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The Ballets Russes was a ballet company established in 1909 by the Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev and resident first in Théâtre Mogador, Paris; and then in Monte Carlo. It sprang out of the Tsar's Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, from where all its dancers were associated and trained, and the influence of the great choreographer Marius Petipa. It created a sensation in Western Europe because of the great vitality of Russian ballet compared to what was current in France at the time. It became the most influential ballet company in 20th century, and that influence, in one form or another, has lasted to this day.
The ballet company and its composers The dancers and choreographers associated with it included George Balanchine, Mathilde Kschessinska, Michel Fokine, Tamara Karsavina, Serge Lifar, Alicia Markova, Léonide Massine, Vaslav Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova, Ida Rubinstein and Lydia Lopokova. Designers included Bakst, Benois, Braque, Picasso, Bilibin, Tchelitchev, and Utrillo. Composers included Debussy, Milhaud, Poulenc, Prokofiev, Ravel, Satie, Respighi, Richard Strauss, and, most notably, Igor Stravinsky, whom Diaghilev spotted when he was virtually unknown and whose career he launched. Principal productions See also: End of the Diaghilev era After Diaghilev's death in 1929 the company's property was claimed by creditors, and the dancers were scattered. In the subsequent years, the company (in name only) was revived as the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo (with which the names of George Balanchine and Tamara Toumanova are associated) and as the Original Ballet Russe. See also | ||||||||
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