Behind the Scenes at the Ballets Russes: Stories from a Silver Age

by Michael Meylac, John Neumeier (Afterword), Ismene Brown (Foreword by), Rosanna Kelly (Translator)

Overview

The Ballets Russes was perhaps the most iconic, yet at the same time mysterious, ballet company of the twentieth century. Inspired by the unique vision of their founder Sergei Diaghilev, the company gained a large international following. In the mid-twentieth century – during the tumultuous years of World War II and the Cold War – the Ballets Russes companies kept the spirit and traditions of Russian ballet alive in the West, touring extensively in America, Europe and Australia. This important new book uncovers previously-unseen interviews and provides insights into the lives of the great figures of the age – from the dancers Anna Pavlova and Alicia Markova to the choreographers Leonide Massine, George Balanchine and Anton Dolin. The dancers' own words reveal what life was really like for the stars of the Ballets Russes and provide fascinating new insights into one of the most vibrant and creative groups of artists of the modern age.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786722058
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	10/30/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	350
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Michael Meylac is Professor of Russian Literature at the University of Strasbourg, France.
Rosanna Kelly is an author and translator, based in London.

Table of Contents

Introduction : Russia and Europe: A Transparent Barrier

Part I: Les Ballets Russes de Serge de Diaghilev, Les Ballets Russes de Colonel de Basil and the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo
Working with Diaghilev
The Baby Ballerinas
Working with the Ballets Russes de Colonel de Basil and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo
The Ballets Russes in Australia
The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in America

Part II: Marquis de Cuevas and Others
6. Serge Lifar
7. Nina Vyroubova

Part III: The Next Generation
8. Pierre Lacotte
9. Three Portraits
10. The Canadian ballet
11. The Netherlands Ballet

Part IV: The Heirs of the Russian Tradition
12. American ballet

Part V: The Mariinsky Theatre
Part VI: The Wandering Stars
13. Rudolf Nureyev
14. Natalia Makarova
15. Mikhail Baryshnikov
16. Two Portraits

Postscript, List of Illustrations, Index

Editorial Reviews

Meylac's love of ballet has gifted balletomanes with genuinely evocative reading, providing dancers' tidbits from this unforgettable ballet era.” —Dance International Magazine

From the Publisher

"valuable supplementary collection of interviews with important participants, today mostly dead, assiduously conducted by Michael Meylac over a period of many years and fluently translated by Rosanna Kelly. [...] Supurb illustrations grace this book, which will be of enormous interest to balletomanes and considerable scholarly value to dance historians."

Literary Review

"Published in hardback by I B Tauris Press is Behind the Scenes at the Ballets Russes, a fascinating collection of interviews carried out by Michael Meylac over a period of nearly 20 years. Translated by Rosanna Kelly, Meylac spoke to many surviving members of the Ballets Russes companies, including Alexandra Danilova, Irina Baronova, Tamara Toumanova, and Frederic Franklin, who detailed to him the events of their dancing lives in conversations that give a real flavour of that glamorous period in ballet history."

Dancing Times