April 23: the birthday of Mikhail Fokine, the ballet reformer
Mikhail Fokine was born on April 23, 1880, in St. Petersburg. He became a choreographer who revolutionized ballet and was the ballet master of Diaghilev's first Ballets Russes in Paris.
The merchant's son who became a "jumper"
Fokine's father was a merchant and ran a buffet restaurant at the Imperial Yacht Club. Ballet was frowned upon in the family. His mother secretly enrolled her nine-year-old son in the Imperial Theatre School. "Papa angrily repeated, 'I don't want my Mimochka to be a hopscotch,'" Fokine recalled. It was from his father, by his own admission, that he acquired his critical attitude toward ballet.
From the Mariinsky to reform
At ten, Fokine made his debut at the Mariinsky Theatre in The Sleeping Beauty. At eighteen, he was accepted into the ballet company. Classical ballet seemed dead to him: "All over the world, ballet has degenerated into a ridiculous caricature." He nearly quit the stage, but returned when, at twenty-two, he was invited to teach at the Theatre School.
It was then that Fokine first spoke about ballet's lack of expression and individuality. In 1904, he wrote to the board of the Imperial Theatres: "Body movements should not descend to banal plasticity. Dance must reflect the soul."
"The Swan", "The Firebird", "Petrushka"
At twenty-five, Fokine made his debut as a choreographer with the ballet Acis and Galatea. He also staged the famous miniature The Swan for Anna Pavlova. In 1907, the premiere of Le Pavillon d'Armide took place at the Mariinsky Theatre. The audience demanded encores, and the theatre, according to Alexandre Benois, "simply screamed" with delight.
In 1909, the impresario Sergei Diaghilev invited Fokine to join the Ballets Russes. For European audiences, he staged The Firebird, Spectre of the Rose, Narcissus, and Petrushka. Fokine wanted the dancers to move freely—"as if no one had composed the dances for them." In Scheherazade, he appeared on stage with his wife, the dancer Vera Antonova. He paved the way for men in ballet, including Vaslav Nijinsky.
Break with Diaghilev
By 1912, the collaboration had ended: Diaghilev promoted his favorite, Nijinsky, and thwarted Fokine's productions, demanding "new forms." "What kind of art can we talk about when provocation is the only goal!" the choreographer said.
In 1914, he finally returned—Diaghilev spent several hours begging him over the phone. Fokine staged The Legend of Joseph, The Golden Cockerel, and Midas. In Butterflies, he danced the lead roles alongside Matilda Kschessinska. But the Ballets Russes went down in history as "Diaghilev's ballet"—the choreographer's name remained in the shadows.
Emigration and Heritage
After the October Revolution of 1917, Fokine emigrated with his family to Stockholm, then moved to New York, where he opened a ballet school and toured Europe with his own troupe. He died in the United States in 1942, leaving behind approximately seventy ballets.
"Now all geniuses are dead," wrote Sergei Rachmaninoff upon learning of his death.
