Dancers of the Ballets Russes
Photograph
1929 (photographed)
1929 (photographed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Posed photograph of dancers of Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in costumes for Renard, and Serge Lifar and Olga Spessiva in costume for Swan Lake Act II taken on stage at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, July1929. Renard was choreographed by Serge Lifar to music by Igor Stravinsky, with set and costumes designed by Michel Larionov and Swan Lake was credited to Marius Petipa with music by Piotr Tchaikovsky and designs by Constantin Korovin.
Lifar’s creation of Renard was the second version for the Ballets Russes as on 18 May 1922 Bronislava Nijinska has choreographed an earlier production at the Théâtre National de l’Opéra, Paris. Both were based on a Russian folk tale the essence of which was how a cat and goat repeatedly rescue a cock from a wily fox in a series of disguises.
In Lifar's production the roles of the Goat, Cat and Cock were double cast and performed by both dancers and professional acrobats. Cyril Beaumont who only saw a dress rehearsal and one performance recalled a ‘vague memory of seeing agile forms leap on to the platform and thence to the ground; of other figures whirling in somersaults and cart-wheels; of dancers succeeded by acrobats, and vice versa; of acrobats performing on a trapeze.'
In the photograph Serge Lifar as Siegfried and Olga Spessitseva s Odette frame the stage-performers of Renard with the dancers on the left and acrobats on the right and Leon Woizikowski as the Fox in the foreground. Left the Goat (Boris Lisanevich), Cock (Nikolai Efimov and the Cat (Jan Hoyer) on the right the Cat (Adolph Hierlinger), Cock (Louis Agustino) and Goat (Bernardo Agustino).
Lifar’s creation of Renard was the second version for the Ballets Russes as on 18 May 1922 Bronislava Nijinska has choreographed an earlier production at the Théâtre National de l’Opéra, Paris. Both were based on a Russian folk tale the essence of which was how a cat and goat repeatedly rescue a cock from a wily fox in a series of disguises.
In Lifar's production the roles of the Goat, Cat and Cock were double cast and performed by both dancers and professional acrobats. Cyril Beaumont who only saw a dress rehearsal and one performance recalled a ‘vague memory of seeing agile forms leap on to the platform and thence to the ground; of other figures whirling in somersaults and cart-wheels; of dancers succeeded by acrobats, and vice versa; of acrobats performing on a trapeze.'
In the photograph Serge Lifar as Siegfried and Olga Spessitseva s Odette frame the stage-performers of Renard with the dancers on the left and acrobats on the right and Leon Woizikowski as the Fox in the foreground. Left the Goat (Boris Lisanevich), Cock (Nikolai Efimov and the Cat (Jan Hoyer) on the right the Cat (Adolph Hierlinger), Cock (Louis Agustino) and Goat (Bernardo Agustino).
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Dancers of the Ballets Russes (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Photograph |
| Brief description | Photograph by Sasha of the cast of Renard and the principal dancers in Swan Lake, performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, taken July 1929 |
| Physical description | Posed stage photograph of dancers in their costumes from Renard, performed by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, July1929. The photograph shows the on-stage cast of dancers and acrobats who performed in the ballet, as well as Serge Lifar and Olga Spessivtseva in their Swan Lake costumes. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Gabrielle Enthoven Collection |
| Summary | Posed photograph of dancers of Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in costumes for Renard, and Serge Lifar and Olga Spessiva in costume for Swan Lake Act II taken on stage at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, July1929. Renard was choreographed by Serge Lifar to music by Igor Stravinsky, with set and costumes designed by Michel Larionov and Swan Lake was credited to Marius Petipa with music by Piotr Tchaikovsky and designs by Constantin Korovin. Lifar’s creation of Renard was the second version for the Ballets Russes as on 18 May 1922 Bronislava Nijinska has choreographed an earlier production at the Théâtre National de l’Opéra, Paris. Both were based on a Russian folk tale the essence of which was how a cat and goat repeatedly rescue a cock from a wily fox in a series of disguises. In Lifar's production the roles of the Goat, Cat and Cock were double cast and performed by both dancers and professional acrobats. Cyril Beaumont who only saw a dress rehearsal and one performance recalled a ‘vague memory of seeing agile forms leap on to the platform and thence to the ground; of other figures whirling in somersaults and cart-wheels; of dancers succeeded by acrobats, and vice versa; of acrobats performing on a trapeze.' In the photograph Serge Lifar as Siegfried and Olga Spessitseva s Odette frame the stage-performers of Renard with the dancers on the left and acrobats on the right and Leon Woizikowski as the Fox in the foreground. Left the Goat (Boris Lisanevich), Cock (Nikolai Efimov and the Cat (Jan Hoyer) on the right the Cat (Adolph Hierlinger), Cock (Louis Agustino) and Goat (Bernardo Agustino). |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.261-2017 |
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| Record created | August 2, 2017 |
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