| Original Ballet Russe | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Name | Original Ballet Russe |
| Previous names | Les Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo Ballets Russes de Colonel W. de Basil Covent Garden Russian Ballet |
| Successor | Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo |
| Year founded | 1931 |
| Closed | 1947 |
| Founders | René Blum and ColonelWassily de Basil |
| Principal venue | Monte Carlo |
| Senior staff | |
| Company manager | Sol Hurok |
| Artistic staff | |
| Artistic Director | ColonelWassily de Basil |
| Resident Choreographers | Leonide Massine (1932–1937) George Balanchine (1932–1933) Michel Fokine (1937–c. 1941) |
| Other | |
| Formation |
|
TheOriginal Ballet Russe (originally namedBallets Russes de Monte-Carlo) was aballet company established in 1931 byRené Blum and ColonelWassily de Basil as a successor to theBallets Russes, founded in 1909 bySergei Diaghilev. The company assumed the new nameOriginal Ballet Russe after a split between de Basil and Blum. De Basil led the renamed company, while Blum and others founded a new company under the nameBallet Russe de Monte-Carlo. It was a large scale professional ballet company which toured extensively in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the United States, and Central and South America. It closed down operations in 1947.
The company's name is derived from theBallets Russes of impresarioSergei Diaghilev. The last season of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes was 1929, during which it toured and performed in bothLondon, England, andParis, France. During the final season, it produced the new balletsThe Prodigal Son andLe Bal. The company performed for the final time in London at theCovent Garden Theatre on July 26, 1929. Diaghliev died of complications fromdiabetes a month later, on August 19, 1929.
In 1931, with the help from financierSerge Denham,René Blum and ColonelWassily de Basil formed Les Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo. One of the new company'sboard members was American businessmanJim Thompson.
The company hiredLeonide Massine andGeorge Balanchine as choreographers. The majority of the works performed had previously been staged by Diaghilev's company, but other new works were commissioned, such asJeux d'enfants, with music byGeorges Bizet and sets byJoan Miró. Featured dancers includedDavid Lichine (who soon began choreographing ballets for the company), and the "baby ballerinas"Irina Baronova,Tamara Toumanova, andTatiana Riabouchinska. The company conductor wasEfrem Kurtz,[1] who stayed until 1942, touring with them extensively, and the librettist wasBoris Kochno. The company gave its first performance inMonte Carlo in 1932.
Without consulting Blum, Col. de Basil dropped Balanchine after one year[2] – ostensibly because he thought that audiences preferred the works choreographed by Massine. Librettist Kochno was also let go, while dancer Toumanova left the company when Balanchine was fired. According to historian Katherine Sorley-Walker, however, Balanchine and Kochno left of their own volition, because they found Blum and De Basil "dictatorial."[3]
Col. de Basil and Blum had an acrimonious relationship,[2] which ended in 1934 with Blum breaking up the partnership. Col. de Basil renamed his companyBallets Russes de Colonel W. de Basil.[4] In April, 1934,Bronislava Nijinska directed the company's season at the Théâtre de Monte-Carlo,[5][6] presenting her balletsBolero,Variations,Etude, andLes Comediens Jaloux.[7] Nijinska createdLes Cent Baisers for the company's London season in 1935.[8]
The company struggled financially in the wake of theGreat Depression, and was on the verge of bankruptcy.Sol Hurok, an American, took over the management of the Ballet Russe[9] and brought the company to theUnited States.
In 1937, Massine left, joining with Blum to form their own company,[10] recruiting several dancers from their previous group. However, the ballets which Massine had choreographed while under contract with Col. de Basil were owned by his company. Massine sued de Basil inLondon to regain the intellectual property rights to his own works. He also sued to claim theBallet Russe de Monte-Carlo name.[9] The jury decided that de Basil owned Massine's ballets created between 1932 and 1937, but not those created before 1932.[11] It also ruled that both successor companies could use the nameBallet Russe – but only Massine and Blum's company could be calledBallet Russe de Monte-Carlo. Col. de Basil renamed his company again, calling it theCovent Garden Russian Ballet[4] and bringing onMichel Fokine as resident choreographer.
Sol Hurok ended up managing Blum and Massine's company as well. The Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo and the Original Ballet Russe often performed near each other. Under its new name, the company's first season, starting May 1938, was at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Massine's Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo had a season at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane a few hundred yards away,[9] and this season was known as the "London Ballet Wars".
After London, Hurok booked both of the companies to perform in New York (with de Basil's company playing theHollywood Theatre), for a total of fifteen weeks, making it the longest ballet season of New York.[citation needed] Along with management, the two companies also shared dancers. Hurok continued to have the companies perform near each other; he hoped to reunite the companies,[citation needed] but ultimately was unsuccessful. The company then spent some weeks on a "whistle stop" tour of America, sleeping on the special train hired to transport them.
In 1939, the company spent a six-week season atCovent Garden. English ballerinaMona Inglesby danced with the company that season.
Finally, in 1939, Col. de Basil gave the company its final name, theOriginal Ballet Russe.[4]
The company toured extensively throughout Europe andAustralia, visiting Australia in 1936–37, 1938–39, and 1939–40.[12][13][14] During his visit to Australia, de Basil commissioned work from Australians, especially from designers, who includedSidney Nolan and Kathleen and Florence Martin. He also instigated a design competition for an original Australian ballet, which was won byDonald Friend with designs for a ballet based on a fictitious event in the life ofNed Kelly.[citation needed]. A number of dancers stayed in Australia,[15] includingKira Bousloff, who went on to found theWest Australian Ballet.
Soon after they returned to the United States in 1939,World War II broke out. The company suffered financially, but was able to book an entire cast of dancers on tour toHavana, Cuba, in 1941.Alberto Alonso and his first wifePatricia Denise danced all the principal roles on the Havana tour. The company could not pay the dancers adequately, and some took second jobs in nightclubs to survive.Principal dancers were forced to take roles that were not solos.[16]
While in Cuba,David Lichine and Tatiana Leskova appeared inConga Pantera at the Cabaret Tropicana. Other dancers included Tamara Grigorieva,Nina Verchinina, Anna Leontieva, Genevieve Moulin, Tatiana Leskova, Anna Volkova, Your Lazowski, Dimitri Romanoff,Roman Jasinski, Paul Petroff, and Oleg Tupin.
In 1947, the Original Ballet Russe gave its last season in London before disbanding.[17] The company was revived in 1951 by family members G. Kirsta and the Grigorievs, after Col. de Basil died.[17] The company proved to be financially unstable, and folded while on tour in Europe in 1952.
A feature documentary about the company, featuring interviews with many of the dancers, was released in 2005, with the titleBallets Russes.
A Thousand Encores: Ballets Russes in Australia was a documentary screened onABC Television on November 3, 2009, about the company's three visits to Australia between 1936 and 1940. The documentary claims that there is more footage of the Ballets Russes in Australia than anywhere else in the world. Some film was in colour, a rarity for that time.
