Origins of the Ballet Russes
Peasant Life Inspired This Famous Performing Arts Group
Sergei Diaghilev created the Ballet Russe, which integrated Russian artistic movements and folk culture with a dance form that originally appealed only to aristocrats.
The Ballet Russe took the international performing arts world by storm at the beginning of the 20th century. This Russian ballet, previously a form of entertainment that appealed only to the older set of European aristocrats, was reinvigorated by Russian artistic movements and creative visionaries. The Ballet Russes, while maintaing a flexible connection with traditional ballet, expressed exotic tales inspired by Russian folk culture that broke from the outmoded understanding of ballet as a vehicle for creative performance.
Origins of the Ballet Russes – Sergei Diaghilev
Sergei Diaghilev can be given credit for the reinvention of Russian ballet. Diaghilev, from childhood, had lived within the sphere of art – from playing piano for his parents at parties as a youth, to founding artistic publications with former classmates, to patronizing Russian artists of his day, Diaghilev's vision of an influential Russian art form took shape with the Ballet Russes. Diaghilev, with his upper-class connections, could pull strings, and he maintained an expansive list of artistic connections as well. This impresario was a social adept who see a project of such scale to fruition by rallying both artists' and patrons' enthusiasm.
Origins of the Ballet Russes – Burgeoning International Interest
France had already begun to see Russian art as exotic and stylish by the year 1900. Russian arts and crafts, exhibited in Paris, were extremely popular. Even Russian peasant clothing was adapted for high-fashion customers by French clothing designers. Western interest created an impetus for Diaghilev to create a Ballet Russe that could be enjoyed outside of Russia, which would undoubtedly bring him notoriety and profit.
The Ballet Russes was shocking in its day. While still a form of ballet, its movements departed from strict convention. Instead of lightness and beauty, the dances sometimes expressed rigidity and weight; both the music and dance could be noisy and chaotic. Even the costumes, like those designed by Leon Bakst, were physically revealing and broke from traditional standards in surprising ways. These “scandalous” elements made audience members gasp and frenzied critics take up their pens . . . and everyone came back for more.
Origins of the Ballet Russes – The Russian Gesamtkunstwerk
Gesamtkunstwerkis the German word that describes Richard Wagner's idea of a “complete” form of art – one that joined music, visual art, and theater. While Wagner used this term in reference to opera, the Ballet Russes has often been called a gesamtkunstswerk because it combines elements of music, theatric performances and drama using dance and story, as well as visual elements like set and costume design, to create an artistic “whole.”
This artistic “whole” fell into line with a Russian movement that sought to integrate art into life as a way of mimicking Russian peasant culture. Peasants' lives were filled with folk art that also served specific purposes (for example, a church decorated with folk carvings that were intended to ward off evil spirits); celebratory festivals that combined dance, song, and utility (welcoming the spring, for instance), existed with similarities to the gesamtkunstwerk
The Ballet Russes changed ballet forever. While the Russian Revolution of 1917 saw the ends of many a Russian career of those individuals who had created the Ballet Russes, Ballet Russes sprung up in other versions under the tutelage of original members, the most famous in New York City.
References
Figes, Orlando. Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia New York: Picador, 2002.
Valliere, Paul. Change and Tradition in Russian Civilization. Westland: Hayden-McNeil Publishing, Inc., 1995.
