Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev

Diaghilev, Sergei Pavlovich (1872–1929), Russian impresario and founder (Paris, 1909) of the Ballets Russes, which inaugurated modern ballet. His magazine World of Art (1899–1904) led a movement for Russian involvement in Western European arts. He moved to Paris in 1906. The Ballets Russes broke with the formalism of classical choreography and aimed to unify music, dance, and stage design. Its productions included the dancers and choreographers Michel Fokine, Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, and Léonide Massine, the composers Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev, and the designers Aleksandr Benois and Léon Bakst. Matisse, Picasso, Debussy, Ravel, and many others also worked for Diaghilev.

See also: Ballet.