Judith Chazin-Bennahum
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195399332
- eISBN:
- 9780199897025
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195399332.003.0008
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This chapter recounts the progress of Blum’s new company, the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, with Michel Fokine, one of the greatest proponents of modern ballet as its master choreographer, along with many ...
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This chapter recounts the progress of Blum’s new company, the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, with Michel Fokine, one of the greatest proponents of modern ballet as its master choreographer, along with many of his talented former dancers. It relates the succession of economic crises as well as the general political turmoil that European countries were experiencing while artists and ballet companies struggled to keep afloat. The chapter describes Fokine’s new ballets for Blum—L’Épreuve d’Amour, Don Juan, and Les Elfes—and audiences’ reactions both in Monte Carlo and on tour to Europe and South Africa. The chapter also reveals how Fokine reclaimed some of his fame as a dance maker with the Blum company. It details the travails that Blum endured as he desperately tried to find funds to keep his company alive as the devastating Depression was soon to assault the European continent. Arguing that Blum still maintained an amicable relationship with Fokine, the chapter ends with new developments: the sale of Blum’s company to wealthy Americans, Serge Denham and Jules Fleischmann, and the passing back of the lead choreographer’s baton from Fokine to Leonide Massine.Less
This chapter recounts the progress of Blum’s new company, the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, with Michel Fokine, one of the greatest proponents of modern ballet as its master choreographer, along with many of his talented former dancers. It relates the succession of economic crises as well as the general political turmoil that European countries were experiencing while artists and ballet companies struggled to keep afloat. The chapter describes Fokine’s new ballets for Blum—L’Épreuve d’Amour, Don Juan, and Les Elfes—and audiences’ reactions both in Monte Carlo and on tour to Europe and South Africa. The chapter also reveals how Fokine reclaimed some of his fame as a dance maker with the Blum company. It details the travails that Blum endured as he desperately tried to find funds to keep his company alive as the devastating Depression was soon to assault the European continent. Arguing that Blum still maintained an amicable relationship with Fokine, the chapter ends with new developments: the sale of Blum’s company to wealthy Americans, Serge Denham and Jules Fleischmann, and the passing back of the lead choreographer’s baton from Fokine to Leonide Massine.
Judith Chazin-Bennahum
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195399332
- eISBN:
- 9780199897025
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195399332.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This is the first lengthy inquiry into the life and times of René Blum, the successor to Serge Diaghilev and a distinguished Parisian author, editor, critic, and producer. Léon Blum, his older ...
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This is the first lengthy inquiry into the life and times of René Blum, the successor to Serge Diaghilev and a distinguished Parisian author, editor, critic, and producer. Léon Blum, his older brother, became the first Socialist prime minister of France. René’s early life was dedicated to publicizing and celebrating young playwrights, artists, and writers. Long before his ballet career began, Blum co-edited Gil Blas, the great French literary paper, and wrote art criticisms that inform us about his aesthetic stance and interest in modernism. For example, Blum wrote the preface to the catalogue of an early exhibition of cubist art in 1912. Another aspect of his life concerns his friendship with Marcel Proust. Proust’s letters frequently mention Blum, especially because it was he who helped Proust find a publisher for the first volume of A La Recherche du Temps Perdu. As artistic director of the Théâtre de Monte-Carlo, Blum worked with many important playwrights of his generation and, later in 1932, some of the greatest choreographers such as Balanchine, Massine, Fokine, and Nijinska, providing them with the resources for their unique choreographies. His Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo and Ballets de Monte-Carlo toured extensively and brought brilliant Russian and European dancers to America during the 1930s. Many escaped to the United States in the wake of World War II. Entrapped in Paris during the Nazi Occupation, Blum was rounded up with 742 other Jewish intellectuals and killed in the Holocaust.Less
This is the first lengthy inquiry into the life and times of René Blum, the successor to Serge Diaghilev and a distinguished Parisian author, editor, critic, and producer. Léon Blum, his older brother, became the first Socialist prime minister of France. René’s early life was dedicated to publicizing and celebrating young playwrights, artists, and writers. Long before his ballet career began, Blum co-edited Gil Blas, the great French literary paper, and wrote art criticisms that inform us about his aesthetic stance and interest in modernism. For example, Blum wrote the preface to the catalogue of an early exhibition of cubist art in 1912. Another aspect of his life concerns his friendship with Marcel Proust. Proust’s letters frequently mention Blum, especially because it was he who helped Proust find a publisher for the first volume of A La Recherche du Temps Perdu. As artistic director of the Théâtre de Monte-Carlo, Blum worked with many important playwrights of his generation and, later in 1932, some of the greatest choreographers such as Balanchine, Massine, Fokine, and Nijinska, providing them with the resources for their unique choreographies. His Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo and Ballets de Monte-Carlo toured extensively and brought brilliant Russian and European dancers to America during the 1930s. Many escaped to the United States in the wake of World War II. Entrapped in Paris during the Nazi Occupation, Blum was rounded up with 742 other Jewish intellectuals and killed in the Holocaust.
Judith Chazin-Bennahum
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195399332
- eISBN:
- 9780199897025
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195399332.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This chapter follows the events leading to the recreation of the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo in April 1932, describing Blum’s relationship with his partner Colonel de Basil, which soured very ...
More
This chapter follows the events leading to the recreation of the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo in April 1932, describing Blum’s relationship with his partner Colonel de Basil, which soured very quickly, and the exciting and invigorating debut of the company. It details the brilliant premieres that Balanchine as ballet master created for the opening season and the work of several other choreographers, notably Leonide Massine and Michel Fokine. Balanchine was soon replaced by Massine, and this action gave Massine a strong upper hand in the company, with an impressive male contingent bringing the new company tremendous panache. The chapter recounts Massine’s introduction of the symphonic ballet, as well as many other successful creations, and speaks to the major importance of the company’s tours to London and Paris, throughout Europe, and to the United States. The chapter also depicts de Basil’s betrayal of Blum and details the saga of Blum’s contractual efforts to free himself, which he finally did after the Monte Carlo season in 1935. It concludes with the birth of Blum’s new company, the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, with Fokine as the major choreographer.Less
This chapter follows the events leading to the recreation of the Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo in April 1932, describing Blum’s relationship with his partner Colonel de Basil, which soured very quickly, and the exciting and invigorating debut of the company. It details the brilliant premieres that Balanchine as ballet master created for the opening season and the work of several other choreographers, notably Leonide Massine and Michel Fokine. Balanchine was soon replaced by Massine, and this action gave Massine a strong upper hand in the company, with an impressive male contingent bringing the new company tremendous panache. The chapter recounts Massine’s introduction of the symphonic ballet, as well as many other successful creations, and speaks to the major importance of the company’s tours to London and Paris, throughout Europe, and to the United States. The chapter also depicts de Basil’s betrayal of Blum and details the saga of Blum’s contractual efforts to free himself, which he finally did after the Monte Carlo season in 1935. It concludes with the birth of Blum’s new company, the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, with Fokine as the major choreographer.
Toba Singer
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813044026
- eISBN:
- 9780813046259
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813044026.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
We learn what Ballet Theatre was like in its infancy: discussion among dancers about the style, living and working conditions, and the emergence of U.S.-born choreographers, composers, growing ...
More
We learn what Ballet Theatre was like in its infancy: discussion among dancers about the style, living and working conditions, and the emergence of U.S.-born choreographers, composers, growing camaraderie, as well as the financial problems that beset the company.Less
We learn what Ballet Theatre was like in its infancy: discussion among dancers about the style, living and working conditions, and the emergence of U.S.-born choreographers, composers, growing camaraderie, as well as the financial problems that beset the company.
Toba Singer
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813044026
- eISBN:
- 9780813046259
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813044026.003.0029
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
René de Cárdenas comes from a family of dancers and after dancing with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, brought such as Sonlar to stages around the world, never hesitating to return to Cuba when needed ...
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René de Cárdenas comes from a family of dancers and after dancing with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, brought such as Sonlar to stages around the world, never hesitating to return to Cuba when needed to teach partnering class. He says that Fernando is not the only one “present” in his consciousness when he takes a rehearsal or teaches, because he is also hearing the words of Michel Fokine and the masters from the Golden Era of Ballet whose wisdom Fernando brings into the studio today.Less
René de Cárdenas comes from a family of dancers and after dancing with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, brought such as Sonlar to stages around the world, never hesitating to return to Cuba when needed to teach partnering class. He says that Fernando is not the only one “present” in his consciousness when he takes a rehearsal or teaches, because he is also hearing the words of Michel Fokine and the masters from the Golden Era of Ballet whose wisdom Fernando brings into the studio today.
Lynn Garafola
- Published in print:
- 2022
- Published Online:
- March 2022
- ISBN:
- 9780197603901
- eISBN:
- 9780197603932
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197603901.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
After completing her training in 1908, Nijinska becomes a member of St. Petersburg’s Imperial Ballet, where she dances in works by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, and others. The following year she takes ...
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After completing her training in 1908, Nijinska becomes a member of St. Petersburg’s Imperial Ballet, where she dances in works by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, and others. The following year she takes part in the inaugural season of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in Paris, rising in the next four years from a member of the corps to a valued company soloist and performing a wide range of classical and character roles in Michel Fokine’s new ballets. She has a complicated relationship with her brother Vaslav Nijinsky. When he resigns from the Imperial Ballet to work full-time for the Ballets Russes, she follows. She plays a key role in the genesis of his first ballet, L’Après-midi d’un Faune, which awakens her desire to choreograph, and was the original Chosen Maiden in his Rite of Spring, a modernist landmark. Her failed romance with the singer Fedor Chaliapin, linked to the budding awareness of herself as a creative artist, becomes a theme of her diaries for the next twenty-five years. In 1912 she marries the dancer Alexander Kochetovsky and the following year gives birth to her daughter, Irina. Her pregnancy infuriates her brother, and he drops her from the cast of The Rite of Spring. When Nijinsky is dismissed from the Ballets Russes after his marriage, she resigns from the company and becomes both the ballerina and ballet mistress of his Saison Nijinsky in London. In 1914 she returns to Russia where she spends World War I and the Revolution.Less
After completing her training in 1908, Nijinska becomes a member of St. Petersburg’s Imperial Ballet, where she dances in works by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, and others. The following year she takes part in the inaugural season of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in Paris, rising in the next four years from a member of the corps to a valued company soloist and performing a wide range of classical and character roles in Michel Fokine’s new ballets. She has a complicated relationship with her brother Vaslav Nijinsky. When he resigns from the Imperial Ballet to work full-time for the Ballets Russes, she follows. She plays a key role in the genesis of his first ballet, L’Après-midi d’un Faune, which awakens her desire to choreograph, and was the original Chosen Maiden in his Rite of Spring, a modernist landmark. Her failed romance with the singer Fedor Chaliapin, linked to the budding awareness of herself as a creative artist, becomes a theme of her diaries for the next twenty-five years. In 1912 she marries the dancer Alexander Kochetovsky and the following year gives birth to her daughter, Irina. Her pregnancy infuriates her brother, and he drops her from the cast of The Rite of Spring. When Nijinsky is dismissed from the Ballets Russes after his marriage, she resigns from the company and becomes both the ballerina and ballet mistress of his Saison Nijinsky in London. In 1914 she returns to Russia where she spends World War I and the Revolution.
Maureen A. Carr
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199742936
- eISBN:
- 9780199367993
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199742936.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western, Theory, Analysis, Composition
The emergence of Stravinsky’s Neoclassicism from 1914–25 is closely tied to the changing aesthetics of the time. The year 1914 was crucial for experiments in literature, art, music, and dance that ...
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The emergence of Stravinsky’s Neoclassicism from 1914–25 is closely tied to the changing aesthetics of the time. The year 1914 was crucial for experiments in literature, art, music, and dance that were initiated by luminaries who spent their early years in St. Petersburg: Viktor Shklovsky (1893–1984), Arthur Lourié (1892–1966), Sonia Delauney (1885–1979), Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971), and Michel Fokine (1880–1942). Victor Ehrlich reminds us that that language is to the poet as tones are to musicians and colors to painters. This chapter sets the stage for the aesthetics of the time.Less
The emergence of Stravinsky’s Neoclassicism from 1914–25 is closely tied to the changing aesthetics of the time. The year 1914 was crucial for experiments in literature, art, music, and dance that were initiated by luminaries who spent their early years in St. Petersburg: Viktor Shklovsky (1893–1984), Arthur Lourié (1892–1966), Sonia Delauney (1885–1979), Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971), and Michel Fokine (1880–1942). Victor Ehrlich reminds us that that language is to the poet as tones are to musicians and colors to painters. This chapter sets the stage for the aesthetics of the time.
Gabriele Brandstetter
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199916559
- eISBN:
- 9780199370108
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199916559.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
When it was first published in Germany in 1995, this book was seen as an important publication, the first to explore the relationships between the birth of modern dance, new developments in the ...
More
When it was first published in Germany in 1995, this book was seen as an important publication, the first to explore the relationships between the birth of modern dance, new developments in the visual arts, and the renewal of literature and drama in the form of avant-garde theatrical and movement productions of the early twentieth century. The book established not only a relation between dance and critical theory, but in fact a full interdisciplinary methodology that quickly found a foothold in other areas of research within dance studies. The book looks at dance at the beginning of the twentieth century, when modern dance first began to make its radical departure from the aesthetics of classical ballet. The book traces modern dance’s connection to new innovations and trends in visual and literary arts to argue that modern dance is in fact the preeminent symbol of modernity. As the book demonstrates, the aesthetic renewal of dance vocabulary that was pursued by modern dancers on both sides of the Atlantic—Isadora Duncan and Loïe Fuller, Valeska Gert and Oskar Schlemmer, Vaslav Nijinsky and Michel Fokine—unfurled with new ideas about gender and subjectivity in the arts more generally, thus reflecting the modern experience of life and the self-understanding of the individual as an individual.Less
When it was first published in Germany in 1995, this book was seen as an important publication, the first to explore the relationships between the birth of modern dance, new developments in the visual arts, and the renewal of literature and drama in the form of avant-garde theatrical and movement productions of the early twentieth century. The book established not only a relation between dance and critical theory, but in fact a full interdisciplinary methodology that quickly found a foothold in other areas of research within dance studies. The book looks at dance at the beginning of the twentieth century, when modern dance first began to make its radical departure from the aesthetics of classical ballet. The book traces modern dance’s connection to new innovations and trends in visual and literary arts to argue that modern dance is in fact the preeminent symbol of modernity. As the book demonstrates, the aesthetic renewal of dance vocabulary that was pursued by modern dancers on both sides of the Atlantic—Isadora Duncan and Loïe Fuller, Valeska Gert and Oskar Schlemmer, Vaslav Nijinsky and Michel Fokine—unfurled with new ideas about gender and subjectivity in the arts more generally, thus reflecting the modern experience of life and the self-understanding of the individual as an individual.
Gabriele Brandstetter
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199916559
- eISBN:
- 9780199370108
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199916559.003.0011
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
This chapter explores the concept of written dance. It considers the ballet Carnaval, choreographed by Michel Fokine; the choreography of Belgian dancer Akarova in Lettres dansantes; and Rudolf von ...
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This chapter explores the concept of written dance. It considers the ballet Carnaval, choreographed by Michel Fokine; the choreography of Belgian dancer Akarova in Lettres dansantes; and Rudolf von Laban’s kinetography, which allows for the depiction of a spatial-temporal system of movement and written dance.Less
This chapter explores the concept of written dance. It considers the ballet Carnaval, choreographed by Michel Fokine; the choreography of Belgian dancer Akarova in Lettres dansantes; and Rudolf von Laban’s kinetography, which allows for the depiction of a spatial-temporal system of movement and written dance.
Toba Singer
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813044026
- eISBN:
- 9780813046259
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813044026.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
Fernando recounts his debut in Billy the Kid, and the impact of working with Lew Christensen on pieces such as Filling Station, as well as taking class with some of the best exponents of the Russian ...
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Fernando recounts his debut in Billy the Kid, and the impact of working with Lew Christensen on pieces such as Filling Station, as well as taking class with some of the best exponents of the Russian tradition.Less
Fernando recounts his debut in Billy the Kid, and the impact of working with Lew Christensen on pieces such as Filling Station, as well as taking class with some of the best exponents of the Russian tradition.
Tim Scholl
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300099560
- eISBN:
- 9780300128826
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300099560.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter explores how Sleeping Beauty marked the creative apogee of nineteenth-century Russian ballet, particularly how it started the movement toward more progressive forms of ballet. ...
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This chapter explores how Sleeping Beauty marked the creative apogee of nineteenth-century Russian ballet, particularly how it started the movement toward more progressive forms of ballet. Dance-goers began to refer to the Petipa ballet as the “old” ballet just as newer forms began to take shape. A few notable productions includecd the Duncan-influenced works of Michel Fokine and the Stanislavsky-influenced works of Alexander Gorsky. The Vsevolozhsky and Petipa eras had retired and died out by 1909 and 1910, respectively, and questions of what would succeed the future of Russian ballet began to circulate. Thus, this chapter analyzes and studies the history through which Russian ballet evolved with the arrival of Sleeping Beauty, and what factors would turn it into the Soviet Ballet.Less
This chapter explores how Sleeping Beauty marked the creative apogee of nineteenth-century Russian ballet, particularly how it started the movement toward more progressive forms of ballet. Dance-goers began to refer to the Petipa ballet as the “old” ballet just as newer forms began to take shape. A few notable productions includecd the Duncan-influenced works of Michel Fokine and the Stanislavsky-influenced works of Alexander Gorsky. The Vsevolozhsky and Petipa eras had retired and died out by 1909 and 1910, respectively, and questions of what would succeed the future of Russian ballet began to circulate. Thus, this chapter analyzes and studies the history through which Russian ballet evolved with the arrival of Sleeping Beauty, and what factors would turn it into the Soviet Ballet.
Toba Singer
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813044026
- eISBN:
- 9780813046259
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813044026.003.0020
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
Fernando speaks about his current life as a coach, repetiteur, and lecturer, and his daily routine, travels, family time, and what he values most in life.
Fernando speaks about his current life as a coach, repetiteur, and lecturer, and his daily routine, travels, family time, and what he values most in life.
