Australia Dancing - Jeux d'enfants

Jeux d'enfants

Photographer unknown: Anton Dolin as the Traveller and Tatiana Riabouchinska as the Child in 'Jeux d'enfants', Covent Garden Russian Ballet, 1938 or 1939

Research Materials | Other Resources

This one act ballet with choreography by Leonide Massine was premiered by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in Monte Carlo on 14 April 1932. It was Massine's first work for Colonel de Basil and he set it on Tatiana Riabouchinska as the Child and David Lichine as the Traveller. The ballet follows the activities of toys and games that come to life, and the adventures of a child who, awakened by the noise the toys make, tries to take part in their secret life. The libretto was by Boris Kochno who worked closely with Massine on a variation of a theme that Massine had used before in his Boutique fantasque - that of toys coming to life. Massine avoided using toy-like movements in his choreography for Jeux d'enfants, however, and gave the toys human qualities and choreography based on the balletic vocabulary. In his book A Prejudice for Ballet the British critic A. V. Coton wrote:

Massine had abandoned all reference to the "unnatural" toy movement idiom of Boutique fantasque in composing this work. All the toys and games ... danced perfectly balletic and athletic measures as against the entirely derivative movement idiom of the toys in Boutique fantasque.

Jeux d'enfants was inspired by and adapted to the structure of Bizet's twelve-part suite for four handed piano of 1871, in the composer's orchestration.

The work was designed by Spanish surrealist Joan Miro, although the commission had first been offered to Alberto Giacometti. When Giacometti declined the commission Kochno approached Miro, having seen examples of Miro's work in a Paris exhibition, and having been fascinated by the naive qualities of many of the paintings and collages in the show. Miro designed a front curtain, a series of geometrical shapes and a backcloth to represent the child's nursery, and costumes many of which were unitards, an unusual item of dance clothing for the 1930s. The Child wore a short blue dress, white socks, black pointe shoes with black bows and a red leather bow on her head. The Traveller was dressed in a brown jumpsuit with a scarf and skull cap.

Jeux d'enfants had its first Australian performance in Melbourne on 10 October 1938 on an all Massine program, which also included Choreartium and Scuola di Ballo. At the Australian premiere the Child was danced by Riabouchinska, the Traveller by Anton Dolin. Reviewing the evening for The Herald (Melbourne) Basil Burdett wrote of the work's 'air of fantastic modernity' and singled out Riabouchinska's performance:

Riabouchinska's exquisitely human and delicate child is the outstanding individual performance. She dances with that airy grace of hers ... at the same time building up the character with small, deft touches.

Jeux d'enfants was seen in Australia only in Melbourne and Sydney and was performed around 30 times over two tours, that by the Covent Garden Russian Ballet in 1938-1939 and that by the Original Ballet Russe in 1939-1940. Massine revived the work in 1955 in Buenos Aires.

Bibliography:

Basil Burdett, 'An Evening with Massine', The Herald (Melbourne), 11 October 1938, p. 16; Vicente Garcia-Marquez, The Ballets Russes (New York: Knopf, 1990), pp. 28-37.

Research Materials

Moving picture | Picture | Printed music | All

Other resources

Find more about Jeux d'enfants in:

Internet - Google
Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection
Pictures - Picture Australia