The weekend is almost gone and a new week will start soon. To distract yourself from the thought that tomorrow is again Monday, try to think about the group visits - starting tomorrow - offered by the Victoria & Albert Museum Theatre and Performance Department to view costumes and items from Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes collections.
The V&A will celebrate the centenary of the first performance by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes next year with a major exhibition entitled “Sergei Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes 1909-1929”, that will focus on the company's design, costumes, choreography, music and art.
Soon after their debut during the 1909 season at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, the Ballets Russes were hailed as one of the most exciting, inspiring and influential dance companies. Already in 1911, just two years after they debuted in Paris, they inspired an art exhibition of Léon Bakst's work at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. The following year the Fine Art Society in London organised the first exhibition of the Russian artist and further events followed featuring also Alexandre Benois, Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov’s work.
The Ballets Russes influenced with their work fashion, home and public decoration, inspiring many designers, from Paul Poiret to Yves Saint Laurent. There were echoes of the Ballets Russes's costumes even in Marc Jacobs' S/S 09 collection and in Chanel’s Pre-Fall 09 designs. Despite the corps the ballet had such great influence upon the world of fashion, interest in the Ballets Russes' costumes was sparked only in later years. Sadly some of the costumes were lost in previous decades, while others were destroyed in a fire in 1958 or sold at various auctions to private collectors.
At the moment Stockholm’s Dansmuseet has one of the world’s most interesting collections from the Diaghilev era (1909–29). The Swedish dance museum started building its collection in the 60s and throughout the following years new purchases were constantly added. The Dansmuseet will run an anniversary exhibition, entitled "Ballets Russes in Paris", from 29th May 2009 until 10th January 2010, so there's plenty of time to plan a trip to go and admire the Swedish collections.
From 19th until 27th June 2009, the Dutch National Ballet will instead pay homage to the Ballets Russes with a programme featuring Michel Fokine’s Les Sylphides (1909), George Balanchine’s The Prodigal Son (1929) and Sheherazade, a world premiere by Krzysztof Pastor and an entirely new interpretation of Fokine’s eponymous showpiece. I love the poster for these events, conceived as a reinterpretation of Léon Bakst's illustration of Vaslav Nijinsky in the ballet L'Après-midi d'un Faun (Afternoon of the Faun, 1912).
A few further notes about the visits at the V&A: the Theatre and Performance Collection holds Ballets Russes' costumes, sets, designs, programmes, photographs and drawings.
The visits at the V&A - led by Jane Pritchard, Co-curator of the 2010 exhibition - will take place from Monday 27th April to Friday 1st May 2009 (2.00-3.00pm).
You can click here to know more about the visits offered by the V&A and book your place.
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