Académie Royale de Danse other documents, however, it is clear the number is correctly stated. The identity of the omitted thirteenth member has long been a point of disagreement among dance historians. Gaston Vuillier forwarded Beauchamp as the missing member, while Régine Astier (Kunzel) unabashedly claimed it was Henri Prévost. Both were wrong. The original document signed by King Louis XIV was preserved in the French National Archives, and upon its close inspection in 1997 by scholar Maureen Needham, the thirteenth name was revealed to be “Molière.” Not to be confused with Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière (1622-73), the famous playwright of King Louis’ reign responsible
Jean-Baptiste Pitrot Jean-Baptiste Pitrot Jean-Baptiste Pitrot (22 May 1729, Bordeaux - 4 January 1809, Brussels), called Pitrot cadet ("Pitrot the younger") to distinguish him from his elder brother Antoine, was a French dancer and balletmaster. His father, Barthélemy Pitrot, was a French actor and dancer who criss-crossed the French provinces and the Southern Netherlands in the first half of the 18th century. He began his career before 1748 at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris. He was widely noted in a production of "L'Opérateur chinois", a ballet by Jean-Baptiste Dehesse, from 11 January 1749 onwards. He also put on the premiere of "Les Tartares"