engaged by Duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg, and later Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, until 1774. In 1775, he was appointed maître des ballets of the Paris Opera at the request of Queen Marie Antoinette. He returned to Vienna in Spring of 1776 to stage ballets there but in June 1776 he returned again to Paris. He regained this post until the French Revolution reduced him to poverty. He died on October 19, 1810, at Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

Noverre's friends included Voltaire, Mozart, Frederick the Great and David Garrick (who called him "the Shakespeare of the dance"). The ballets of which he was most proud were his La Toilette de Venus, Les Jalousies du sérail, La dour corsaire and Le Jaloux sans rival. Besides the letters, Noverre wrote Observations sur la construction d'une nouvelle salle de l'Opéra (1781); Lettres sur Garrick écrites a Voltaire (1801); and Lettre à un artiste sur les flies publiques (1801).

• Les Fêtes chinoises (Paris 1754) (mus. Jean-Philippe Rameau)
• La Fontaine de jouvence (Paris 1754)
• La Toilette de Vénus (Lyon 1757) (mus. François Granier)
• L'Impromptu du sentiment (Lyon 1758)
• La Mort d'Ajax (Lyon 1758) (mus. François Granier)
• Alceste (Stuttgart 1761 - Wien 1767) (mus. Christoph Willibald Gluck)
• La Mort d'Hercule (Stuttgart 1762)
• Psyché et l'Amour (Stuttgart 1762) (mus. Jean-Joseph Rodolphe)
• Jason et Médée (Stuttgart 1763 - Wien 1767 - Paris 1776 e 1780 - London 1781) (mus. Jean-Joseph Rodolphe)
• Hypermnestre (Stuttgart 1764)
• Diane et Endymion (Wien 1770)
• Le Jugement de Pâris (Wien 1771)
• Roger et Bradamante (Wien 1771)
• Agamemnon vengé (Wien 1772)
• Iphigénie en Tauride (Wien 1772) (mus. Christoph Willibald Gluck)
• Thésée (Wien 1772)
• Acis et Galathée (Wien 1773)
• Adèle de Ponthieu (Wien 1773 - London 1782)
• Alexandre et Campaspe de Larisse (Wien 1773)
• Les Horaces et les Curiaces (Wien 1774 - Paris 1777)
• Renaud et Armide (Milan 1775 - London 1782)
• Apelle et Campaspe (Paris 1776 - Lyon 1787)
• Les Caprices de Galatée (Paris 1776 - London 1789)
• Annette et Lubin (Paris 1778)
• Les Petits Riens (Paris 1778) (mus. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart e al.)
• Les Amours d'Énée et de Didon (Lyon 1781)
• La Fête du Sérail (Paris 1788)
• L'Amour et Psyché (London 1788) (mus. Jean-Joseph Rodolphe)
• La Fête de Tempé (London 1788)
• Admète (London 1789)
• La Bergère des Alpes (London 1794)
• La Vittoria (London 1794)
• Windsor Castle (London 1795)

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.