Studio photograph of Alice Nikitina in Les Biches, performed by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1920s.

Signed studio photograph of Alice Nikitina (La Garçonne) in Les Biches, performed by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1920s.

Given by the Royal Academy of Music

This photograph is part of a collection amassed by Norman McCann (1920-1999). McCann studied at the Royal Academy of Music in the late 1940s and went on to become an impresario and the President of the British Association of Concert Agents. He collected dance material with the intention of establishing the International Dance Museum and compiling a comprehensive Who's Who of Ballet. On his death the collection was bequeathed to the Royal Academy of Music, but it contained material outside the remit of the Royal Academy and was given by the Academy to the V&A Theatre and Performance collection.

Studio photograph of Alice Nikitina in costume for Les Biches, performed by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1920s.

Scenery, Curtain and costumes by Marie Laurencin
Curtain and Scenery executed by Prince Alexander Schervachidze
Costumes executed by Mme Vera de Bosset Soudeikine - La maison Julavera

First performed by the Ballets Russes on 6 January 1924 at Théâtre de Monte Carlo
First performed by the Ballets Russes in London on 25 May 1925 at the Coliseum Theatre
Final performance by Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes on 25 July 1928 at His Majesty’s Theatre, London

S.379-2017