“I need a ballet and a Russian one”, wrote The doll, which came to be seen as an ancient himself with artistic heavyweights. And, in Serge Diaghilev. “The first Russian ballet. Since Russian artefact, represents more than the true Madonna-like fashion, he effortlessly there is no such thing. There is Russian opera, sum of its nesting parts. It is a symbol of the appropriated other cultures for his own ends. Russian symphony, Russian song, Russian kind of craft produced at the Russian artists’ dance, Russian rhythm – but no Russian ballet”. colonies Abramtsevo and Talashkino late in the To a Western audience of 1909, the ballets he A taste for 19th century. The craftsmen who worked there presented represented “exotic otherness”, in Writing to Anatoly Lyadov, Diaghilev assured looked back affectionately at medieval Russian the words of Orlando Figes, author of Natasha’s the composer that the definitive Russian ballet art and naïve peasant art, much like the artists Dance, a cultural history of Russia. At the scenario was ready, having been “dreamed up” who produced beautifully crafted goods during Ballets Russes’ first season in Paris in 1909, by a remarkable assembly of collaborators, the arts and crafts movement of England in the audiences lapped up the exoticism of Cleopatra including the choreographer Mikhail Fokine. second half of the 19th century. Diaghilev’s and the Polovtsian songs and dances from the exotic World of Art magazine was subsidised by Savva Prince Igor. Diaghilev’s collaborator, artist Their creation – The Firebird – was conceived Mamantov, the railway magnate who owned Alexandre Benois, recalled how “the French Like Madonna a century later, the Ballets Russes’ by Diaghilev’s circle, men who understood the Abramtsevo and by Princess Maria Tenisheva, loved our ‘primitive wildness’”. marketing possibilities of exporting to Paris an who owned Talashkino. The output of the Sergei Diaghilev was always one step ahead of the zeitgeist, exotic work sprinkled with the essence of old Russian art colonies influenced Diaghilev in the And so more exoticism, more sensuality, was Russia. The ‘essence’, because The Firebird early years when he was showing art works in needed to feed the fin de siècle Western appetite. writes Valerie Lawson, marketing an imagined idea of represented an illusion of mother Russia, Paris and editing The World of Art magazine. And “Diaghilev could see that there was money to be Russia for Parisian audiences hungry for the exotic. offering a kaleidoscopic landscape of colours, that influence continued in the early repertoire made from the export of more Russian ballets motifs, symbols and myths that looked back of his Ballets Russes. in this vein”, wrote Figes. “Always keen to spot with nostalgia to a folkloric past. Over time The a new market opportunity, the impresario was Firebird – and Diaghilev’s other Slavic and oriental Léonide Massine was once asked whether impressed by the growing popularity of the ballets, such as Petrouchka and Schéhérazade Diaghilev followed fashion or created it. He neo-nationalists’ folk-like art. And so it was, as –developed a patina of ethnic realism. They replied that Diaghilev was “extremely flexible, he wrote to tell Lyadov, that they cooked up the seemed to be deeply rooted in mythology and and sensible to any evolution in the art world … libretto of The Firebird. Benois called the ballet history, yet the ballets were as much an invented he was always following the ideas of the day as ‘a fairy tale for grown-ups’”. concept as the Babushka toy, the Russian doll long as they were the valuable ones”. Much like within a doll, that was created in 1891 and Madonna a century later, the impresario could Its aim was to create what Benois called a shown at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. read the zeitgeist. Highly intelligent, he adapted “mysterium of Russia” for “export to the West”. with chameleon-like speed and surrounded “The real export”, Figes noted, “was the myth Highly intelligent, Diaghilev The Ballets Russes centenary adapted with chameleon- like speed and surrounded programme of events himself with artistic heavyweights. And, in true Madonna-like fashion, he effortlessly appropriated other cultures for his own ends.

of peasant innocence and youthful energy. were yearning for the exotic, the new, the century. He cut his ties with the Russian Imperial 2009 is a year to remember in many ways. Public Events* CANBERRA Each ingredient of the ballet was a stylised revolutionary. Those Parisian audiences Theatres and his company became a purely Not only does it mark the centenary of the June Capturing the Ballets Russes abstraction of folklore ... The scenario was a – educated, sophisticated and cultivated – commercial enterprise. One of his biographers first performance in Paris of Sergei Diaghilev’s Steps of a Russian dancer National Library of Australia patchwork compilation of two entirely separate included the diplomatic corps, the aristocracy, Arnold Haskell believed that after the 1917 inaugural Ballets Russes, but it is also the 70th Discover the story behind Graeme Murphy’s 9 April to 26 September peasant tales ... the production for the Paris rich American expatriates, and even richer Bolshevik revolution, “to go to Russia would be anniversary of the final tour to Australia by the Nutcracker and the exotic origins of Australia’s Drawing on the Library’s comprehensive Ballets season was a self-conscious package of exotic Jewish bankers who financially backed the easy [for Diaghilev], to come back impossible”. ultimate successor to his company, led by the vibrant dance culture as we re-trace Clara’s Russes collections, this exhibition reveals the Russian props – from Golovine’s colourful Ballets Russes. For its part, the Ballets Russes Diaghilev feared a loss of creative freedom and redoubtable Wassily de Basil. How fitting, then, steps from pre-revolutionary Russia to Australia artists who created the Ballets Russes and its peasant costumes to those weird mythic beasts”. enhanced the bohemian mood of Paris, its “he did not believe he could reconcile his art that 2009 also brings the remarkable Ballets and the Borovansky Ballet in the 1940s. experimental productions, the dancers who ripple-like influence reaching out into wider with both privation and political stress”. Russes project to a close. To celebrate these captivated Australian audiences, and Australian Binding together this exotic fabric was one world. The designer Paul Poiret created evening events, The Australian Ballet’s entire 2009 Graeme Murphy and the Ballets Russes artists they inspired. extraordinary thread, the music of the man who dresses, kimono coats and fans, all inspired by Yet, two years before he died, the impresario season is dedicated to channeling the creative Follow Graeme Murphy’s unique and ongoing ultimately composed The Firebird, Igor Stravinsky, Bakst’s designs for Schéhérazade, while Cartier yearned for his motherland. He planned to energy of the Diaghilev and de Basil companies. response to the Ballets Russes as we re-visit Photographs, paintings and drawings describe the whose brilliant score made extensive use of Russian designed Schéhérazade-like jewellery incorporating return briefly to Russia in the 1920s, hoping to The season sees the restaging and recreation of some of his groundbreaking works and examine dancers’ working days and nights. Personal letters folk music, especially peasant wedding songs. emeralds and sapphires, and perfumiers created keep up with Soviet artistic developments. In Ballets Russes repertoire, and the presentation the creative process behind his most recent and snapshots provide insights to their feelings scents called Nirvana, Kismet, Maharajah and 1927, from his base in Monte Carlo, he asked of new and old works which are in various ways commission for The Australian Ballet, Firebird. about dancing in a new country. Rare business In the recent history of classical music, The Shalimar. The ballerina Tamara Karsavina recalled Prokofiev for news, after the composer had linked to the legacy of the Ballets Russes. The cables, souvenir programmes, magazines and Rest is Noise, author Alex Ross described The how the ladies in the Ballets Russes’ audience spent three months in Russia. Choreographer 2009 celebrations are capped off by a series of July books reveal how the print media captured the Firebird as “a magical concoction: Russian appeared in turbans and interior decorators Léonide Massine suggested that Diaghilev Ballets Russes exhibitions mounted by some of Spotlight talk: the Ballets Russes evanescent art of dance at a time when Australia musical sorcery, overlaid with French effects. recommended what they called “Bakst Blue”. “flirted with communist ideas”, resulting in Australia’s major national cultural institutions. behind the lens was ripe and hungry for new experiences. Lit up by the X-factor of Stravinsky’s talent”. a machine-age Soviet ballet Le Par d’Acier, This lunchtime lecture presents the work The composer went on to create another huge Long after the death of Diaghilev in 1929, the composed by Prokofiev and designed by the MELBOURNE of Australians who captured the spirit and The exhibition includes a centenary tribute success with Petrouchka in 1911. He used the vogue for ‘Russian ballet’ lingered on, with the Soviet artist Georgi Yakoulov. It is fascinating The Australian Ballet’s education season excitement of the Ballets Russes tours through to the Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev, sounds of Russian life “to overturn the entire words ‘Russia’ and ‘ballet’ intertwined as if to speculate whether Diaghilev could have includes a range of Ballets Russes’ related action and studio photography. whose inaugural Ballets Russes (1909-1929) musical establishment with its European rules one did not exist without the other. Western reinvented himself once more, had he lived into programmes this year. revolutionised ballet. It also celebrates those of beauty and technique”, wrote Figes. dancers recruited into the Ballets Russes took the 1930s and beyond. Astonish me! Creative Australia responds Ballets Russes artists who settled in Australia Russian names, as did their successors who Informative talks ‘Saturdays at five’ series: Enjoy a tour of the exhibition to survey some of and established our earliest professional “Here was another Russian revolution – a joined the ballet companies that followed in its Instead, the marketing wizard and master of Clara’s Story (Nutcracker) and Artistic Directions the profound creative influences that the Ballets ballet companies. musical uprising by the low life of St Petersburg. wake. When Russian dancers from the Ballets reinvention died in Venice in 1929. He was (Concord) hosted by Education Manager Colin Russes tours had upon Australian modernist Further details 02 6262 1271 nla.gov.au/events Everything about the ballet was conceived in Russes troupe of 1910 were lured to the United buried on the funeral island of St Michele, as Peasley during Melbourne and Sydney seasons. artists and designers. ethnographic terms. Benois’ scenario conjured States and to England, Diaghilev recruited from was Stravinsky. The remains of the Russians lie Musical Masterpieces, presented by Music The Ballets Russes 1909-1939 up in detail the vanished fairground world of the the West. By 1918 the Ballets Russes was an close together, forever expatriates, yet forever Director Nicolette Fraillon and Principal Pianist August National Gallery of Australia Shrovetide carnival of his beloved childhood international troupe of 39 dancers, with fewer representing the genius of Russian cultural life. Stuart Macklin, will take an in-depth look at A cultural revolution 11 December 2009 to 28 March 2010 in St Petersburg. Fokine’s mechanistic than half born in Russia. Twelve dancers were Stravinsky’s Firebird and Petrouchka. To be Artistic Director David McAllister and Music This celebratory exhibition will trace the Ballets choreography echoed the jerky ostinato rhythms from Poland while others were Italian, Spanish, Valerie Lawson is an author and dance historian presented in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. Director Nicolette Fraillon discuss the four-year Russes story through the company’s designers, Stravinsky heard in vendors cries and chants, English and Belgian. When the English dancer project Ballets Russes in Australia: Our Cultural displaying the costumes and some original organ grinder tunes, accordion melodies, Algernon Harcourt Essex joined Anna Pavlova’s Introduction to the Ballet Revolution in relation to the Arts Centre’s designs for its major productions. Evoking the factory songs, coarse peasant speech and the touring company, the Russian ballerina insisted The dancers in practice and performance, exhibition. exoticism and drama of the Ballets Russes’ syncopated music of village bands”. he change his name to H Algeranoff. hosted by Colin Peasley in Melbourne and performances the exhibition will show aspects Sydney. The event will highlight Nutcracker and Inspired by the past and present of their influence on early 20th century design. In the five years after the first Paris season, The name-change tradition continued with the its Ballets Russes connections. Hear from contemporary visual artists who the Ballets Russes presented a host of ballets Ballets Russes’ offshoot companies established Previous page from left: have created new works of art in response to The National Gallery of Australia holds one based on Russian or oriental myths and in Monte Carlo in the 1930s. The dancers all Costume sketch of Russian theatre performer Q&A sessions given by Artistic Director David The Australian Ballet’s 2009 Ballets Russes of the world’s most extensive collections of fairytales, including Schéhérazade and Les took Russian names with Australian dancer by Léon Bakst 1911 McAllister, Music Director Nicolette Fraillon and programme. costumes from the Ballets Russes companies. Orientales in 1910; Sadko in 1911, Thamar and Valrene Tweedie, for example, becoming Irina Dimitri Rostoff as the Shah in Schéhérazade. 1938/39 leading dancers at the conclusion of selected The Gallery is undertaking a major conservation Melbourne • Photography Spencer Shier Le Dieu Bleu in 1912, Le Sacre du Printemps Lavrova and Madeleine Parker transformed Ballets Russes related performances in September project where more than 100 of these costumes Costume sketch for The Firebird by Léon Bakst 1910 in 1913 and Le Coq d’Or in 1914. In 1916, into Mira Dimina. In the first three decades of Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. Modernity comes alive in music are being prepared for the exhibition. Many will Lubov Tchernicheva in Thamar, Ballets Russes, 1930s be revealed to the public for the first time since Diaghilev was asked where the Ballets Russes the 20th century, ballet troupes assembled nla.ms-ms9803-1-113 Further details & bookings australianballet. Participate in an insightful discussion on the had its intellectual origins. “In the Russian in London and, destined for long Australasian com.au/education 03 9669 2794 impact of great Ballets Russes scores upon they were last worn. tours, were given the names the Imperial Russian Australian composers in the early 20th century peasantry”, he replied. “In objects of utility Above from left: Ballet, the Dandre Levitoff Russian Ballet, the Creative Australia & the Ballets Russes through to composing for ballet with today’s A catalogue and a dedicated website will … in the paintings on sleighs, in the design Portrait of Serge Lifar in The Firebird, Original Ballet Russe and colours of peasant dresses or the carving Monte Carlo Russian Ballet, the Covent Garden Australian tour • Photography Max Dupain Gallery 1, the Arts Centre technology. support the exhibition. The public programme around a window frame we found our motifs and Russian Ballet and the Original Ballet Russe. nla.pic-an12114755 6 June to 20 September aims to bring the Ballets Russes to life through on this foundation we built”. Madonna poses in a sari backstage at the 1998 VH1 This exhibition celebrates the profound cultural *Event dates unavailable at time of printing. film, performances and events focusing on Vogue Fashion Awards in New York City (Photo by Frank effect of the Ballets Russes tours upon modern dance and design. Diaghilev, the man who began the faux Russian Micelotta/Getty Images) ballet craze, never returned to Russia after Australian visual, dance and design arts from Further details 03 9281 8000 Further details 02 6240 6411 nga.gov.au Diaghilev’s enterprise arrived in Paris during Portrait of Tamara Grigovieva as a princess in The Firebird, the belle époque, a time when audiences the success of his company in the early 20th Ballets Russes, 1930s.nla.ms-ms8495-23-1-s50 the 1930s to the present. theartscentre.com.au All scheduled public programmes correct at time of printing