The return of the Russian ballet to America, in the form of the Monte Carlo Ballet Russe which opened at the St. James Theatre on Friday evening, at last restores dancing to a place in the entertainment world which it has not had for a generation.
For the youngsters who never saw a Russian ballet, the Monte Carlo is bound to be a revelation. For their elders, who perhaps remember Diaghilev in the happy days before the war, it is enough to say that this 1933 version of an old love will not desecrate their cherished memories—will, instead, replace the fading past with a vital and exciting reality.
For those who have never seen ballet, it is perhaps necessary to explain that it is something more than a group of personable maidens pirouetting on tip-toe. The personable maidens are there, to be sure—you would have to go far to find another such exotic creature as Tamara Toumanova, who dances in the ballet “La Concurrence”; or so fair a blonde as Irina Baronova, who moves so bravely through the perils of life and fate in the Tchaikovsky ballet, “Les Presages”; or so gay a figure as Alexandra Danilova, who dances with Leonide Massine in “Le Beau Danube.”
But there is more. There are settings and costumes by artists like Andre Derain, whose designs are a feature of the first ballet. There is the music of a full symphony ### chestra, directed by Efrem K### The ballet is an eye and ear-fil### evening which can compare ### anything Broadway has to offer ### the way of entertainment.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
