Michel Fokine
Michel Fokine or
Mikhail Mikhailovich Fokin (Михаил Михайлович Фокин) () –
August 22 1942) was a groundbreaking
Russian
choreographer and
dancer.
He was born in
St.Petersburg and at the age of 9 he was accepted into the St. Petersburg theatrical school. In
1898 he debuted on the stage of the
Maryinsky theatre in the ballet
Pakhit; in
1902 he became a teacher in ballet school.
Fokine aspired to move beyond stereotypical ballet traditions. Virtuoso ballet techniques to him were not an end in themselves, but a means of expression. He presented his reformist ideas to the management of the Imperial theatre, but did not win their support.
Some of his early works include the ballet
Acis and Galatea (
1905) and
The Dying Swan (
1907), which was a solo dance for
Anna Pavlova.
In
1909 Sergei Diaghilev invited Fokine to become the choreographer of his
Ballets Russes in
Paris. However, Fokine broke off the collaboration in
1912, jealous of Diaghilev's close association with
Vaslav Nijinsky.
He staged more than 70 ballets in
Europe and the
United States. His best known works were
Chopiniana (later revised as
Les Sylphides),
Le Carnaval and
Le Pavillon d'Armide. Among his works for the
Ballets Russes were
The Firebird and
Le Spectre de la Rose.
Fokine died in New York on
August 22 1942. His pieces are still performed by the leading ballet troupes of the world.
* http://www.krugosvet.ru/articles/62/1006297/1006297a1.htm (in Russian)
