The daughter of travelling performers who forbade her the ring, she took her acrobatics lessons in secret and made her debut under the name Mademoiselle Ninette. Her speciality was the ascent: a rope stretched at a steep incline, sometimes without a balancing pole, above the crowd and often above a display of fireworks.
The story
Marguerite-Antoinette Lalanne, whom all Paris would know as Madame Saqui, was born in Agde in 1786 into a family of travelling performers: her father danced on the rope under the name Navarin-le-fameux. Forbidden the ring by her parents, she took acrobatics lessons in secret and first walked the rope as Mademoiselle Ninette — with her parents in the audience, unaware.
Her speciality was the ascension: a rope stretched at a steep angle, sometimes without a balancing pole, above a crowd and often above a firework display. It made her the fixture of the imperial festivities, where Napoleon noticed her; she even followed the army on campaign to entertain the troops.
After the Empire she opened her own theatre on the boulevard du Temple and pursued a career that age did not interrupt: she was still performing in England and in France past sixty, in a trade where people fall young.
She died at Neuilly-sur-Seine on 21 January 1866, five weeks short of her eightieth birthday, and lies in Division 40 of Père-Lachaise.
On site, do not miss
A modest grave in a discreet Division, for the woman who was the most spectacular attraction of her century.
Visitors' questions
Where is Madame Saqui's grave?
In Division 40 of Père-Lachaise, in the low, old part of the cemetery. Madame Saqui was buried there in 1866, after more than forty years on the tightrope, in France and in England.
Antonio FranconiWhat is a rope ascension?
A walk up a steeply inclined cable strung high above the ground, Madame Saqui's speciality. She performed it over the heads of the crowd, often through the smoke of fireworks set off beneath her, which made her the attraction of the imperial festivities.
Foottit, the whiteface clownDid Napoleon know Madame Saqui?
Yes: she was the official performer of the Empire's festivities, and even followed the army on campaign to entertain the troops. After 1815 she carried her career through the Restoration and the July Monarchy, at her own theatre on the boulevard du Temple.
Virginie DéjazetAt what age did Madame Saqui stop?
Very late: she was still performing past sixty, in France as in England, in a trade where careers are short. Born in February 1786, she died at Neuilly-sur-Seine on 21 January 1866, five weeks short of eighty.
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