What is Auguste Vestris?
{{Infobox Person |name = Auguste Vestris |image = Thomas Gainsborough - Auguste Vestris.jpg |image_size = |caption = Vestris by [[Thomas Gainsborough]], about 1781 |birth_name = Marie-Jean-Augustin Vestris |birth_date = 27 March 1760 |birth_place = [[Paris, France]] |death_date = 5 December 1842 |death_place = Paris, France |body_discovered = |death_cause = |resting_place = Montmartre Cemetery |residence = |nationality = French |ethnicity = |citizenship = |other_names = |known_for = |education = |alma_mater = |employer = |occupation = Dancer<br />[[Choreographer]] |home_town = |title = |salary = |networth = |height = |weight = |term = |predecessor = |successor = |party = |boards = |religion = |spouse = |partner = |children = Armand |parents = Gaetano Vestris<br />Marie Allard |relations = |callsign = |signature = |website = |footnotes = }} '''Marie-Jean-Augustin Vestris''' (27 March 1760 – 5 December 1842) was a [[French people|French]] [[dancer]] and [[choreographer]]. ==Biography== Vestris was born in Paris, the son of Gaetano Vestris and his mistress, the dancer Marie Allard. He was taught by his father, and made his debut in 1772 in the [[divertissement]] ''La Cinquantaine''. He scored his first great success the following year as Amor in his father's ballet ''Endymion''.<ref name=oxf>{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=42g8Hp-xA48C&dq=auguste+vestris&pg=PA471 |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Dance |publisher=Oxford |year=2010 |page=471 |isbn=978-0199563449}}</ref> Vestris was appointed a soloist at the [[Paris Opéra]] in 1776, ''premier danseur'' in 1778, and ''premier sujet de la danse'' in 1780. He performed in the first production of [[Jean-Georges Noverre]]'s ''Les Petits Rien'' and in [[Christoph Willibald Gluck]]'s ''Alceste''. In 1780, he began a successful a