Arthur Saint-Léon

Arthur Saint-Léon (1821–1870) was a French dancer, choreographer, violinist, and dance theorist who served as Chief Choreographer of the Paris Opéra Ballet from 1851 to 1860 and of the St Petersburg Imperial Ballet from 1859 to 1869. He was one of the most prolific and technically accomplished ballet masters of the Romantic era. His lasting legacy rests primarily on Coppélia (1870), his final ballet, choreographed to Léo Delibes's celebrated score and based on E. T. A. Hoffmann's story Der Sandmann. Premiering posthumously shortly after his death, Coppélia became one of the most beloved works in the classical repertoire and remains a staple of ballet companies worldwide. Saint-Léon also invented a system of dance notation, Sténochorégraphie (1852), one of the earliest attempts to record ballet choreography.