|IN this ballet, in the style of the French ballets of the reign of
Louis XIV., there is less distinction, I think, than in the others from
which Miss Pamela Colman Smith has derived her pictures. The costumes
and scenery are "designed by Benois," but any one with a knowledge
of the theatre and a Racinet at hand could have done the same sort of
thing. And yet as I write this I know I should make the reservation of
that "life" which the Russians know how to breathe into everything. What
I mean is that Benois gives us no new creation. Karsavina's bird-like
grace in her eighteenth-century guise is captivating (oh, that this
talented little dancer had more music in her, and did not dance always
a fraction off the beat!), and Nijinsky as a wholly unnecessary slave in
white satin gives a wonderful exhibition of dancing in the style of
the original Ballon who danced at the opera in Paris at the end of the
seventeenth century, and gave his name to the kind of classical dancing
which consists in elevation.
[Illustration: 0068]
NOTE: Bolm as the lover looks very like one of Louis XIV.'s
sons, and mimes perfectly. I like the "pas de trois" (the
music of this ballet by Tscherepnin is fascinating), but I
liked it better when it was originally given at the Coliseum
as an extract, and danced by Kosloff, Karsavina and Baldina.
Our spirited, bounding Nijinska has not got the eighteenth-
century style. Oh, I must not forget those dear Bouffons!
Their little dance alone makes "Pavilion d'Armide" worth
while.