Posed stage photograph of a scene from Renard, performed by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, taken in London, July 1929. The ballet was choreographed by Serge Lifar to music by Igor Stravinsky, with set and costumes designed by Michel Larionov. It was first performed at the théâtre Sarah Bernhardt, Paris, on 21 May 1929 and was also performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London 15 July 1929. In total it received 10 performances.
Lifar’s creation of Renard was the second version for the Ballets Russes as on 18 May 1922 Bronislava Nijinska has created an earlier production at the Théâtre National de l’Opéra, Paris. Both were based on a Russian folk tale the essence was how a cat and goat repeatedly rescue a cockerel 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'. The Times 16 July 1929 described Renard as ‘sheer amusement and enjoyment’.
The photograph shows the Cockerel (Nikolai Efimov) holding the Fox (Leon Woizikowski), and at his feet the Goat (Boris Lisanevich) and the Cat (Jan Hoyer). On the right are their acrobat counterparts, Goat (Bernardo Agustino), Cockerel (Louis Agustino) and Cat (Adolph Hierlinger).