Michael Fokine | |
|---|---|
| Михаил Фокин | |
 Fokine in Arlequin, 1914 | |
| Born | Mikhail Mikhaylovich Fokin (1880-04-23)23 April 1880 Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Died | 22 August 1942(1942-08-22) (aged 62) New York City, U.S. |
| Citizenship | Russian, naturalizedU.S. |
| Occupations | |
| Spouse | Vera Fokina |
Michael Fokine[a] (23 April [O.S. 11 April] 1880 – 22 August 1942) was a Russianchoreographer anddancer. He is considered the founder of modern ballet.
Fokine was born inSaint Petersburg to a prosperousmerchant and at the age of 9 was accepted into the Saint PetersburgImperial Ballet School. That same year, he made his performing debut inThe Talisman under the direction ofMarius Petipa. In 1898, on his 18th birthday, he debuted on the stage of theImperial Mariinsky Theatre inPaquita, with theImperial Russian Ballet. In addition to being a talented dancer, Fokine was also passionate aboutpainting and displayed talent in this area as well. He also played musical instruments, includingmandolin (played on stage in ensemble led byGinislao Paris),domra, andbalalaika (played inVasily Andreyev's Great Russian Orchestra).[1]
He became frustrated with the life of a dancer and began considering other paths, including painting. In 1902, he was offered a teaching position at the Imperial Ballet School and was able to explore the artistic possibilities ofchoreography. In 1905, he created his first full-length ballet,Acis et Galatée, which was performed by his students and based on a Sicilian legend. Among his students wereDesha Delteil andBronislava Nijinska.
Some of Fokine's early works include the balletAcis and Galatea (1905) andThe Dying Swan (1907), which was a solo dance forAnna Pavlova choreographed to the music ofLe Cygne.Acis and Galetea included an acrobatic dance with young boys playingfauns, one of whom wasVaslav Nijinsky. Fokine later featured Nijinsky in ballets includingChopiniana (1907), which was renamedLes Sylphides in 1909.
In 1909,Sergei Diaghilev invited Fokine to become the resident choreographer of the first season of theBallets Russes inParis. At Ballets Russes, he collaborated with other artists to create a ballet ofNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov'sScheherazade, which premiered in 1910. The ballet was inspired bysymphonic poems composed by Rimsky-Korsakov and the tale of the1001 Nights. Thesets designed byLéon Bakst matched the sexualized choreography. Despite the lack ofhistorical accuracy, the ballet was successful due to its brilliant colors,exoticism, and sexual overtones.[2] The 1910 production featured Nijinsky in the role of the Golden Slave.
The Firebird (1910), with music composed byIgor Stravinsky was also created by a "committee," a process inspired by theWagnerian notion ofGesamtkunstwerk, which is the synthesis of elements such as music, drama, spectacle, and dance to create a more cohesive artwork.Petrushka (1912), with music also composed by Stravinsky and set design by Alexandre Benois Petrouchka, was inspired by the Russian puppet which traditionally appeared at the Butter Week (Shrovetide) Fairs. In this ballet, Fokine included street dancers,peddlers,nursemaids, a performing bear, and a large ensemble of characters to complement the plot. The story was centered on the sinister Magician (Enrico Cecchetti) and his three puppets: Petrouchka (Nijinsky), the Ballerina (Tamara Karsavina) and the savage Moor (Alexander Orlov). Fokine's balletLe Spectre de la Rose (1911) showcased Nijinsky as the spirit of the rose given to a young girl. Nijinsky's exit featured agrand jeté out of the young girl's bedroom window, timed so the audience would last see him suspended in mid-air. In 1912, Fokine created an adaptation ofDaphnis et Chloé.
He left Ballets Russes in 1912. In 1914, Diaghilev convinced Fokine to return to Ballets Russes, where he then created the balletsMidas,Josephslegende, andLe Coq d'Or.[3] The Paris premiere ofThe Golden Cockerel by Ballets Russes in 1914 was anopéra-ballet, guided by Fokine with set design byNatalia Goncharova.
The outbreak of theFirst World War in August 1914, disrupted the established touring circuit, which included countries now on opposing sides. Many dancers, including Fokine, returned to their home countries. He moved toSweden with his family in 1918, and later established his home inNew York City, where he founded a ballet school in 1921, and continued to appear with his wife, Vera Fokina. One of his pupils wasPatricia Bowman. By 1924, he organized the American Ballet Company, which performed regularly at theMetropolitan Opera House and toured the United States. His first piece for the company was the comedyBluebeard, set to a score byJacques Offenbach.
His balletLes Sylphides was the first production at theAmerican Ballet Theatre on 11 January 1940. In 1937, Fokine joinedWassily de Basil's offshoot of the Ballets Russes, which was eventually named theOriginal Ballet Russe. Among the new works Fokine created during this period wereCendrillon (1938) andPaganini (1939). His choreography was featured with the company until 1941.
Fokine staged more than eighty ballets inEurope and theUnited States. His best-known works wereChopiniana,Le Carnaval (1910), andLe Pavillon d'Armide (1907). His pieces are still performed internationally. TheMariinsky Ballet performed a retrospective of Fokine's work atLondon'sCovent Garden in July 2011.
Fokine died in New York on 22 August 1942, aged 62. In tribute to his death, seventeen ballet companies around the world performedLes Sylphides simultaneously.[citation needed]
Fokine aspired to move beyond traditional ballet, toward a method of utilizing ballet to communicate the natural beauty of Man. He did not believe virtuoso ballet techniques to symbolize anything, and thought they could be substituted with forms that better expressed emotions and themes. Fokine was a strong believer in the communicative power of dance and pushed for creativity that broke tradition, believing that tradition is often distinct from reality and fails to capture the entire spectrum of human emotions. He believed that unless movements are expressive, they are irrational and neither delightful nor tolerable.[4]
Fokine also sought to strip ballets of their artificial technicality and outdated costumes. He believed that many of the ballets of his time used costumes and techniques that did not reflect the themes of the ballets. Fokine studiedGreek andEgyptian art, including vase painting andsculpture, and incorporated these into his ballets. As a choreographer, he took ballerinas out of theirpointe shoes when pointe did not serve any "artistic purpose". He believed thatpointe should be used when the dancing body desires to express a soaring and upward theme, rather than to flaunt the strength of dancers' feet. He presented this new idea to theImperial Mariinsky Theater's management, but did not win their support. One of Fokine's requests was to have his dancers perform barefoot in his 1907 balletEunice. His request was denied, and Fokine had toes painted on the dancers' tights so they would appear to be barefoot.
He also experimented with shifting the emphasis of movement away from the lower body and towards the whole body, with freer use of the arms and torso and using each muscle with clear intention.[4] In doing so, Fokine sought to unify motion with emotion and the body with the soul, bringing new life to the ballet as a language and an art.
In 1923, he choreographed the balletAjanta Frescoes forAnna Pavlova after she had been inspired by her visit to theAjanta Caves.[5]
Tribute To Ballet, with Prefatory poem To M. Michel Fokine, by John Masefield (1938)
