Jean Cocteau with Dancers from "Le Train Bleu" (1924). Hulton Archive Collection, London

Pictured are Lydia Sokolova (Perlouse), Anton Dolin (Beau Gosse), Jean Cocteau, Leon Wolzlkovsky (The Golf Player) and Bronislava Nijinska (The Tennis Champion).

Lydia Sokolova (Hilda Tansley Munnings, 1896-1974) received her training from London’s Stedman Ballet Academy, Anna Pavlova and Enrico Cecchetti. She joined the Ballets Russes in 1913, becoming the company’s first English ballerina, after she had completed tours of the United States and Europe with the Mikhail Mordkin and Koslov ballet companies. She danced every sort of role but her strengths were in character dancing. Her most famous role with Diaghilev’s company was that of the Chosen Maiden in Leonide Massine’s reworking of The Rite of Spring in 1920. She was a principal dancer in Ballets Russes until it disbanded in 1929 with Diaghilev’s death. She then returned to England to work on choreography, teach and perform occasionally. In 1960, Lydia wrote a wonderful memoir of her experiences with the Ballets Russes called “Dancing with Diaghilev,” which is still in print. Her final stage performance was in 1962 when she danced in Massine’s “The Good-Humoured Ladies” at Covent Garden.

Anton Dolin (Sydney Francis Patrick Chippendall Healey- Kay, 1904-1983) was born in Sussex, England. As a child actor he studied ballet in Brighton and then in London with the Russian ballerina Serafina Astafieva. After dancing in the corps de ballet in Diaghilev's 1921 London production of ''The Sleeping Princess,'' he changed his name to Dolin. He became a soloist with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1924. Leaving the company in 1925, he rejoined it for its final years in 1928 and 1929. His early career in Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes led him to become the first internationally acclaimed British male ballet star noted for his athleticism and acrobatic prowess. He was a founding member of major ballet companies in Britain and the United States. Anton was a familiar figure on the American ballet scene as a teacher, ballet master, choreographer and premier danseur for the American Ballet Theater during the early1940s. In 1949, he and Alicia Markova founded a new British troupe which became London’s Festival Ballet. He was the author of six books, including “Pas de Deux: The Art of Partnering.” He was knighted in 1981.

Sergei Diaghilev presented his ballet “Le Train Bleu” at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris on June 20, 1924. It was choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska, the libretto was penned by Jean Cocteau, music by Darius Milhaud, set designs were by Henri Laurens, curtain by Pablo Picasso, and costumes were designed by Coco Chanel. The ballet has a sporting theme and features a group of wealthy people parading around, sunbathing and flirting at a fashionable resort on the Mediterranean coast in a parody of the frivolous society of the Roaring Twenties. The title of the ballet was taken from the night train that transported wealthy passengers from Calais to the Mediterranean Sea. The lead roles were danced by Nijinska (the tennis champion), Lydia Sokolova (Perlouse) , Anton Dolin (Beau Gosse, the swimming champion) and Leon Woizikowski (the golfer).

The following links to Youtube connect to different dances from “Le Train Bleu.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wEFYT6Y39g

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEHbAscVByI

Taken on: December 20, 2013

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