Choreartium

Shier, Spencer: Raisse Kouznetsova in costume for 'Choreartium', Act IV, Covent Garden Russian Ballet, 1939

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Choreartium, choreographed for the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo by Leonide Massine, was first performed on 24 October 1933 at the Alhambra Theatre, London, marking the first Ballets Russes premiere in that city. Set to Brahms' Symphony no 4 in E minor, this was Massine's second symphonic work. His first, Les Presages, had premiered earlier in the same year. Choreartium is generally hailed as 'the first abstract ballet'. While the abstract qualities of works such as Les Presages and Michel Fokine's earlier Les Sylphides had already made a strong impact with their absence of narrative, Choreartium was a landmark work in also displaying no reference to theme, characterisation, distinctive milieu or period. This unprecedented attempt to simply parallel the structure of abstract music with abstract movement caused heated public controversy, with notable music critics divided in their opinion. Constant Lambert considered it an unforgivable insult to the Brahms composition. Ernest Newman, on the other hand, hailed the work as a masterpiece.

The first performance of Choreartium in Australia was by the visiting Covent Garden Russian Ballet on 10 October 1938 in Melbourne. The innovative nature of thechoreography was not lost on Australian audiences, with the Argus noting the 'pure choreography, matching in visual design the auditory design of the music'. The Sydney Morning Herald reported 'a storm of enthusiasm, obviously directed toward Lichine as much as toward the work itself' when David Lichine made his Australian debut in the work on 6 January 1939. Choreartium was also performed by the Original Ballet Russe company during their 1939/1940 tour. During both tours design for the work was, as for the original 1933 production, by Konstantin Terechkovitch and Eugene Lourie, executed by Elizabeth Polunin.

Differences in movement styles between the genders was, for Massine, an important feature of the choreography of Choreartium. He wrote in his autobiography:

'I decided to do the choreography of the ballet, which I entitled Choreartium, according to the instrumentation of the score, using women dancers to accentuate the delicate phrases, while the men interpreted the heavier, more robust passages. The music, with its rich orchestration and its many contrasts, lent itself admirably to this kind of interplay between masculine and feminine movements.'

Strongly defined group formations were also a feature of the work, demonstrating the importance of both horizontal and vertical structure. The influence of German expressive movement on the choreographic style was also notable, with Fokine renowned for apparently dismissing Choreartium as 'Wigman sur les pointes'.

A revival of Choreartium was staged by Tatiana Leskova after Massine for the Birmingham Royal Ballet in 1991.

Bibliography:

Leslie Norton, Leonide Massine and the 20th Century Ballet (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2004); Leonide Massine, My Life in Ballet (London: Macmillan, 1968); Vicente Garcia-Marquez, The Ballets Russes (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1990)

See also: Ballets Russes Australian tours ; Fokine, Michel ; Lichine, David ; Massine, Leonide ; Presages, Les ; Sylphides, Les

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Find more about Choreartium in:

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