"Col. Basil's Ballets Russes De Monte-Carlo: 5th American Season 1937-1938"
$150
Nicolas Publishing Co.
1937
Cover artwork by Christian Berard
12 1/4" x 9 1/2"
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The Original Ballet RUSSE (originally named BALLET RUSSE de MONTE CARLO) was a ballet company established in 1932 by Rene Blum and Colonel Wassily de Basil. The company assumed the new name Original Ballet Russe after a split between de Basil and Blum. Col. W. de Basil led the renamed company, while Blum along with others founded a new company under the original name, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. The company's name is derived from the Ballets Russes of impresario Sergei Diaghilev.
The last season of Diaghilev's Ballet Russe was in 1929, during which it toured and performed in both London and Paris. The company performed for the final time in London at the Covent Garden Theater on July 26th, 1929. Diaghliev died only a month later, on August 19th, 1929 of diabetes. In 1932, with the help of financier Serge Denham, Rene Blum and Colonel Vassili de Basil formed the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. The idea behind the company was to create a world-renowned ballet company that would continue the work and legacy of the late Serge Diaghilev. The company hired George Balanchine and Leonide Massine to act as choreographers. The majority of the works that were performed were ones from Diaghilev's company, but they also performed ballets from Balanchine and Massine. Balanchine was let go after only one year because the company found that audiences preferred to watch Diaghilev's and Massine's ballets. (And due to disagreements with de Basil, Massine left the company as soon as his contract was up and joined Blum.) Together Blum and Massine formed their own company, and attracted several of Col. de Basil's dancers. The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo wasn't doing very well financially and almost declared bankruptcy when Sol Hurok, an American producer, took over the management of the company in 1934.