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the Classical Ballet
The Russian School of Theatrical Dance was founded in 1738 and many different dance masters came from all over to teach at this school. Classical ballet was known to tell stories through the dances, and thus created themes of fantasy, etc. Some examples include: The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake. -
Pas de Quatre
There were 4 dancers of the Pas de Quatre during the Romantic ballet era, Marie Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi, Lucile Grahn, and Fanny Cerito. There were many rivalries between these dancers on who would get the part and get to dance the choreography. -
Diaghilev dies
Diaghilev died in 1929 leaving all of his dancers without any work to do. -
The Resurrection
George Balanchine continued on with Diaghilev's legacy and became the Dance Master and principle choreographer for the Ballet Russe. The resurrection of Ballet Russe began. Wasily de Basil and Rene Blum renamed their new company the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo. -
Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo rises!
George Balanchine introduced "baby ballerinas" into Ballet Russe; Tamara Toumanova, Tania Riabouchinska, Irina Boranova. After their first performance, they were acknowledged as "the authentic air to Diaghilev's Ballet Russe." Once the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo kicked off, Basil and Blum secretly pushed Balanchine out and replaced him with Leonide Massine. -
Massine Era of Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo
Leonide Massine introduced the symphonic orchestra to the ballet world making the public fall in love with it. He also created stronger leading roles for male dancers. -
Ballet Russe Sets Sail!
The Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo sets sail for America with Sol Hurok, an impresario, who booked the tour to America. He was the most powerful theatrical promoter and by 1935, Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo performed for over 3 million people. -
1935-1937 Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo still on tour
Basil and Blum started to hire American dancers such as Marc Platt but made their names Russian (Plattoff). Blum and Basil did not always see things eye to eye and Blum left. Once Blum left, Basil had too big of an ego and so Massine left also and started his own company. -
1935-1937 Conflicts Arise
Between Basil and Massine was a war over everything that had to do with the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo including the company name, its dancers and choreographers. Eventually, Massine won the right to keep the name, Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo and Basil named his company The Original Ballet Russe. -
Settling Down
Starting their new companies in London, Massine and Basil were ready to showcase their debut however, Massine had lost all of his rights to his choreography having to create 3 new ballets. As for Basil, he had to replace Massine with a new prinicipal dancer, David Lichine. Lichine and Massine became instant rivals and tried to steal the others' dancers. Sol Hurok needed a company to go back to America thus he chose Massine's company, yet at the same time Basil took his company to Australia. -
There's War. What now?
In 1939, War struck out thus panicking both companies. Both companies got onto a boat headed for America and lived without rehearsing or practicing for months. Once arrived, Massine had his company perform the same night they arrived. Sol Hurok once again helps both of the lost companies and decided to place the companies on trains to travel to different places for over 9 months. They continued to work for 2 years until conflict arose between Hurok and Basil. -
Cutting Ties
After days of conflict with Basil, Hurok officially declared Basil as one of the most difficult people to work with. As he had cut ties with Basil, Basil was left with no work for his company making them tour to Latin America. Although they were able to find work, the damages of the war left the country and the company very exhausted and poor. -
Looking for a savior
New to Broadway and the Hollywood glamour, the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo searched for a choreographer who knew the ideas of Broadway and film, George Balanchine -
Downhill from here
Sol Hurok and Basil started to talk again after moments of conflict and arranged for the company to head to America. However, after months on end in Latin America, the company was exhausted and had no desire to tour again. This caused for Hurok to leave once again and soon after some of the dancers left too causing Basil to hire new, non-qualified dancers. This left the Original Ballet Russe to showcase their last performance in 1948 -
On the bright side...
Despite the downhill effect for The Original Ballet Russe, the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo had a different experience. This company was caught up in all of the hollywood glamour. They crossed paths with film which eventually caused Massine to start obsessing over money and attention thus made him slack with his choreography. Looking away from Massine, the company looked into hiring another choreographer, Agnes de Mille who is best known for her work, Rodeo.
