Françoise Prévost

In 1699, Prevost debuted at the Académie d'Opera in the ballet, Atys, later replacing Marie-Thérèse de Subligny as the female lead.

The "pantomime" came from the popular theaters of the time and freely used bold gestures and body language to communicate the narrative to the audience.

Maintaining her interest in the dramatic potential of dance, Prevost created a famous solo in 1714 called "Les Caracteres de la Danse."

Choreographed to a suite of dances by composer Jean Ferry Rebel, the "characters" depicted a series of lovers of varying ages and sexes, and Prevost enacted each one to a different piece of music: the bourree, the menuet, the passepied.

One day however, Camargo made a spectacular impromptu improvisation solo for a missing male dancer.