Léon Bakst – Landgraf on Dance

22. July 202527. July 2025

“We Need Him”

“Diaghilev”
Dancers of the Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre (New Stage)
Moscow, Russia
June 24, 2025 (video)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

The man in need whom Sergei Lifar wrote about in 1939 was Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929), impresario of the Ballets Russes and a revolutionist of ballet. Diaghilev’s burning passion to discover and promote creative beauty is unequaled. He shaped the perception of Russian culture in the West and, like a virus, changed the DNA of twentieth-century art. Without him, Vaslav Nijinsky, Tamara Karsavina, Ida Rubinstein, Feodor Chaliapin, and Igor Stravinsky wouldn’t have become known to the world, and the careers of choreographers, such as Michel Fokine, Bronislava Nijinska, Léonide Massine, and George Balanchine, might have taken another path. Ten years after Diaghilev’s death, no one had filled the void he had left behind.

Ninety-six years later, a new Diaghilev has yet to be found, but—as Russia and the West separated again—the need for a bridge-building spirit and culture that unites people across borders is more pressing than ever. That’s why Russia launched the cultural search festival We Need Diaghilev last year, which features various expositions, lectures, and performances at Russian and foreign venues. Continue reading ““We Need Him””

8. January 202310. January 2023

A Teaser

“Diaghilev. The Dress Rehearsal”
New Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow, Russia
December 2022

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2023 by Ilona Landgraf

Sergei Diaghilev’s name is nearly synonymous with the art of ballet. Well-versed in both arts and business, he succeeded not only as a writer and curator, but indelibly as the founder and cunning impresario of the Ballets Russes.
From 1906 onwards, foreseeing political and cultural paralysis at home in Russia, Diaghilev shifted his activities from St. Petersburg to Paris (and later to other European metropolises). Though his first venture (an exhibition of Russian paintings at Paris’s new Salon d’Automne) earned him laurels, he soon turned away from museums towards the ballet stage. The Ballets Russes became the core focus of his life – and it’s because of them that the western art of ballet was reinvigorated. As Stravinsky stated, “it is to [Diaghilev], that we owe the recent development of choreographic art in the entire world.” Continue reading “A Teaser”

5. February 201722. April 2020

Léon Bakst’s Flights of Fancy

“Bakst – Des Ballets Russes à la Haute Couture”
Bibliothèque-musée de l’Opéra Palais Garnier
Paris, France
January, 2017

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2017 by Ilona Landgraf

A waving bright orange veil waves around the bacchanal who boisterously dashes across the poster indicating the entry of the current exhibition at the Palais Garnier. Engrossed in sensual thoughts, she strides out so vigorously that her long black hair wafts behind her. This bacchanal sprang from the painter’s easel of Léon Bakst. A costume design for Michel Fokine’s “Narcisse”, it decorated the official program of the 1911 Ballets Russes season in Paris.

Bakst (1866 – 1924), born as Leyb-Khaim Izrailevich (later: Samoylovich) Rosenberg, a Russian painter, set and costume designer, became famous as a member of the illustrious circle around Sergey Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. He worked for theaters all over the world and in all types of theater genres. In 2016 Bakst would have celebrated his 150th birthday. On this occasion the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Opéra national de Paris have been paying tribute to him in an exhibition at the Palais Garnier, which opened last November. 130 objects – paintings, drawings, sketches, photos, costumes, letters either by Bakst or by related artists and a video – are shown in a side wing of around 300 square meters. They are loans from various museums in Paris and Marseille, the Paris Opera, the Bibliothèque nationale de France and private collectors. Continue reading “Léon Bakst’s Flights of Fancy”

5. June 201429. November 2016

More, Please!

“Les Ballets Russes”
Bavarian State Ballet
National Theater
Munich, Germany
May 30, 2014

Thumbs up for Bavarian State Ballet! Known for their ambitious programs, the troika of artistic director Ivan Liška and his assistant directors Bettina Wagner-Bergelt and Wolfgang Oberender offer their audiences a varied diet, ranging from the classics to brand-new pieces. While Cunningham, Limón and Massine were already part of this season’s menu, some days ago the Munich trio served up a formidable evening of Ballets Russes. If the remaining two premieres – Oskar Schlemmer’s “Triadic Ballet” and Mary Wigman’s “Le Sacre du Printemps” – are danced with the same verve the prospects for ballet aficionados are happy ones. Continue reading “More, Please!”