Mikhail Fokine Choreographer

Born in 1880 in Saint Petersburg, Michel Fokine studied dance, music and painting. He joined the Maryinsky Theatre in 1898, and was named Principal dancer in 1904. From 1901, he taught dance. He created his first piece, Acis and Galatea, in 1905. Diaghilev commissioned him various pieces for the Russian Ballets’ tours. An independent choreographer, Fokine also worked in France, Great-Britain and in Scandinavia. In 1923, he settled in the United-States where he opened a school in New York in 1921 and founded his ballet company in 1922. He came back in Europe for a tour and was then invited to collaborate with Ida Rubinstein (1931), the Monte-Carlo Ballets (1936-1937) and Colonel Basil’s Russian Ballets (1938-1939). His works enjoyed a resounding success: The Dying Swan (1907), Les Sylphides (1908), Carnaval, The Firebird, Scheherazade (1910), Petrushka, Le Spectre de la rose (1911), Le Dieu bleu, Daphnis et Chloé (1912). He died in 1942.