Montreux Fete des Narcisses

[rg]

scan of a post card, undated, front and back, from Montreux, which appears to be a shot of a performance of LES SYLHIDES by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, which seems to have led to the only known film to date of the troupe in performance and which recently surfaced and is being shown as part the National Gallery of Art's current Ballets Russes exhibition. (if mem. serves this footage has been linked on this site but i can't say i know how to access it.)

[California]

scan of a post card, undated, front and back, from Montreux, which appears to be a shot of a performance of LES SYLHIDES by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, which seems to have led to the only known film to date of the troupe in performance and which recently surfaced and is being shown as part the National Gallery of Art's current Ballets Russes exhibition. (if mem. serves this footage has been linked on this site but i can't say i know how to access it.)

Here's a 28-minute excerpt from the film:

http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/audio-video/video/diaghilev.html

It's worth getting the entire 55-minute DVD -- only $14.99 on Amazon (and remember to use the Amazon box on this site):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CLUME24/ref=oh_details_o03_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[susane]

I'm the person who discovered the fragment of Ballets Russes film in early 2011. I had never seen this postcard at the time. I was searching the British Pathe online archive under a general "ballet" topic and the entry was entitled "Festival of Narcissus. Location of events unknown". The longer catalogue entry added that "there was a stage in a park surrounded by trees in an unidentified town in a valley... One female dancer (representing Narcissus?) w/chorus of female dancers: ballerinas who pose while the male soloist dances". When I played the clip I saw that it was "Les Sylphides" and the date range at the side of the film was "1920-1929". If that was correct, I was pretty sure that I was watching a unique piece of film. I did some further research and found a photograph, in Dance Research Vol.27.2, which was similar to the postcard here, and obviously the same location as the film clip. I contacted Jane Pritchard at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, she looked at the film, was able to authenticate it and their press office put out the news.

The film can be viewed at www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=79902 , although I'm not sure if this link will work worldwide.

[sandik]

I'm the person who discovered the fragment of Ballets Russes film in early 2011. ... the entry was entitled "Festival of Narcissus. Location of events unknown". The longer catalogue entry added that "there was a stage in a park surrounded by trees in an unidentified town in a valley... One female dancer (representing Narcissus?) w/chorus of female dancers: ballerinas who pose while the male soloist dances".

And we are grateful to you! I'm not altogether sure I would have managed to extrapolate the Ballet Russe from that descriptive text...