Ballets Russes

A touring ballet company founded by Sergei Diaghilev that presented Russian and modernist works internationally from 1909 to 1929. Its productions united choreography, music, visual art, and design.

Vaslav Nijinsky: A Russian ballet dancer and choreographer celebrated for his performances and innovative early works. As star dancer and choreographer, he helped make the company’s Paris seasons famous.
The Firebird: A ballet by Michel Fokine, set to music by Igor Stravinsky and premiered in 1910. Its success introduced Stravinsky to international audiences through the company.
Ballet choreography: The composition and arrangement of dance movements into a performance. Choreography turned the company’s musical and dramatic ideas into movement.
Mir Iskusstva: A Russian art movement and journal founded in 1898 by artists and writers including Sergei Diaghilev. Its advocacy of artistic collaboration and design informed Diaghilev’s later productions.
Neoclassical ballet: A ballet style that uses classical technique with modern music, design, or movement. The company’s later works helped establish new directions beyond nineteenth-century ballet.
Michel Fokine: A Russian choreographer who sought to reform ballet through expressive movement and dramatic unity. His ballets established the company’s early choreographic identity.
Petrushka: A ballet by Michel Fokine and Igor Stravinsky about puppets brought to life at a Russian fair. Its music, staging, and choreography exemplified the company’s integrated theatrical style.
Stage design: The visual arrangement of scenery, props, lighting, and costumes for a performance. Designers worked with choreographers and composers to create each production’s visual world.
Ballets Russes 1909 Paris season: The Paris season in 1909 that introduced Diaghilev’s Russian ballet enterprise to a major Western audience. This successful season established the company’s international profile.
Modern dance: A concert dance tradition that developed partly in reaction to classical ballet conventions. Ballets Russes innovations formed part of the wider debate over movement and theatrical form.

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