Ballets Russes

Ballets Russes, Russian ballet company based in Paris under the direction of Sergei Diaghilev. The Ballets Russes were brought by Diaghilev from the Imperial Theatres of Russia to Paris in 1909. They were an immediate success mainly due to the dancers Vaslav Nijinsky and Adolph Bolm and the exotic ballets of Michel Fokine. Fokine's ballets, inspired by Russian themes and often with music by Igor Stravinsky and décor by Léon Bakst and Benois, included Les Sylphides (1909), Petruchka (1911), and The Firebird (1910). Diaghilev found another choreographer in Nijinsky who, by introducing a non-Classical technique (and a certain eroticism) in L'Après Midi d'un Faune (1911) and Sacre de Printemps (1913), created a scandalous sensation.

The Russian Revolution caused Diaghilev to sever his links with Russia, and the company continued under constant financial difficulty. Foreign dancers under Russian names began to dance with the company. A new choreographer, Léonide Massine, produced highly popular works which relied on strong character dancing for their full effect, including, in 1919, La Boutique Fantasque and Le Tricorne (The Three-Cornered Hat).

In 1921, in London, Diaghilev produced Petipa's The Sleeping Princess, an influential return to classicism which was extremely expensive, did not attract audiences, and caused another financial crisis. Diaghilev turned to Bronislava Nijinska who created witty and fashionable ballets using the talents of such artists as Goncharova and Stravinsky (Les Noces, 1923) and Laurencin and Poulenc (Les Biches, 1924). Massine also produced works in a more contemporary style, including Les Matelots (1925) and Ode (1928). George Balanchine, from Soviet Russia, created works for the company in an increasingly neo-Classical style (Apollon Musagete, 1928).

The Ballets Russes always reflected Diaghilev's conception of an entity which blended movement, music, and décor. He commissioned work from leading avant-garde musicians and artists and attracted fashionable and intellectual audiences to his company. After Diaghilev's death, the dancers he had influenced and inspired went on to contribute to the huge expansion of ballet in the following decades.