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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