Ballets Russes

The feature documentary "Ballets Russes" brought audiences glimpses of a vanished classical era company (actually two companies) and repertory. And now Media City Ballet's program "The Men of the Ballets Russes" brings to the Wilshire Ebell Theatre major Russes stars as well as film clips of them in their prime.

The celebration of the “Rites” has begun. “The Rite of Spring” (Le Sacre du Printemps) is the revolutionary 1913 ballet by choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky, composer Igor Stravinsky and artist Nicholas Roerich that clamorously heralded a new age for dance, music and all the arts. The L.A. Music Center and others will spend many months this year marking the 100 th anniversary of this 36-minute Ballets Russes juggernaut, which debuted in scandale and now resides secure in the canon.

Meredith Baylis, a former dancer in the fabled Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo who went on to become a noted teacher in the Joffrey Ballet School and then taught for two decades in Southern California, has died. She was 73. Baylis died at St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank on July 26 of complications from heart surgery. Of Scottish-Irish descent, Baylis was born in Burbank on April 4, 1929, and came from a theatrical family.

Nostalgia prevailed at the California African American Museum in Exposition Park, where a group of dancer-alumni gathered on Saturday to remember the vivacious New York ballet company, Dance Theatre of Harlem. Charismatic pioneering black ballet star Arthur Mitchell launched the troupe in 1969 in response to Martin Luther King's assassination. Post- 9/11 economic realities, however, undermined Mitchell's labor of love. While DTH's school still operates at 152nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue, the performing ensemble has been "on hiatus" since 2004.

Ballet Preljocaj, which danced a vivid reinterpretation of "Romeo and Juliet" last month in Los Angeles, comes to Irvine this week with an equally radical "Hommage aux Ballets Russes" program at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. The title refers to Serge Diaghilev's famous company, which launched a revolution in dance in Paris in the early decades of this century.

Ballets generally live or die according to their place in the repertory. Let too many years slip by and suddenly, in spite of the best intentions, a ballet has become "lost," the province of history books and photo archives. That might have been the fate of George Balanchine's "Cotillon," one of the most conspicuously lamented "lost" ballets of the 20th Century. But thanks to a couple of amateur films, the remembrances of a few performers and two dedicated and experienced historians, the work has been reconstructed.

BEFORE the Royal Ballet was royal, before the Kirov and the Bolshoi ever toured outside the Soviet bloc, before American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet were more than fledgling projects in the dance world, the zenith of classical artistry, glamour, success and influence belonged to the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo.

Marc Platt was a redheaded "rowdy" guy who wanted to work with pretty girls. Paul Maure was a skin-and-bones opera singer who discovered he'd rather take ballet class three times a day. Andrei Tremaine's mother brought him to his first class against his will, while Victor Moreno took his doctor's advice to "get more exercise." As for George Zoritch, teenage heartthrob extraordinaire, discovering ballet proved both humbling and intoxicating.

With its red carpet, videographers and autograph seekers, the event Saturday at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre looked like a movie premiere. But call it a ballet ruse: an attempt to lure an audience to a mixed bill by Los Angeles' own Media City Ballet (now beginning its sixth season) by making that program a onetime-only tribute to five male stars of a bygone classical era.

Boris Kochno, 86, artistic director to Sergei Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes. A choreographer, librettist and lighting specialist, Kochno was artistic director to Diaghilev from 1922 to 1929 and helped bring Igor Stravinsky to the world of ballet. Born in Moscow, Kochno was best known for ballets danced by Diaghilev's famed Ballets Russes troupe, including "Les Facheux," "Zephire et Flore" and "Les Matelots."

One hundred years ago, on May 19, 1909, Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes debuted in France and redefined dance for the 20th century. Toiling for le tout Paris in front of the hot footlights of the Theatre du Chatelet were ballet superstars Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova -- artists whose names resonate around the world. Among this galaxy of luminaries, however, only one was destined to achieve his fame in Los Angeles, where today he is all but unknown.

Irina Baronova, the last of the three "baby ballerinas" whose international careers were launched by choreographer George Balanchine, has died. She was 89. Baronova died in her sleep Saturday at her home in Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia, according to the Australian News. Baronova came to fame at the age of 12 when Balanchine cast her in a 1931 Paris staging of composer Jacques Offenbach's operetta "Orpheus in the Underworld." French critic Andre Levinson wrote, "The sensation of the evening was the tiny child Baronova, who went through the final galop like a whirlwind."

With its red carpet, videographers and autograph seekers, the event Saturday at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre looked like a movie premiere. But call it a ballet ruse: an attempt to lure an audience to a mixed bill by Los Angeles' own Media City Ballet (now beginning its sixth season) by making that program a onetime-only tribute to five male stars of a bygone classical era.

Marc Platt was a redheaded "rowdy" guy who wanted to work with pretty girls. Paul Maure was a skin-and-bones opera singer who discovered he'd rather take ballet class three times a day. Andrei Tremaine's mother brought him to his first class against his will, while Victor Moreno took his doctor's advice to "get more exercise." As for George Zoritch, teenage heartthrob extraordinaire, discovering ballet proved both humbling and intoxicating.

The feature documentary "Ballets Russes" brought audiences glimpses of a vanished classical era company (actually two companies) and repertory. And now Media City Ballet's program "The Men of the Ballets Russes" brings to the Wilshire Ebell Theatre major Russes stars as well as film clips of them in their prime.

A captivating film that truly elevates the spirit, "Ballets Russes" is the most emotionally satisfying documentary since "Mad Hot Ballroom." Is it a coincidence that both deal with dance? Maybe, but maybe not. For though dance exists in the moment and then is gone, the grace and artistry that go into that instant make for a transcendent experience capable of conveying the best of what creativity can achieve.

A captivating film that truly elevates the spirit, "Ballets Russes" is the most emotionally satisfying documentary since "Mad Hot Ballroom." Is it a coincidence that both deal with dance? Maybe, but maybe not. For though dance exists in the moment and then is gone, the grace and artistry that go into that instant make for a transcendent experience capable of conveying the best of what creativity can achieve.

Nina Verchinina, 85, a pioneer in blending classical ballet with modern dance. The Russian-born dancer, who had continued dancing and teaching ballet until the end of her life, was known for her emotional yet technically flawless style. Brought up in Shanghai and Paris, Verchinina decided to become a dancer as a child when she watched women acrobats in a circus.

BEFORE the Royal Ballet was royal, before the Kirov and the Bolshoi ever toured outside the Soviet bloc, before American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet were more than fledgling projects in the dance world, the zenith of classical artistry, glamour, success and influence belonged to the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo.

ONE of the most intriguing programs in the UCLA Film and Television Archive's International Preservation series is tonight's presentation of three early Scandinavian silents. In 1910, Denmark's cinema arguably was the most sophisticated in the world, in no small measure because of Asta Nielsen, an actress with amazing naturalness and an equally impressive intensity.