Vilhelm Pettersson
Per Johan Vilhelm Pettersson, was a Swedish ballet dancer. He was an elite member of first the Royal Swedish Ballet during the mid 19th-century, and a deputy ballet master.
Vilhelm Pettersson was reportedly from a poor background as the son of laborers. During his childhood, he was once asked to perform a simple extra role in a ballet performance, and liked it so much that he wished to become a dancer.
He became a student of the Royal Swedish Ballet in 1826, premier student in 1834, second-dancer in 1835, and was a premier- and grotesque dancer in 1838-54. During the 1830s, he was referred to as one of the male stars of the ballet alongside Anders Selinder, Per Christian Johansson and Carl Wilhelm Silfverberg. He was deputy Ballet Master of the Royal Ballet from 1846-1851.
It was said of him:
Aside from his dance career, he is described as a self educated autodidact, and was offered an office as assistant numismatic expert at the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities in 1854, shortly before he died of an illness.
