In search of the past: the phenomenon of the Russian ballet in exile in the 20th century

Abstract

In search of the past: the phenomenon of the Russian ballet in exile in the 20th century The paper investigates the phenomenon of the Russian ballet in exile in the twentieth century. It highlights that the art of the ballet is a little studied part of emigrational artistic culture, since there are still no records of the Russian ballet in exile and many texts, including personal archives, have not yet been studied. The paper attempts to prove that the Russian ballet art has successfully assimilated with the European culture by virtue of an outstanding activist Sergei Diaghilev and his ‘Russian Seasons’. Diaghilev worked and collaborated with such world-renowned masters of ballet as Pavlova A., Karsavina T., Ksesinskaja M., Preobrajenska O., Nižinskij V., Massine L., Lifar S. and others. Many of them have made a great leap into the future of the ballet, discovering new performance techniques. The innovative scenarios of Jean Cocteau, as well as the designs of a cubist painter Pablo Picasso for the ‘Russian Seasons’ ballets, have all contributed to the changes matching the spirit of the age.