New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-08-21
Russian Ballet
Ends Successful
London Season

1
as follows upon the recently completed
season Of Russian ballet at the Princes
Theater:
1.-THE Russian ballet has had very
successful season at the Princes. and
theatergoers are duly grateful to
c. B. Cochran for adding to London's
means of joie-de-vivre (notably dimin-
ished by the lack of grand opera) by
permitting US to watch the inimitable
or at any rate not yet initiated
work Of the Diaghilev company once
again. The Princes Theater stage, how
ever, is too small for the concerted
dancing to be seen at its best, and all
votaries of the ancient, ever young art
which is the daughter of sculpture and
music will hope there is truth in the
rumor which insists that the Russian
dancers will be seen next time at the
Alhambra, the only adequate stage for
ballet in London.
"Yet it must be admitted that the
creative life seems to have gone out of
the marvellous organization founded by
M. Diaghilev. During the season now
at an end the earliest ballets-'The
Firebird,' which enables US to trace the
lines of inspiration of Stravinsky's mu-
sic; 'Petrouchka,' which shows that
composer as master of his art and him
self, and choosing the right means for
his special purpose; 'Sch6herezade' and
'Thamar,'. the tragical dramas Of ORR
entail lust in which the music and
decor alike express the mood of bar
barous passion, fierce and haunting as
breath of jungle air; Prince Igor
that picturesque piece of Asiatic his
tory; Cleopatra which is as beguiling
reconstruction as Salammb0. and
Les Sylphides,' that famous essay in
revived romanticism-were those which
most appealed to the audience. In
those dramas Of dancing and mining
we feel that musicians, designers and
photographers are at one and as we'll
together, to choose a sportsman's meta
phor, as the Australian team at work in
the cricket field under the masterful
control of Warwick Armstrong; req
soned strategy.
"Slnce these and one or two lesser
achievements such as Carnival were
presented, nothing of harmonious con-
sequence has been achieyed-all that
remains perfect for it's purpose is the
dancing which, in Nine. Lupokova, has
produced yet another ballerina who is
IN the succession of the immortals. be-
ginning with Taglioni and having Kar-
savina for It's penultimate term. The
'Boutique Fantasque, though frowned
at by the highbrows, including W.
A. Propert, whose sumptuous chron-
'cle of the Diaghilev ballet has Just
been published) and marrod even for
the average man of taste by the inclu-
sion of the odious can can, is the one
success Of the later period; Parade,
though not without touches of humor,
was a folly, and 'Chout,' this seasons
novelty, was no more than brisk stu
pidity, something to be wiped I'D with
out word said. M Massne, the last
of the great photographers, has left no
successor, and he looks so much to
futurism, ra Their than to a future de-
Guced from past tradition, that even
his return could hardly restore the old
creative impulses. The Russian idiom.
whether in dancing, design or music, is
manifestFy exhausted, and the new in
ernationalism is destined, we think, to
be as dangerous heresy in art as in
politics. So it may be that the Rus
sian ballet in days to come will ceas.
to be more than a record, and to some
extent a termination within the mar
row limits of dancing technique, etc,
of the joys that have been, that still
are for the youngest generation of
And as regards ourselves,
perhaps, the new and lively impulse
which is looked for may come by find
ing practical answer to the question,
Why not IN English baIlet?"