In 1933, Max Reichman (1887- ?) was inspired by the poem by Goethe (1749-1832) and the musical theme by Paul Dukas (1865-1935) to stage L'Apprenti sorcier. He gave the role of the young apprentice to German dancer Jean Weidt.

Jean Weidt (1904-1988), originally from Hamburg, gave up his job as a gardener and began his dancing career in 1925. Barely 21 he used his body and his art to express the sufferings of the working class world.  He devoted all his time and energy to it.  In a country with no real choreography tradition, Jean Weidt created his own artistic codes.  He rejected the classicism of ballet and created expressionist dance in Germany.  His themes were inspired by the street, by the misery of proletariat and soldiers broken by conflicts, and his dance became a genuine political commitment.

In 1929 Jean Weidt founded his own troop called the red dancers.  A member of the Communist Party, he defended workers&rsquo ideals both on the political stage as well as on the boards.  For him, &ldquoart is a weapon to make life better&rdquo, a philosophy that wasn&rsquot shared by the Nazi regime for which he became one of its targets.

He fled Germany for France with Hitler&rsquos ascent to power in 1933, where he filmed L'Apprenti sorcier, which was furthermore the only filmed work staging Jean Weidt.  The story of L'Apprenti sorcier allowed Weidt to again defend the proletarian cause.

Jean Weidt strongly criticised power and its by-products throughout his career.  After the war, he created the troop Les ballets des Arts in Paris and staged it in Abel et ses frères, which criticised hate towards strangers, as well as in Ode à l'orage which tells of the massacre of Oradour.

Up until his life ended in 1988, he remained an independent choreographer, the ultimate symbol of the cause that he tried to defend.