Lifar, Serge (1905-1986)

Also known as
Lifar, Sergio (1905-1986)
Lifarʹ, S. (Sergeĭ) (1905-1986)
Lifarʹ, Sergeĭ Mikhaĭlovich (1905-1986)
Libraries Australia
http://nla.gov.au/anbd.aut-an35305302
NLA Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-726078

Biographies

Born in Kiev, Serge Lifar joined Diaghilev's Ballet Russes in 1923. He went on to become Principal Artist of the company, dancing the title roles in works by Balanchine, Nijinska and Fokine. In 1929 Lifar became director of the Paris Opera Ballet and is credited with revitalising the company through the choreography of new works and highly praised restagings of classical ballets.

In 1939, the Paris Opera House was closed after the outbreak of war in Europe and Lifar joined Colonel de Basil's Original Ballet Russe on their tour of Australia. He arranged for Oleg Tupine, Nicolas Orloff, Georges Skibine and other dancers to join him on the tour, helping them to avoid conscription.

Lifar was the last of the company to arrive in Australia, travelling separately by plane. He danced Les Sylphides at the opening performance of the season in Sydney. He also featured in The Firebird and with Tamara Toumanova in Le spectre de la rose. His early performances were not well received by the public or critics, who remarked that they found him heavy and ill at ease. It was not until his appearance as Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake (Act II) that he received widespread acclaim for his performance.

During the tour, Lifar's Pavane received its international premiere. Lifar was also involved in a controversial restaging of Massine's Le Beau Danube at this time. The work was renamed Le Danube Bleu and arrangement of the scenes and dances was attributed to Lifar with no choreographic acknowledgment to Massine. The tour also included a restaging of Lifar's experimental ballet Icare. Lifar danced the title role and both the production and his performance were received with great enthusiasm. He returned to Paris shortly after the premiere of Icare in Sydney. Reasons given for his sudden return vary, but a shocked J. C. Williamson Ltd, the organisation that entrepreneured the Ballets Russes tours to Australia, recorded that unbeknown to the organisation Lifar had been on just three months leave from the Opera in Paris.

On his return to Paris, Lifar dedicated himself to promoting the French arts in the wake of the German occupation. After the war he was accused of being a Nazi sympathiser and was forced to leave the Paris Opera Ballet. The charges were later deemed to be unfounded and Lifar was able to present works at the Paris Opera House once again.

Lifar returned to Australia in 1981 to stage his work Suite en blanc for the Australian Ballet. Initially created in 1943, Suite en blanc has since become a favourite item in the company's repertoire.

Serge Lifar authored many books on ballet including his Manifeste du choregraphe (1935), A History of Russian Ballet (1939) and his autobiography Ma Vie: from Kiev to Kiev (1965).

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Resources for Serge Lifar

Resources by Serge Lifar (88)

  1. Ma vie : from Kiev to Kiev : an autobiography / [by] Serge Lifar; translated from the French by James Holman Mason
    Lifar, Serge, 1905-
    [ Book : 1965-1970 ]
    Languages: English, French
    At 14 libraries
    Ma vie : from Kiev to Kiev : an autobiography / [by] Serge Lifar; translated from the French by James Holman Mason
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 16.723)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 16.723)

  2. Serge Diaghilev, his life, his work, his legend : an intimate biography / by Serge Lifar
    Lifar, Serge, 1905-1986
    [ Book : 1939-2005 ]
    Languages: English, Russian, French
    At 15 libraries
    Serge Diaghilev, his life, his work, his legend : an intimate biography / by Serge Lifar
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 16.135)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 16.135)

  3. Les mémoires d'Icare / Serge Lifar
    Lifar, Serge, 1905-1986
    [ Book : 1989-1993 ]
    Languages: French
    Les mémoires d'Icare / Serge Lifar
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 14.302)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 14.302)

  4. Stradnye gody s Di︠a︡gilevym : vospominanii︠a︡ / Sergeĭ Lifarʹ ; [sostaviteli Snezhko S.P., Shleev, V.V. ; posleslovie, kommentarii Shleev, V.V.]
    Lifar, Serge, 1905-1986
    [ Book : 1994 ]
    Languages: Russian
    Stradnye gody s Di︠a︡gilevym : vospominanii︠a︡ / Sergeĭ Lifarʹ ; [sostaviteli Snezhko S.P., Shleev, V.V. ; posleslovie, kommentarii Shleev, V.V.]
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.894)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.894)

  5. Istoriia russkogo baleta : ot XVII (semnadtsatogo veka go Russkago baleta Diagileva / S. Lifar
    Lifar, Serge, 1905-1986
    [ Book : 1945 ]
    Languages: Russian
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.555)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.555)

  6. A history of Russian ballet : from its origins to the present day / Serge Lifar ; translated by Arnold Haskell
    Lifar, Serge, 1905-1986
    [ Book : 1954-1955 ]
    Languages: English, Undetermined
    At 20 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.166)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.166)

  7. The Serge Lifar collection of ballet set and costume designs. / [compiled by Mary C. Palmer and Samuel J. Wagstaff]
    Wadsworth Atheneum
    [ Book : 1965 ]
    At 7 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.959)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.959)

  8. Terpsichore dans le cortège des muses / Serge Lifar
    Lifar, Serge, 1905-1986
    [ Book : 1943 ]
    Languages: French
    At Nat Gall Aus Res
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.899)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.899)

  9. Sur le Borysthène : On the Dnieper, opus 51 : ballet in two scenes / Serge Prokofieff ; scenario by Serge Lifar and the composer
    Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953
    [ Printed music : 2003 ]
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.741)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.741)

  10. Moi︠a︡ zarubezhnai︠a︡ Pushkiniana : pushkinskie vystavki i izdanii︠a︡ / Sergeǐ Lifarʹ
    Lifar, Serge, 1905-1986
    [ Book : 1966 ]
    Languages: Russian
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.017)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 6.017)

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Resources about Serge Lifar (23)

  1. Les mémoires d'Icare / Serge Lifar
    Lifar, Serge, 1905-1986
    [ Book : 1989-1993 ]
    Languages: French
    Les mémoires d'Icare / Serge Lifar
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 14.052)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 14.052)

  2. Stradnye gody s Di︠a︡gilevym : vospominanii︠a︡ / Sergeĭ Lifarʹ ; [sostaviteli Snezhko S.P., Shleev, V.V. ; posleslovie, kommentarii Shleev, V.V.]
    Lifar, Serge, 1905-1986
    [ Book : 1994 ]
    Languages: Russian
    Stradnye gody s Di︠a︡gilevym : vospominanii︠a︡ / Sergeĭ Lifarʹ ; [sostaviteli Snezhko S.P., Shleev, V.V. ; posleslovie, kommentarii Shleev, V.V.]
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.736)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.736)

  3. The Diaghilev-Lifar library : 28 novembre-01 decembre 1975
    Sotheby Parke Bernet Monaco S.A
    [ Book : 1975 ]
    At University of Sydney
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.566)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.566)

  4. Serge Lifar in costume for an unidentified production / Pary Boris Lipnitsky
    Lipnitzky, Pary Boris
    [ Photograph : 1930-1940 ]
    View online
    At National Library
    Serge Lifar in costume for an unidentified production / Pary Boris Lipnitsky
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.458)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.458)

  5. Serge Lifar et le ballet contemporain
    Shaĭkevich, Anatoliĭ Efimovich, d. 1947
    [ Book : 1950 ]
    Languages: French
    At Nat Gall Aus Res
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.925)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.925)

  6. Serge Lifar ou la gloire ..
    Silvant, Jean
    [ Book : 1969 ]
    Languages: French
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.495)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.495)

  7. Serge Lifar et le destin du Ballet de l'Opéra : vingt-cinq dessins hors-texte de Pablo Picasso / par André Schaikevitch
    Schaïkevitch, André, 1903-1972
    [ Book : 1971 ]
    Languages: French
    At Barr Smith Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.415)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.415)

  8. Autour de Serge Lifar : vingt-deux variations sur Icare par Charchoune, exposition du 20 octobre au 27 décembre 1966. [Galerie] Gilberte Cournand ... Paris
    Gilberte Cournand (Gallery)
    [ Book : 1966 ]
    Languages: French
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.355)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.355)

  9. La vie en images de Serge Lifar, maître de ballet. : Premier danseur du théâtre national de l'Opéra. / Par Georges Augsbourg; préface de Gabriel Boissy
    Augsbourg, Géa, 1902-1974
    [ Book : 1937 ]
    Languages: French
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.278)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 8.278)

  10. Portrait of Serge Lifar in costume for Icare, Ballets Russes [2]
    [ Photograph : 1930-1940 ]
    View online
    At National Library
    Portrait of Serge Lifar in costume for Icare, Ballets Russes [2]
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.731)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.731)

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  1. Icare (Australian context)
    Icare (Australian context)
    Created by NLAdance, 12 items.

    Serge Lifar's one-act ballet Icare was first performed by the Paris Opera Ballet at Palais Garnier on 9 July 1935. Lifar left Paris after the outbreak of war in Europe and toured to Austra...

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.002)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.002)

  2. Suite en blanc (Australian Context)
    Suite en blanc (Australian Context)
    Created by NLAdance, 8 items.

    Suite en blanc is internationally acclaimed as a neoclassical showpiece, a one-act ballet designed to display the technical virtuosity of a company. Choreographed by Serge Lifar for the Pa...

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.001)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.001)

  3. L'amour sorcier (Australian context)
    L'amour sorcier (Australian context)
    Created by NLAdance, 6 items.

    Leon Woizikowsky's L'amour sorcier was performed in Australia by the Monte Carlo Russian Ballet, opening at His Majesty's theatre Melbou...

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.001)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.001)

  1. Dupain, Max (1911-1992)
    ... , Helene Kirsova, David Lichine, Serge Lifar, Sono Osato, Paul Petroff, Tamara ...
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0)

  2. Osato, Sono (1919-)
    ... choreographed works, including Schwezoff's Lutte eternelle and Serge Lifar's ...
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0)

  3. Nolan, Sidney, (Sir) (1917-1992)
    ... in 1940 when he was commissioned to design Serge Lifar's ...
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0)

  1. Website: Australia dancing
    www.australiadancing.org
    Matching pages:
    View 157 matching archived pages
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.242)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.242)

  2. Website: Behind Ballet
    www.behindballet.com
    Matching pages:
    View 16 matching archived pages
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.041)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.041)

  3. Website: Ballets Russes in Australia : our cultural revolution
    www.nla.gov.au
    Matching pages:
    View 65 matching archived pages
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.025)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.025)

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  1. Memorandum: Paris to Department of State, 11/28/50 re: ANBT
    Tyler, William R.
    [ Unpublished : 1995-2009 ]
    View online
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.038)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.038)

  1. The art of Ballets Russes : The Serge Lifar Collection of theater designs, costumes, and paintings at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut / Alexander Schouvaloff
    Schouvaloff, Alexander
    [ Book : 1997 ]
    At 17 libraries
    The art of Ballets Russes : The Serge Lifar Collection of theater designs, costumes, and paintings at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut / Alexander Schouvaloff
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.357)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.357)

  2. A history of Russian ballet : from its origins to the present day. Translated by Arnold Haskell
    Serge Lifar 1905-1986
    [ Book : 1954 ]
    Read online at Open Library/Internet Archive
    View online
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.349)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.349)

  3. Serge Lifar à l'Opéra / défini par Paul Valéry ; parlé par Jean Cocteau ; vécu par Serge Lifar ; orné de croquis de mouvements par L. Pageot-Rousseaux ; édité par Thibault de Champrosay
    Cocteau, Jean, 1889-1963
    [ Book : 1943 ]
    Languages: French
    At Nat Gall Aus Res
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.309)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.309)

  4. The three graces : Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Olga Spessivtzeva : the legends and the truth / by Serge Lifar ; translated by Gerard Hopkins
    Lifar, Serge, 1905-
    [ Book : 1947-1959 ]
    Languages: English, Undetermined
    At 6 libraries
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.296)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.296)

  1. Le cantique des cantiques : ballet en deux actes / Argument poétique de Gabriel Boissy ; musique de Arthur Honegger ; sur les rythmes de Serge Lifar
    Honegger, Arthur, 1892-1955
    [ Printed music : 1938 ]
    Languages: French
    At Monash Uni Library
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.162)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.162)

  2. Svadebka =; Noces; Svadebka. Vocal score. French & Russian
    Stravinsky, Igor
    [ Printed music ]
    Languages: French, Russian
    View online
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.073)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.073)

  3. Kiril Vassilkovsky interviewed by Bill Stephens
    Vassilkovsky, Kiril
    [ Sound : 2006 ]
    At National Library
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.001)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.001)

  4. Paul de Masson interviewed by Michelle Potter
    De Masson, Paul, 1953-2012
    [ Sound : 2011 ]
    View online
    At National Library
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0)

  1. Portrait of Serge Lifar in costume ...
    [ Photograph : 1930-1940 ]
    Portrait of Serge Lifar in costume for Icare, Ballets Russes [2]
  2. Portrait of Tamara Toumanova and Se...
    National Photo
    [ Photograph : 1930-1939 ]
    Portrait of Tamara Toumanova and Serge Lifar, Ballets Russes,  ca. 1930s
  3. Serge Lifar in costume for an unide...
    Lipnitzky, Pary...
    [ Photograph : 1930-1940 ]
    Serge Lifar in costume for an unidentified production / Pary Boris Lipnitsky
  4. Portrait of Serge Lifar in The fire...
    Dupain, Max, 19...
    [ Photograph : 1940 ]
    Portrait of Serge Lifar in The firebird, Original Ballet Russe Australian tour / Max Dupain
  5. Serge Lifar in L'apres-midi d'un fa...
    Kuehn, Nanette
    [ Photograph : 1939-1940 ]
    Serge Lifar in L'apres-midi d'un faune, Original Ballet Russe / Nanette Kuehn
  6. Serge Lifar in Giselle
    Swallow, Margar...
    [ Photograph : 1940 ]
    Serge Lifar in Giselle
  1. SERGE LIFAR.
    The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) Monday 26 February 1940 p 4 Article
    ... SERGE LIFAR. Serge Lifar, Serge' Llfar, the dancer, who was to have left by air for Paris Immediately, has postponed poned his departure for two weeks. He had been recalled by the French Government because of wartime rearrangements at the Paris Opera, where he is in charRe of ballet Now his leave ... 55 words
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 3.235)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 3.235)

  2. SERGE LIFAR CALLED UP
    Northern Standard (Darwin, NT : 1921 - 1955) Tuesday 27 February 1940 p 4 Article
    ... SERGE LIFAR CALLED UP Serge Lifar, who it will be recalled passed through Darwin a few weeks ago and was reported as having practised tised dancing while the flying boat was in the air, is a French member of the Russian Ballet, and has been called up for military service by the French Government. ... 91 words
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 2.595)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 2.595)

  3. SERGE LIFAR Ballet Dancer Booed
    Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954) Thursday 27 June 1946 p 24 Article
    ... - SERGE LIFAR Ballet Dancer Booed LONDON.-Cries Cries of "Coliaborator" tor' and 'Achtung' and boos from the dress circle and upper circle' were mingled with the cheers that greeted Serge Lifar, Russian bal let star, when he made his first appearance in London -since the war. Lifar is artistic ... 211 words
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 2.268)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 2.268)

  1. Lifar, Serge
    The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.
    [ Article : 2000 ]
    View online (conditions apply)
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.375)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.375)

  2. Serge Lifar. (obituary)
    Variety
    [ Article : 1986 ]
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.351)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.351)

  3. Serge Lifar - an unforgettable star
    Kisselgoff, Anna
    The New York Times
    [ Article : 1987 ]
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.258)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.258)

  4. Lifar, 81, ballet master at Paris Opera, dies. (Serge Lifar) (obituary)
    Folkart, Burt A
    Los Angeles Times
    [ Photograph, Article : 1986 ]
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.24)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.24)