The Ballets Russes influence on ballet history

This article presents the main periods of the Ballets Russes era, from their historical background to their impact.

A historic part of Russian culture

Ballet originated in France and in Italy, but it has somehow become a “national honor of Russia” and is emblematic of Russian culture. In Russia, ballet found “its second home country”. The First School of Ballet opened in St-Petersburg in 1738 and a few decades later in Moscow: the Mariinsky and the Bolshoy theatres. Classical ballets were written in the XIXth century: Sleeping Beauty, The Swan Lake, The Nutcracker.

The changes brought by the Ballets Russes

The Ballets Russes and Diaghilev were pioneer in adapting the changes of music in the early 20th century to ballets. The change in tonality, harmony, meter and rhythm were visible in their compositions.

The Russian Ballets were the first russian ballets to beyond the border of Russia in the early 1900s. The brought a new breath to ballet, which was suffering at the time. Indeed, it had started to focus only on the female dancors, making it some kind of concerto for the solo female dancers, with the corps de ballets in the background. The Ballets Russes brought a new way to create ballets, making them a total art that would incorporate the male characters and the corps de ballets.