Francine Lancelot was a French dancer, choreographer and dance historian. She was a pioneer in the revival of French baroque dance. Through her dance company, Ris et Danceries she created many magnificent performances including Bal à la cour, Tempore et misura, and the tragédie lyrique Atys by Jean-Baptiste Lully

Jean-Baptiste Lully

Jean-Baptiste de Lully was an Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in...

. Francine was an outstanding teacher (she gave private lessons to Nureyev at l'Opéra), Through her careful study of period sources, she revolutionized belle danse performance, most notably with respect to dance tempi. She was also actively curious about the Italian and French dance (Arbeau and L'Instruction) that preceded the French baroque style, and about 17th-century Spanish dance. Her research resulted in articles and her 1995 "catalogue raisonné" La Belle Dance. She also produced recordings and CDs of dance music. Her interests ranged from French traditional or folk dance

Folk dance

The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....

 to African drumming. Today, the number of fine baroque dancers and companies in Europe and North America testify to her legacy.

Students of Francine Lancelot

• Lieven Baert
• Deda Cristina Colonna
• Françoise Denieau
• Daniel Gariepy
• Ken Pierce
• Barbara Segal
• Margit Legler