Film: The Obsessive Ballet Life Of Leonide Massine

[pherank]

Does anyone have any details on this project? Not a great title, but an interesting subject!

Lorca Massine's website doesn't mention that a film is planned on his father's llife, though I imagine he is involved with this project somehow:

[sandik]

I haven't heard anything about this project yet, but I would be glad to see more material about Massine -- he was extremely influential in his time, and we don't have nearly enough about him in the literature.

[pherank]

I haven't heard anything about this project yet, but I would be glad to see more material about Massine -- he was extremely influential in his time, and we don't have nearly enough about him in the literature.

As Massine was often referred to as the most popular, and 'greatest', choreographer of his time, it makes sense to preserve whatever can be, and inform the modern audience of his accomplishments. Even if opinions of his ballets have changed over time, I think it's still important to do the investigative work, as part of a general cultural preservation.

For Balanchine supporters I suppose Massine and Lifar have always been seen as the 'enemy' (well, for some people), though I don't think Balanchine and Massine ever had any particular bad blood between them. It was the Ballet Russes management that gave the young Balanchine a raw deal. And Massine's character driven approach was necessarily different from what Balanchine wanted to focus on. Massine was simply more popular for many years. But it's almost like comparing a popular music artist with a classical composer - the approach, and the audience, do tend to be different.

[pherank]

Here's something to be seen - one of Massine's most popular ballets in its entirety:

"Gaîté Parisienne" - Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo

Alexandra Danilova and Freddie Franklin

[Neryssa]

Here is the color film version:

I wonder what Massine thought about his own somewhat diminished legacy towards the end of his life?