Music and dance are certainly sister arts and any look into the music of Igor Stravinsky requires some exploration of the Ballets Russes and its long-time impressario, Serge Diaghilev. On December 9 at the Bruno Walter Auditorium of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Jane Pritchard, Curator of Dance at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and Lynn Garafola, Professor of Dance at Barnard College and Diaghilev scholar, engaged in a lecture in the form of an interview based on Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes 1909-1929. This is a major exhibit now being shown at the V & A. As it happened, the NYPL is also having a small exhibit on the American choreographer Alwin Nikolais. I arrived about two hours early for the lecture both to make sure I could get into the lecture (which was packed) and also take some time with the exhibit.
Though his name is probably not well known to most musicians, Alwin Nikolais played an important role in American music in the second half of the twentieth century. He was, in fact, a music performer and composer. His unusual path into dance began as a theater organist during the waning days of silent film. This early "career" (as a teenager) allowed him to show off his skill as an improviser and also practice making connections between music and physical motion. The next step on his journey came when he developed a marionette troupe which toured throughout Connecticut during the Great Depression. This experience with marionettes honed his skill at creating motion with puppets and also working with technology. His actual turn to dance took place in the mid-1930s where he quickly established himself as a leader and innovator. His work at the Henry Street Playhouse in New York solidified his reputation as a choreographer, innovator and pedagogue. He established the Playhouse Dance Company.
Always interested in technology, during the 1950s and 60s he turned his attention to television. This was still the era when it was believed that television could be an ideal way of bringing the arts into people's homes and lives. One of several short video presentations in the exhibit, the televised multimedia work Limbo vividly illustrates his interests in fusing dance, music, and electronics. With his start as a theater organist, it is not surprising that he also took a interest in the synthesizers developed by Robert Moog. This exhibit featured many posters of his work, photos of dances, aspects of his pedagogy, video presentations and many other fascinating aspects of his career and work.
Video of Alwin Nikolais Dance
Video of Alwin Nikolais Dance
On to Diaghilev.
URL of the V & A exhibit:
While I expected a hopefully interesting lecture on Diaghilev, the two presenters decided to shape the lecture in the form of an interview, focusing on the challenges of developing such as huge exhibit with so many components. Pritchard noted that the first big challenge was the fact that the name of Serge Diaghilev would be far less familiar to the British public than the composers, artists and dancers associated with him (such as Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, and Vaslav Nijinsky). She did this in part by keeping him front and center throughout the exhibit and not allowing the more famous names to take over. The second challenge was the inclusion of audio and visual elements. The Victoria and Albert Museum had only used audiovisual components to a limited degree but obviously, music and video or film had to be included. Finally, there had to be attention to physical movement. The exhibit simply could not be a series of static displays of costumes, photos and written commentary. The roles of the huge supporting cast for this exhibit were discussed from audiovisual technicians, to costume conservators, to historians and more. Landmark works such as The Rite of Spring and Parade were discussed. It was especially interesting to see the design sketches leading up to the final renderings for the ballet sets. The impact of WWI and is aftermath was a topic explored, especially regarding the size and scope of many of the post-WWI ballets as opposed to the pre-WWI ballets.
As to why the British public should even care about a Russian dance ensemble whose creative locus seemed to be Paris, Pritchard pointed out that the company was a touring company and that 45% of their touring performances took place in London. I recall pointing out to my students that while The Rite of Spring had an infamously disastrous premiere in Paris, it was soon after performed in London to great acclaim and then returned to Paris for a successful performance. As to why the American public should care, Garafolo pointed out the fact that the company toured in the US and that many people associated with the company settled in NYC where a lineage of dance was established.
Anyone interested in the cultural life of this period, not just dance-oriented folks, would have found this presentation fascinating (the illustrations were superbly done). Composers and other artists rarely work in a vacuum. Without Diaghilev, Stravinsky's career as a composer might never have happened and the directions he took most definitely would have been different as most of the works from his first creative period were for the Ballets Russes and many during his second period were for that ensemble as well.
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