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Serge Diaghilev, the creator of the Ballet Russe, died which essentially left the dancers in his company without anywhere to dance or perform.
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Wasily de Basil ans Rene Blum created a new ballet company and called it the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.
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George Balanchine joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and became dance master, He decided to make very young dancers the face of the company and Tamara Toumanova, Tania Riabiuchinska, and Irina Boranova became the "baby ballerinas" at 12 and 13 years old.
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The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo gave its first performance and was said to be very similar to Diaghilev's Ballet Russe.
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George Balanchine was dropped from the Ballet Russe and Leonide Massine replaced him. One of the "baby ballerinas" - Tamara Toumanova - also left the company when Balanchine was fired.
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The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo headed to America and Sol Hurok booked the first American tour
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Blum resigned from the company and Massine soon left because of disagreements with Basil and created his own company with the name Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, but Basil continued a ballet company and named it the Original Ballet Russe.
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The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo performed for 3 million people during their first American tour. The company also began to hire American dancers but they altered their names to make them sound Russian for example Marc Plattoff.
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Both companies debuted in London blocks away from each other which caused the public to alternate from watching each show.
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When WWII broke out the companies were in a panic state because of difficulties leaving London and they were able to leave and get to America on the same boat.
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Horok and Basil of the Original Ballet Russe were having conflicts and the Original Ballet Russe had little opportunity at the time.
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The Original Ballet Russe had a hard time getting back on its feet and struggled while on tour. Hurok abandoned the company and Basil tried to continue it but in November had its last performance.
