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Abstract: In January of 1916, amid a flurry of publicity, Serge Diaghilev's famous Ballets Russes company arrived in the United States to begin the first of two back-to-back American tours sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera Company. "Never before," the Metropolitan Opera Company's preliminary prospectus announced, "has such a diversity of ballet, mimo-drama, and 'choreographic episode' from such eminent hands been outspread on our stage. Never before have so many ballets moved to such music or been clothed in such settings and costumes. Never before have such performances wrought an equal magic, magnificence, and vitality of illusion. In them the new arts of the dance and many a new art of the theatre touch their present ... Read More PubDate: 2022-05-05T00:00:00-05:00
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Abstract: The Ballets Russes's wild success in Europe and the international fame of its star dancers stirred the imaginations of Americans across the country, many of whom knew little about the company beyond reports of scandalous premiers in Paris and pictures in Vanity Fair and Vogue. When Diaghilev arrived in the United States without Nijinsky and Karsavina, the fashionable dance troupe seemed to have lost some of the splendor seen in glossy magazines. Poor box office receipts, unfamiliar venues and audiences, exhausted and poorly paid musicians and dancers, and mixed reviews in the press did not help. But the reception of the Ballets Russes in America was more multifaceted than a cursory glance at the reviews may ... Read More PubDate: 2022-05-05T00:00:00-05:00
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Abstract: By February 13, 1917, Diaghilev's Ballets Russes had been crisscrossing the United States for four, grueling months, dancing to often disappointingly small houses, in which the appreciation of both critics and public was tempered with varying degrees of disapproval and bewilderment. When the company arrived that day in Grand Rapids, Michigan, it would have had little reason to expect anything different. But if the local press is to be believed, the performance there met with exceptional success. The Grand Rapids Herald began its review (signed C.M.S.), by celebrating the size, enthusiasm, and sophistication of the audience.Artistry of rare splendor, encompassing a wide and varied range, enthralled a large ... Read More PubDate: 2022-05-05T00:00:00-05:00
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Abstract: In December 1916, as Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company was crossing the United States to make its West Coast premiere in Los Angeles, the Metropolitan Musical Bureau attempted to generate additional publicity and sustain excitement by publishing the first (and only) issue of the Diaghilef Ballet Russe Courier. Squarely in the center of the front page, under the headline "Ballet Too Expensive for Filming," was a letter from American film director and producer Thomas H. Ince, purportedly responding to impresario and publicist Robert Grau's recommendation that Ince invite the ballet troupe to make a film:Dear Mr. Grau, I have read your communication in regard to the Russian Ballet. I fail to see the ... Read More PubDate: 2022-05-05T00:00:00-05:00
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Abstract: Upon the death of the impresario Serge Diaghilev in 1929, the Russian dancer-choreographer Adolph Bolm (1884–1951) penned a retrospective for an American publication, The Dance Magazine. Drawing from his tenure as premier danseur with the Ballets Russes from 1909 to 1917, he wrote of the late impresario's character, accomplishments, and influence on the art world at large. The now-familiar tropes were rehearsed: Diaghilev was an autocratic "genius of the theater," whose persistence and unfailing taste reinvigorated ballet in the West; Diaghilev mobilized Europe's leading artistic figures for ballet, revolutionizing music and the scenic arts along the way; Diaghilev shone the spotlight on the male dancer and ... Read More PubDate: 2022-05-05T00:00:00-05:00
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Abstract: Diaghilev's Ballets Russes tours across North America in 1916–17 were not a resounding financial or critical success, however, as the preceding articles in this collection have shown, the Russian dancers and their repertoire left a deep impression on audiences, and their performances continued to resonate long after the company returned to Europe: many Americans discovered a love of ballet after seeing the Ballets Russes and sought out classes or local dance productions, and orchestras increasingly incorporated Russian orchestral works and ballet music into their programs. Nevertheless, the impact of the Ballets Russes tours waned over the next several years, superseded by other touring companies of the 1910s and ... Read More PubDate: 2022-05-05T00:00:00-05:00