Léonide Massine facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Léonide Massine
Леони́д Фёдорович Мя́син
Massine in a portrait by Léon Bakst, 1914
Born	Leonid Fyodorovich Myasin (1896-08-09)9 August 1896 Moscow, Russian Empire
Died	15 March 1979(1979-03-15) (aged 82) Borken, West Germany
Occupation	Dancer, choreographer
Years active	1915–1948
Spouse(s)	Vera Savina (div. 1924) Eugenia Delarova (div. 1938) Tatiana Orlova (div. 1968) Hannelore Holtwick
Children	4
Awards	National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame, 2002

Léonide Massine (born Leonid Fyodorovich Myasin, Russian: Леони́д Фёдорович Мя́син, 9 August [O.S. 28 July] 1896 – 15 March 1979) was a famous Russian choreographer and ballet dancer. He is known for creating the world's first "symphonic ballet," called Les Présages. This type of ballet uses a full symphony (a long piece of music for an orchestra) as its main score.

Massine created many popular ballets during his long career. Some were serious and dramatic, while others were light and fun. He often danced the main roles in his own funny ballets. For example, he played the Can-Can Dancer in La Boutique fantasque (1919) and the Peruvian in Gaîté Parisienne (1938). Today, his son Lorca Massine helps keep his father's ballets alive by staging them around the world.

Early Life and Dance Training

Léonide Massine was born in Moscow, Russia, on August 9, 1895. His family loved music. His mother sang in the Bolshoi Theater Chorus, and his father played the French horn in the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra. Leonid was one of five children. He had three brothers and one sister.

In 1904, when he was eight years old, Leonid joined the Moscow Imperial Theater School. This is where he began his formal dance training. The next year, he was chosen to play a small boy's role in the ballet Ruslan and Ludmilla. This experience made him love acting and performing. He performed in three more professional shows at the Bolshoi and Maly Theaters.

In 1909, his brother Konstantin died in a hunting accident. This was a very sad time for Leonid.

In August 1913, Massine finished school and joined the Bolshoi Ballet. Later that year, Sergei Diaghilev, a famous ballet producer, came to Moscow. He was looking for a new dancer for his company, the Ballets Russes. Diaghilev was impressed by Massine's dancing and acting. Massine then joined Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.

Dancing with Ballets Russes

From 1915 to 1921, Massine became the main choreographer for Sergei Diaghilev's famous Ballets Russes company. He also became the top male dancer after Vaslav Nijinsky left.

His first ballet, Le Soleil de Nuit (1915), used ideas from Russian folklore. Another important ballet was Parade, which opened in Paris in 1917. This ballet was about circus performers trying to get people to come into their tent. The famous artist Pablo Picasso designed the costumes and sets. The composer Erik Satie even used sounds like an airplane engine and pistol shots in the music!

Le Tricorn, also known as The Three Cornered Hat, was a huge success. It premiered in London in 1919. Manuel de Falla wrote the music, and Pablo Picasso again designed the sets and costumes. Massine studied real Spanish dances to make the ballet feel very authentic. The story was based on a Spanish novel.

Creating Symphonic Ballets

In 1933, Massine became the main choreographer for Colonel de Basil's Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo. During this time, he focused on creating ballets where the music was the most important part. He used grand symphonic music by famous composers.

He created the world's first symphonic ballet, Les Présages, in 1933. It used Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. Some people thought it was wrong to use a serious symphony for a ballet, but Massine didn't stop. He then created Choreartium using Brahms' Fourth Symphony.

He also choreographed a ballet called Symphonie fantastique in 1936, set to music by Hector Berlioz. Massine himself danced the main role in this ballet.

New Beginnings: Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo

In 1937, Massine started a new ballet company with René Blum. They called it Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. There was a legal disagreement about who owned the ballets Massine had created before and who could use the name "Ballet Russe." In the end, Massine's new company could use the name Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.

The new company's first show was Gaîté Parisienne in 1938. This ballet, set to music by Jacques Offenbach, became one of Massine's most famous works. It was a lively and fun ballet that used many different dancers and speeds. Massine brought this ballet back to the stage many times, and his son Lorca Massine also helped revive it.

Massine left the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1943.

Later Work and Films

In 1977, Massine moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. He worked on new ballets and brought back some of his older works, like Le Beau Danube.

Massine also appeared in several movies. He was in two famous British films by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger: The Red Shoes (1948) and The Tales of Hoffmann (1951). He also danced in short ballet films, like Spanish Fiesta (1942), which was a film of his ballet Capriccio Espagnol.

Personal Life

Léonide Massine had four wives during his life. His first two wives, Vera Savina and Eugenia Delarova, were both ballet dancers. With his third wife, Tatiana Orlova, he had two children: a son named Leonide Massine II (who later became known as "Lorca Massine") and a daughter named Tatiania.

Massine later married Hannelore Holtwick. They had two sons, Peter and Theodor. He lived in Borken, West Germany, where he passed away on March 15, 1979.

In 1968, Massine wrote a book about his life called My Life in Ballet.

Awards

Léonide Massine was honored for his contributions to dance. In 2002, he was added to the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame.

Major Works

• 1915: Soleil de Nuit (Midnight Sun, music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
• 1917: Parade (music by Erik Satie)
• 1919: La Boutique fantasque (music by Gioacchino Rossini)
• 1919: The Three-Cornered Hat (music by Manuel de Falla)
• 1920: Pulcinella (music by Igor Stravinsky)
• 1924: Le Beau Danube (music by Johann Strauss)
• 1933: Les Présages (to the music of Symphony No. 5 by Pyotr Tchaikovsky)
• 1933: Choreartium (to the music of Symphony No. 4 by Johannes Brahms)
• 1936: Symphonie fantastique (to the music of Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlioz)
• 1938: Gaîté Parisienne (music by Jacques Offenbach)
• 1938: Seventh Symphony (music by Ludwig van Beethoven)
• 1939: Capriccio Espagnol (music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
• 1944: Mad Tristan (with designs by Salvador Dalí)

Filmography

See also

In Spanish: Léonide Massine para niños

• List of Russian ballet dancers